The Nationals’ Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron, has issued a please explain to the Minister for Housing for failing to respond to questions about social and affordable housing in the Latrobe Valley.
During the last sitting week in Parliament, it was revealed the Minister for Housing, Harriet Shing, had failed to answer some 51 questions in the required timeframe – the most of any sitting Minister – and the longest overdue belonged to Mr Cameron.
“As part of the debacle that was Labor’s cancellation of the Commonwealth Games, we have repeatedly been told the would-be athletes’ village in Morwell will be repurposed into social housing – infrastructure that is desperately needed in the Valley,” Mr Cameron said.
“More than a year ago, on the 1st August 2023, I asked for an update on this critical project that was promised for the Latrobe Valley and I still have not received an answer.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented housing crisis, and data shows 7278 people in the Latrobe-Gippsland region accessed specialised homelessness services last financial year – the most of any regional area in the state.
“This is the Minister for Housing’s own electorate, yet time and time again she shirks responsibility when asked how she is addressing the lack of social and affordable housing in the Valley.
“Shamefully, the Latrobe local government area has 19 less homes than it did in 2015, and this is the government’s own data.
“The so called ‘Big Build’ is not delivering here and the numbers show we are going backwards, as we regularly see old public housing stock being sold through local agents.
“Billions are spent on mega city projects like the Suburban Rail Loop to benefit metropolitan Melbourne, but when it comes to providing the bare necessities like housing in regional Victoria, Labor goes missing time and time again.
“We need real action to address the housing crisis in the form of bricks and mortar and we need it now.”
