Hansard debates

Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) — To the member who is happy to be wrong, what can I say? It reminds me of the great Scottish bard, Robert Burns. Do members remember the line, 'Rab the Ranter, tore his hair and cursed himself in his despair'?

Let me address what is in the bill. It might be a new proposition about the difference between logic and ranting and the facts. The substantive reform is that for the first time the bill will enable landlords and tenants to agree to enter into tenancy agreements of greater than five years, which will be the subject of the protections of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. This is something that has come out of the government housing affordability strategy Homes for Victorians. It is noted that many Victorians want the certainty of a longer term lease. Although short-term leases are currently the norm in Victoria, more than one in five renters have been in their home for more than five years.

This is the critical point: people are looking for greater certainty. We know that from intuition and experience, and it is backed up by Consumer Affairs Victoria and their market research for the review they did before the act. They found that interest from landlords and tenants is in longer term fixed tenancies, noting the critical point about certainty.

We know this is even more critical at this time when we are facing rising prices for homes and we are facing a generational issue of younger people finding it incredibly difficult to get into the home owners market — the great Australian dream. This government is addressing this issue on a whole range of perspectives.

I note one of the earlier contributions. The member for Essendon was talking about affordable housing, and this is something that I have put forward in the Creating Opportunity: Postcodes of Hope strategy, that there is a great area which is only 16 minutes from the heart of the world's most liveable city. It has blue-chip infrastructure, two train lines in and a spur into the Ford site. The Andrews government is widening the Tullamarine Freeway, it has got a ring-road and it has got the curfew-free international airport at the back door.

You do not have to be like the Prime Minister, going to western Sydney and saying, 'Here's $5 billion and we will build it ourselves'. We already have it. We can aggregate these assets and opportunities. It also has 2000 of the old housing commission homes that were built in the 1950s. There are 13 square homes on almost a quarter of an acre block. We have the opportunity, I think, to unlock the value of that, to provide an opportunity for first home buyers and give them their chance. We can change the mix of the population with new industries, and we can design a 21st-century community.

We know that mythical proposition that is talked about in politics from the national level to the state level, the 30-minute city. Well, it exists. It has a name — it is called Broadmeadows. This is the area that can be the heart and the hub for all of Melbourne's north. Why would we do that? Because it is four times the population of Geelong, and within two decades it will be the same as the current population of Adelaide. So that is the proposition that we have.

Ms Couzens interjected.

Mr McGUIRE — I defer to the member for Geelong. Of course Geelong is a great place and it offers a whole other proposition, but I am saying there is also Melbourne's north as well. We should not have the managed decline from the federal government as we go through deindustrialisation. I have found an unspent $1.324 billion out of the last budget in Senate estimates. We just want our fair share — that is all we have ever asked for, and that is all I have ever asked for as the member for Broadmeadows and for Melbourne's north.

Ms Couzens interjected.

Mr McGUIRE — It is good to hear that the member for Geelong is happy to share. She is a sharing and caring person, and that is well regarded. I want to keep the contribution tight because we are going to go into consideration in detail. So with that, I commend the bill to the house and say, let us actually see how we can keep developing these strategies for more affordable housing and give people the chance to be part of the great Australian dream.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.