Ms O’CONNOR – Minister, as you know, we didn’t support the establishment of Homes Tasmania –
Mr BARNETT – You nearly did.
Ms O’CONNOR – Yes, but the more we looked at it the more we were worried and sitting here at the table I feel comfortable that we did the right thing, and that’s no reflection on the people here, it’s on the structure and the paucity of information available to this Estimates committee.
I’d like to understand what income Homes Tasmania can currently rely on, if we don’t count the legislation that hasn’t yet gone through the federal parliament because the Greens are working hard to make the Albanese government improve that and they’re kicking and screaming, but what’s the income that Homes Tasmania can count on from all sources and what does it add up to in a year? Some of that will be elastic but there will be fixed quantities that we’ll know.
Mr BARNETT – It’s a very big question.
Ms O’CONNOR – Not really. There’s probably about four line items in it.
Mr BARNETT – It’s a very big question. It’s an operational matter. I will refer to the CEO. I think the CEO’s made reference to TASCORP in terms of the borrowings, but with respect to the question, I’ll pass to the CEO.
Ms O’CONNOR – Not borrowings, minister, excluding borrowings. Regular income – what do we get from the Commonwealth each year, absent that legislation? What’s the likely income from rents? Do we foresee a decline in rental income if the continued outsourcing of management to the community sector goes on?
Mr BARNETT – As I said, it’s quite a comprehensive question but I’ll pass to the CEO.
Ms O’CONNOR – We’re just trying to get a foundational understanding of income.
Ms MORGAN-THOMAS – Other revenue is $67 million in rent, so we’re not expecting that to change. What could change that is if there were further transfers to community housing but there’s no plan for that at the moment. One of the discussions the board has to have is about the right size for that – what is the critical mass that we need –
Ms O’CONNOR – For sustainability?
Ms MORGAN-THOMAS – Yes, for sustainability, so that’s where rent is – that’s most of what’s in other revenue. There will be a small amount of interest if we are borrowing ahead of when we’re actually going to spend that we are able to generate. I don’t think that to be particularly material but a bit depends on interest rates.
Regarding sales of land, we have a 30 lot release in Huntingfield planned for the end of this calendar year. Richard, remind me – do we know what the value of that is?
Mr GILMOUR – On average, lots at Huntingfield we’re anticipating will be in the $330 000 to $350 000 category across the whole development. For all our subdivisions we’re working on understanding what the economics of the subdivision is in terms of the outgoings and revenue and the opportunities for retention for social housing and affordable housing is obviously –
Ms MORGAN THOMAS – That’s gross income, but we’ve had to expend on the subdivision costs and all the site preparation and getting ready for sale.
Ms O’CONNOR – What is the sum of the Commonwealth payments each year?
Ms MORGAN THOMAS – We can find that for you. The NAHA is guaranteed for one more year and then will be renegotiated over the period of the next year.
Ms O’CONNOR – Minister, while we’re waiting for that information perhaps if there is more forthcoming, I trust that you will be taking a strong negotiating position to Canberra on the National Affordable Housing Agreement and not accepting that money that would come out of a stock market fund notion that there would be a secure, ongoing and sustainable close to $20 million annual contribution from the Commonwealth towards homes in Tasmania. That’s not a Dorothy Dix question but you could take it as that.
Mr BARNETT – Thank you for the question. Tasmania wants its fair share. Tasmania has and will continue to lobby hard for Tasmanians and vulnerable and homeless Tasmanians. We deserve nothing less. I have raised these matters with Julie Collins directly and my colleague Housing ministers have as well. We’ve had a number of Housing ministers’ meetings. I thank the federal minister for convening those and we talk and share and learn from one another, not just as ministers but as officials. I think it’s a healthy thing. That is progressing well. We don’t want to move it into a talkfest but we do want to focus on things that matter for Tasmanians and the community in general.
So yes, the federal government has promised $10 billion to deliver 30 000 homes over the next five years. They made that commitment prior to the election. They have restated that on many occasions. We want them to act on that. I have signed a letter together with my other Housing ministers to relevant members of the Senate noting that amendments to that particular legislation can’t be ruled out, which would take into account any enhancements to the current legislation that the federal government has on its books.
Ms O’CONNOR – Can I ask a quick question? Is it your understanding that the National Affordable Housing Agreement will continue separate from the stock market fund?
Mr BARNETT – Yes, that’s our expectation. NAHA is going for one more year to 30 June next year.
Ms O’CONNOR – And then?
Mr BARNETT – We have to negotiate between now and then in terms of NAHA.
Ms HADDAD – But the NAHA will continue. There have been no announcements from the federal government that the NAHA is going anywhere.
Mr BARNETT – No, NAHA is a separate matter but there are two related matters – it was a federal government-related question. We will absolutely be negotiating for Tasmania and likewise in terms of the federal legislation which we have expressed our views on as well.
Ms O’CONNOR – Minister, I’m still trying to wrap my head around the numbers and the promises. Your policy is to build 10 000 new homes by 2032, and that would be to invest $1.5 billion. We hear a lot about that sum of money. But as we see the Budget figures, there’s $87 million being spent on new social and affordable supply this year, $98 million in the last year of the forward Estimates. If you were to be genuine about building 10 000 new homes and spending $1.5 billion on that, you’d be spending about $150 million a year on new supply, wouldn’t you?
As it sits now you’ll be funding less than half of the annual requirements of your $1.5 billion plan each year. It makes me wonder if you’ve, not necessarily misled parliament, but, led parliament up the wrong path, when you talk about this $1.5 billion initiative and spruiked your plan for 10 000 homes. On the numbers, you can’t deliver it.
Mr BARNETT – I think it leans into the Tasmanian 20-year housing strategic, the draft of which was released today. When the final is released, it’ll have an action plan sitting under it that will clearly show when, where and how the homes will be built, or planned to be built and the various groups in the community that will benefit from it. It is a big vision, it is 20 years, we’ve got –
Ms O’CONNOR – No, I’m not talking about the 20-year plan, we’re talking about the promise you made to build 10 000 new homes by 2032.
Mr BARNETT – I was answering the question by saying that we have a 20-year housing strategy. That will give you an insight and inform you and others as to how we’re going to go about doing that. The final version will have an action plan sitting underneath it which will provide further and better particulars.
Regarding the 10-year plan, as the chief executive has shared with me and others, we have a target of 1500 by 30 June. We will then have another target to 2027 which at the moment is 2000. Then another 6500 through to 2032 from there.
Ms O’CONNOR – Four years.
Mr BARNETT – Well, it’s from 2027 through to 2032. You can see the back end’s bigger than the front end. But we need to build the momentum, get the systems right –
Ms O’CONNOR – But the shortfall’s the money isn’t it? That’s the problem.
Mr BARNETT – The $1.5 billion is noted, I appreciate you acknowledging that. We’ll obviously monitor this as we go. We want to reach that target. We’re very committed. We’re trying to get to 1500 by 30 June. Supply, supply, supply are the three priorities and then providing those wraparound services.
