Prime Minister: Doorstop - Sydney | Prime Minister of Australia

5 October 2023 - 07:25 AEST5 October 2023 - 07:25 AEST

Doorstop – Sydney | Prime Minister of Australia

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks for joining us. It’s great to be here in Riverwood with the Premier Chris Minns, and New South Wales Housing Minister Rose Jackson, for the first of our New South Wales Social Housing Accelerator
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks for joining us. It’s great to be here in Riverwood with the Premier Chris Minns, and New South Wales Housing Minister Rose Jackson, for the first of our New South Wales Social Housing Accelerator projects. The Social Housing Accelerator is a $2 billion fund, wholly Commonwealth funded, to make a difference in terms of supply of social housing throughout Australia. New South Wales will be provided with over $600 million for projects that are ready to go, it’s got to be begun within two years. The funding is all available there. And this project here, is a great example of why it will make a difference. The project here, three homes will be converted into 11 appropriate social housing units for people as they grow older, to get appropriate housing, one bedroom units, dwellings. Enabled to also build a community next to each other, so that the services that are provided as they get older, will be easier to manage and so that people, as well, will be looking after each other. Too many homes have been left derelict, due to neglect, and due to just ageing. These new homes will make an enormous difference for this community. These will be a part of the 1,500 additional homes that will be built here in New South Wales through the Social Housing Accelerator. And that comes on top of the other funding that have, the $1.7 billion we’ve allocated for this year, as part of the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement extension. While those negotiations continue, with a new agreement to begin by next year. The additional $2 billion we have for community housing projects around Australia. The support for additional housing through our rental assistance, the largest increase in 30 years, that kicked in just a couple of weeks ago. And the ongoing commitment we have to work with states and territories to boost housing supply. The commitment that we have of building 1.2 million homes over the next decades, working with state and territory governments, housing suppliers, supported by the Housing Industry Association, the Master Builders Association. As well as of course, good news that occurred with the passing of our Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion fund that will allocate at least $500 million each and every year, to top up that social and affordable housing investment. Including funding specifically designated for housing to support women and children escaping domestic violence, to support housing for our veterans. This is an important part of increasing housing supply, because the key, the key to housing affordability, is getting that increase in supply. And it’s fantastic to have partners right across the states and territories, across the private sector, to make sure this gets done.

Before I hand to Chris, I’ll also make some comments about the fire storms that we’re seeing in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. We are working closely with the state governments of those three states to make sure we’re monitoring what is occurring, to make sure as well, that we provide every support that is requested by state and territory authorities. Just a week ago, we gathered in Canberra with all of the emergency services for our Natural Disaster Preparedness Summit. And what that did was bring together the fire chiefs, police and emergency services, the SES in different states, to come together to do the planning. Because we know that the summer that we’re anticipating and indeed, it would appear we’re in right now even though it’s only October, is going to present some real challenges. And I’m here to say on behalf of the Commonwealth Government, that we will work constructively with all states and territories, as well as with our fire chiefs, with our emergency services, with our volunteers to make a difference. Later today, the Premier and I will visit the South Coast of New South Wales to talk first with those emergency service workers and people on the front line about the fires that are affecting the South Coast. I feel for those communities as well, they went through such a difficult time in 2019, 2020, over that Black Summer, and many of the areas that were impacted by fires then are burning again. So, we know that we need to continue to do what we can to prepare, but also to provide support to those communities in need. I’ll hand over to the Premier.

CHRIS MINNS, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES: Thanks PM. Before I speak to this important and exciting initiative, it is important to know that currently in New South Wales there are 73 bushfires, 16 of those grass and bushfires are uncontained, and over 800 firefighters and emergency service personnel on the New South Wales South Coast battled those bushfires overnight, with 191 appliances or trucks. Now, you’d be aware that the suburb and community of Bermagui, and the New South Wales South Coast, are also the same communities that went through the terrible Black Summer bushfires of several years ago. So, you’re talking about the same crews, the same firefighters, working through the night to keep communities, to keep property safe. They’ve had a hellish 24 hours. I want to make it clear that there’s still total fire bans in place for the north western region, the northern slopes and the greater Hunter region. It’s also important to point out, particularly for the New South Wales South Coast, that there are a lot of holiday makers down there for the second week of the New South Wales school vacation, holidays. So, those people need to listen to emergency service communication, whether they’re police officers on the ground, whether the Rural Fire Service, whether it’s Commissioner Rogers speaking through emergency broadcasters. You need to be aware of where bushfire activity is taking place, where emergency service workers are currently operating and be aware of your circumstances and situation. Have you got an evacuation route? Does that evacuation routes involve you listening to the emergency service broadcasts, if you need to make a quick exit from a community that’s under risk, that’s at risk or is in danger? I also want to pay tribute to emergency service workers, volunteers and professionals that have battled these bushfires through the nights. It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s extremely difficult. And of course, this is concerning for everybody. We’re in October, and we’re facing mid-summer bushfire conditions in some parts of New South Wales. It points to a hellish three months. The communities in Western Sydney, the northern part of the metropolitan Sydney area, and Royal National Park are getting prepared for what could be a terrible bushfire season, as well as regional communities. We’ve got bushfire resilient plans in place. Our emergency service workers have been speaking with local mayors, with bushfire commanders, with emergency service workers in those towns and those regions. But it’s really important that everybody have a personalised emergency evacuation plan, protect lives and property, and understand where the risks and threats are. If, due to a change in weather circumstances, like a southerly wind pattern coming through your community, you know what to do quickly, at short notice.

Thank you PM for being here in Narwee with Minister Jackson. This is an important initiative for New South Wales and Australia. This $600 million investment in social housing will make a major difference, not just to communities like Narwee, but right across New South Wales, in regional and metropolitan areas. This particular development will turn from just three family houses to 11 units, apartments style living, for people to move into, particularly older Australians. That’s exactly what we need when it comes to the housing waiting lists in New South Wales, it’s now above 50,000 people. We know that we’ve got major housing pressures in New South Wales, perhaps in an unprecedented level. And it exists right across the spectrum from homelessness, to emergency housing, to social housing, to bringing on more supply to the marketplace for private dwellings. It’s been often said, but it’s a truism in New South Wales, that about 10 years ago, the housing crisis was characterised by people wondering whether they’d ever be able to afford to buy a place in Sydney, in particular. Now, many people are asking, can I even afford to rent a place? Now that circumstance and situation is intolerable and the State Government, working with the Commonwealth Government will make a major difference. Bringing on more housing, bringing on more social housing, doing as much as we can to clear the backlog and working in cooperation for the people of this state.

ROSE JACKSON, STATE MINISTER FOR HOUSING: I just wanted to add, firstly on the bushfire response, people should know that there is an evacuation centre that is open in Bega, at the Bega Showground. So, if you need to access that facility, it is there for you. Obviously, as the Premier and the Prime Minister have said, people should say across all of the local alerts from local authorities. We will have disaster response mental health clinicians, through New South Wales Health on the ground in those communities. But also, people should know that they can access support 24/7 from the New South Wales Mental Health Line, Lifeline and Beyond Blue. This can be incredibly stressful, difficult times for people. It’s normal to feel anxious, it’s normal to not feel okay. Please reach out, pick up the phone, have that conversation if you’re feeling anxious or unsure. We really want to make sure that there’s full wraparound support for people in this really difficult time.

This announcement today, in relation to the first project under the New South Wales Government and Commonwealth Government’s commitment to the Social Housing Accelerator, is incredibly exciting. And we’re standing in front of projects that show the difference Labor governments can make. These three houses have been empty for many, many years. They have been owned by the Land and Housing Corporation, but despite tens of thousands of people waiting on our social housing waiting lists, have not been able to be properly utilised. And the reason for that is because the only plan the previous government had to develop these vacant houses into housing for our elderly community, was to sell more social housing. There was no funding stream identified for the redevelopment of these properties, into 11 essential dwellings for elderly Australians, other than privatisation, other than asset sales. So, we put a stop to the sale of public housing as soon as we were elected to government. And now, through our partnership with the Commonwealth, we’ve identified a funding stream, to develop these properties into the 11 dwellings that our elderly community need. It’s going to be a fantastic contribution to this community. And this is going to be happening right across New South Wales, we are going to be seeing hundreds of projects just like this, being able to be turned into dwellings for the future, disability accessible, close to transport, close to amenities. It’s going to make an incredible difference here for about 20 people, who are going to be able to move into the 11, one and two bedroom properties, across these three sites. But right across Sydney, and right across regional New South Wales, we’re partnering with our community housing providers, we are really getting on board. It is so wonderful to have a Commonwealth Government that cares about affordable housing, that cares about social housing. They’ve delivered the Accelerator, for which we are incredibly thankful. We’re ready to go, we’ve got project DA approved, builders approved and now we have the funding stream. So, what an incredible moment for New South Wales to be able to take that first step in what will be a long journey to confront the housing crisis. But every marathon starts with the first step, we know we’ve got a long way to go. But here we are getting started. And that’s incredibly exciting.

JOURNALIST: INAUDIBLE

MINISTER JACKSON: There are about 1,700 empty dwellings across New South Wales at the moment. And that’s for various reasons. I mean, some of them, people have just moved out and they need a lick of paint and bit of work to get someone back into them. Some of them have been empty for a long time. And again, the previous government’s policy was very clear, they would take properties when someone moved out and sit them vacant. Eventually, they’d sell them off and they’d take the money from the sale of those properties, over $3 billion worth of public housing sold over their 12 years in government, and they’d spend that on basic maintenance work. We’ve stopped that whole business model and there are opportunities to take properties like these three homes and deliver 11, when those opportunities present themselves and grab them with both hands, we desperately need more stock. There are also examples, like the one the Premier and I visited in Daceyville recently, where we are taking those vacant properties and restoring, so that families can move back in. There’s various different approaches we are taking to getting vacant homes back on the market. Sometimes, it’s redeveloping them as they stand and moving a family in. Sometimes, it’s delivering a significant uplift of more stock. Whatever it is, we’ll pull that lever to ensure that there is more social and affordable housing delivered for the community.

JOURNALIST: Fifteen hundred, how long is it going to take for construction to finish and people move in?

MINISTER JACKSON: Well, I mean, some of those properties are going to be getting back online imminently. The property that we visited in Daceyville recently, they reckon they can have a family in that property within two months. That was a vacant property, that had been empty since 2020, we are renovating right now, so that a family can move in by the end of the year. These ones, we reckon we’ll have online in 2024. Some of them will be staged out, but as the Prime Minister made clear, the Commonwealth has been really directed to New South Wales, get moving. This is not money that’s to sit in the bank account. This is money that we need to commit to projects, right now. And that’s the commitment that we’re making. We are identifying, where can we do the renovation? Where can we do the rebuild? Where have we got the land? We are absolutely getting on with this. We’ve got our skates on. This particular one will be 2024 but all of your properties should be online by 2026-27.

JOURNALIST: This is a great format for increasing in density in a really well located area, what’s the state government doing to help homeowners, who might have a block of land like this, make it easier to build maybe three dwellings on a site like this?

PREMIER MINNS: We’ll have more to say about zoning and planning changes. We’ve been really clear about density along metropolitan train tracks.

JOURNALIST: Do you want to see more, sort of small format homes, like this? You know, three on the block or?

PREMIER MINNS: Yeah, we do. I mean, part of, part of the challenge that governments have faced is that missing middle. So, we feel we’ve got enough capacity and sites for high rise, particularly close to the CBD. Land release on the western fringe of Sydney is a reasonably straightforward transaction. The thing that we used to have a lot of in New South Wales that’s virtually disappeared from the market is townhouses, terraces, and three and four storey unit apartment. So, that’s the area we’re focusing on. As well as focusing on everything else.

JOURNALIST: Premier, just on the fire update. Have you been provided any information about property loss from the South Coast?

PREMIER MINNS: It’s really important that fire and rescue and the Rural Fire Service are able to go into those communities and provide an accurate account. I don’t have information to present right now, other than to say that we’ve been informed that there is property loss there.

JOURNALIST: Is as a reason why the two of you are going down? Reports that it may be significant.

PREMIER MINNS: Yeah, a couple of things. Firstly, we want to hear firsthand from the Rural Fire Service and the fire commanders on the ground. And secondly, to understand what both governments can do for those communities. I think we’re both, I don’t want to speak for the Prime Minister, but I think we’re both aware that this is a community that’s been hit hard a couple of years ago and seems to be back in the ring for another twelve rounds. So, we’re both concerned about those communities. And also, to thank the volunteers who’ve been fighting bushfires.

PRIME MINISTER: I was in Ulladulla in July, meeting with families who lost their homes and who rebuilt in a way that takes into account the potential for further fires. These are communities that have done a really tough and to go there this afternoon is, is I think, the right thing to do. You’ve got to, of course, always, always pick your time, as well. You don’t want to be getting in the way of people who are undertaking that important work, fighting fires. So, I had a discussion with Chris this morning. Our offices were in contact last night, as well. And so, we’ll travel there this afternoon.

Can I make a point about housing, what Rose said as well. The truth is that after 12 years of the former government here in New South Wales, there was less public housing than there was at the beginning. That’s not on. And we’ve seen the impact of that, houses like this not being used, is something that we identified from the Commonwealth level, as an issue. And I’ve seen firsthand when we were in the Global Financial Crisis, the potential that we had. We refurbished or rebuilt about 78,000 dwellings around Australia, making an enormous difference. I’ve seen the redevelopment of projects, like ones in Lilyfield, in my own electorate, that are fantastic places to live. This will be a great place to live. We need to address this issue. It’s not good enough to just sell off housing. I’m here today, as Prime Minister, perhaps because of a campaign that was going to sell my house, where me and my mum lived when I was younger. The City Council changed hands, they wanted to flog off housing. There’s big flats on St Johns Road, Glebe, that, where they started to sell off, some of those are private, some of them still public housing. The next was to hit Camperdown. And as residents we campaigned to keep those housing, those dwellings, in public hands. I think what happened in Millers Point, is quite frankly, a disgrace that that occurred. Saying, that it’s not good enough for people who are public housing tenants to live close to the city. So, it is important that we now have a government in New South Wales that we can work with and co-operate with.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the fires, you’re now going back to an area that burned three years ago, do we need to be considering measures like buy backs so people don’t have to go back to these fire prone areas?

PRIME MINISTER: Well look, we, we will look at appropriate measures. But one of the things that’s happening, in those communities, is that Australia has always been prone to bushfires, so that’s a cost too. If you look at where these fires are burning, there are just multiple fires across New South Wales, across Victoria. It is impossible to say, we’re not going to have any houses anywhere near where fires could potentially burn. Because we know from the climate science, we know from the experts, that’s why we bought them together last week, in Canberra, for three days. To learn off each other, to get that advice from the National Emergency Management Authority, that we’ve bought together in Canberra. If you look at the whole of the South Coast of New South Wales, was burning and in 2019-20, from Lismore, right down through Mudgee, through the Blue Mountains, right down to the South Coast. We’re not going to remove people from all those communities. That’s a fact. So, what we need to do is to make sure that we minimise risk, that we maximise preparedness. And that is what we are doing, between the Commonwealth and also the State Governments. Working with, Victoria, has issues at the moment of bushfires and floods at the moment that they are dealing with. Tasmania, where I was yesterday, is being impacted by fires, as well. So, this is one of the reasons why my Government, together with State and Territory Governments, are determined to act on climate change. But, we also need to deal with the here and now and to improve preparedness, and that’s what our Governments are doing.

JOURNALIST: Premier on hospitals, is it acceptable that a 16 year old girl waits 13 hours with appendicitis, for treatment?

PREMIER MINNS: No, it’s not acceptable. And obviously, that’s hugely concerning, that a Western Sydney family had to wait many, many hours to get urgent treatment in a major Western Sydney hospital. Look, we’re doing everything we can right now to turn around the performance of Western Sydney emergency departments. I realise that for a family, for a father, that’s waiting for urgent treatment for their child that’s going be cold comfort, having waited the entire night for the help from doctors and the health system in New South Wales. We’re investing in it, and we expect it to turn it around. But I can completely understand why a parent waiting overnight in an emergency department is saying, that’s not quick enough and I don’t want to wait anymore. I know that the Minister for Health is speaking to the father, in particular, today, about the circumstances. And as well as the management of that hospital. It really does come down to staffing, in particular, emergency departments in busy Western Sydney hospitals. We’re seeing an unprecedented demand on those health services. But we need to make the investment, particularly in the people that work and have devoted their professional lives to the care of people in New South Wales.

JOURNALIST: Premier, on the metro, we’ve seen Venues NSW come forward in the past for a metro stop at Moore Park, is that in under any consideration?

PREMIER MINNS: Look, I’m not going to front run the report that’s due to come back and be released soon. We’ll have more to say about metro, metro stops, its future, when that report is released, but I’m not going to front run it.

JOURNALIST: Premier, just on vacant land tax we’ve seen in Victoria, these moves to encourage home owners to either use their property or loss it, could we expect there to be some sort of tax on vacant homes in NSW to free up more homes for housing?

PREMIER MINNS: No, I’m not announcing that. We’ve got many measures in relation to housing in New South Wales.

JOURNALIST: Is there merit to an idea like that?

PREMIER MINNS: I’ll leave other states to talk about their tax systems and advocate the changes that they want to make. What I would say, is that we’ve made many changes in relation to housing in New South Wales. Everything from short term stays on New South Wales North Coast, to build to rent on New South Wales North Coast and South Coast, to planning and regulatory changes for metropolitan development, as well as being strong advocates for more density closer to the CBD. And as the Prime Minister mentioned, we’ve doubled the amount of social and affordable housing for Waterloo south, we can expect more of that in the time ahead. That’s what we’re focusing on. You can do many things when it comes to housing supply, and ensuring that there’s enough dwellings for the people of New South Wales in particular, but we’re going to focus on bringing on more supply, we think that’s going to bring on the biggest yield, in terms of changes for the people of this state.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, in relation to today’s fund, do we have to thank the Greens for its creation?

PRIME MINISTER: No, they didn’t even know what was happening, so it’s pretty hard to thank them for it. This is something that I negotiated with the states and territories, made an announcement. Their complaint was that they weren’t consulted. Well, we’ve been busy getting on with building and supporting social, affordable housing. It’s something that was the centrepiece of my second Budget reply. Something whereby every opportunity I have to do more with social housing, I’ll take it up when the opportunity is there. My Government has turned around a $78 billion deficit that was anticipated last year, into a final outcome of a $22 billion surplus. Now, it just happens that that is a very round number, a $100 billion turnaround in the nation’s finances. And what we did as a result of that, that created the space to provide $2 billion upfront to the states and territories, all of which has to be committed within two years. And what that’s done, is what the name says, it’s accelerate social housing provision. And it’s great to have partners in the states and territories, to do so.

JOURNALIST: Your government is announcing migration reforms today, what will you do to ensure that we can house migrants?

PRIME MINISTER: We’re announcing the reforms today and the hint in the answer is in your question. So, I’ll allow the Immigration Minister to make that announcement which will be at lunchtime today. It’s in response to the report that we’ve received. We inherited an immigration system that, frankly, wasn’t fit for purpose and was in a mess. And the fact that there were over a million people waiting for visas, and the fact there was over reliance upon temporary migration, not on giving people the security, that permanent migration. On the fact that they are, we’ve announced this week already, a crackdown on shonky training providers. People being allowed to come into this country, being exploited, not getting the proper education and training that Australia can be very proud of our good providers, in TAFEs and university provide for people. Essentially, it being a backdoor way of getting a visa, and a way in which shonky training providers were simply exploiting people. And we were announced in excess of $30 million to make sure there’s a crackdown there. There’s more to do, migration plays an important role in Australia, we want to make sure that it’s fit for purpose. Australian needs skilled migrants, we want to make sure there’s a matchup between what Australia needs and what Australia gets. Because that’s one of the ways that we deal with skill shortages, that we grow the economy. As well as of course, the work we’re doing with the Minns Government and other State Governments about training and skilling up Australians for those jobs to deal with those supply chain, issues as well. I was at a TAFE in Tasmania yesterday, meeting nurses, or trainee nurses, who are benefiting from our over 200,000 Fee-Free TAFE places. Now, we have 300,000 more Fee-Free TAFE places will begin next year. We will be negotiating out, at the moment Brendan O’Connor is there negotiating with states and territories for the agreement going forward and I hope that that’s concluded shortly. And I know that the Minns Government will be working constructively on that.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why isn’t Catherine King appearing before the Senate inquiry –

PRIME MINISTER: Because no House of Representative member has ever appeared before a Senate inquiry. This is a stunt and Ministers do not appear, no Ministers in the former government did. Everyone knows that, who follows the Senate.

JOURNALIST: Irrespective of the investigation into Mike Pezzullo, on the Nixon review’s findings alone, do you think it’s acceptable he oversaw a department that allowed crime syndicates, involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling, to flourish?

PRIME MINISTER: I think there are big problems with the way, with what we inherited, when it comes to migration issues and Clare O’Neil and Andrew Giles have been working very diligently to examine that. And that’s why the Nixon review was requested. And that’s why we’ll be released today.

JOURNALIST: You’ve released the Nixon report, when will you release the Mrdak review?

PRIME MINISTER: When we release it, you’ll probably be there. So, we have reviews, we release them. And we release as well, a response to them, as well. My Government is very transparent, we received an enormous Royal Commission into the care, or what’s required to look after people with disabilities, into that whole sector, just on Friday. There are 222 recommendations. We released straightaway. We will respond to it.

JOURNALIST: The Premier said last week that housing targets have been imposed on New South Wales. Have you had a chat with Chris Minns about housing targets and how New South Wales can start to accelerate and reach those?

PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s not what he said.

JOURNALIST: But, the word ‘imposed’ was used.

PRIME MINISTER: Well, you know, you can play word games. The fact is, that the Premier and I are working really closely together on this and on other issues. I am a Prime Minister, and my Government is a government that was constructed with Premiers and Chief Ministers across the board. I had a constructive relationship with Premier Perrottet.

PREMIER MINNS: So did I.

PRIME MINISTER: And so did Chris Minns! We were fortunate, I think I might have said this before the election, that we had two leaders of their respective political parties in New South Wales that were good decent people.

PREMIER MINNS: But only one could win.

PRIME MINISTER: Only one could win and I backed to the winner.

JOURNALIST: Latrell Mitchell has been coping a bit of criticism for playing in the Koori Knockout, but not playing for Australia, is that criticism fair?

PRIME MINISTER: It’s a matter for Latrell Mitchell. But Latrell Mitchell is a proud Indigenous Australian. The Koori Knockout has a great history here and people, even after they’ve retired. I’m not sure whether GI played on the weekend or not, he certainly has in the past. You know, Yileen Gordon, who’s got to be older than I am, was playing on the weekend, or trying to go up to register the play. Look, it’s a fantastic celebration of First Nations people. And at a time when First Nations people are a focus for the nation because of the referendum. It’s not surprising that people coming together to express that solidarity with each other and to enjoy each other’s company, is a very good thing. And on the referendum, I make the point that people are still voting today. Over 600,000 Australians have voted already in this referendum. I take great heart in that, that Australians are eager to vote Yes in this referendum because they know that what it’s about, it’s just two things, recognition of First Nations people in a nation’s founding document. And secondly, about a non-binding Advisory Committee. That’s all this is, to give advice on matters affecting Indigenous Australia. Because if you do that, if you listen to people, you get better outcomes. And if you want to talk to this community around here about what happens, it’s is probably best to come and talk with people here. And the same principle applies here. You look at the schools that are most effective, and that are really dynamic, they’re ones that have a really good P&C. They’re ones that talk to their teachers, their parents, students themselves, and the businesses and communities around those school locations. You have better outcomes, you get that uplift, you get buy in, you get ownership. But you get something else as well, with a Yes vote, as well as getting that buy in and agency for the first Australians over matters that affect their lives, you get responsibility for outcomes, as well. And that will be a very good thing. projects. The Social Housing Accelerator is a $2 billion fund, wholly Commonwealth funded, to make a difference in terms of supply of social housing throughout Australia. New South Wales will be provided with over $600 million for projects that are ready to go, it’s got to be begun within two years. The funding is all available there. And this project here, is a great example of why it will make a difference. The project here, three homes will be converted into 11 appropriate social housing units for people as they grow older, to get appropriate housing, one bedroom units, dwellings. Enabled to also build a community next to each other, so that the services that are provided as they get older, will be easier to manage and so that people, as well, will be looking after each other. Too many homes have been left derelict, due to neglect, and due to just ageing. These new homes will make an enormous difference for this community. These will be a part of the 1,500 additional homes that will be built here in New South Wales through the Social Housing Accelerator. And that comes on top of the other funding that have, the $1.7 billion we’ve allocated for this year, as part of the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement extension. While those negotiations continue, with a new agreement to begin by next year. The additional $2 billion we have for community housing projects around Australia. The support for additional housing through our rental assistance, the largest increase in 30 years, that kicked in just a couple of weeks ago. And the ongoing commitment we have to work with states and territories to boost housing supply. The commitment that we have of building 1.2 million homes over the next decades, working with state and territory governments, housing suppliers, supported by the Housing Industry Association, the Master Builders Association. As well as of course, good news that occurred with the passing of our Housing Australia Future Fund, a $10 billion fund that will allocate at least $500 million each and every year, to top up that social and affordable housing investment. Including funding specifically designated for housing to support women and children escaping domestic violence, to support housing for our veterans. This is an important part of increasing housing supply, because the key, the key to housing affordability, is getting that increase in supply. And it’s fantastic to have partners right across the states and territories, across the private sector, to make sure this gets done.