Source: Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I’m absolutely delighted to be back in Tasmania, on the banks of the beautiful Derwent. And I’m here with the Premier of Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, about a project that we’ve discussed on my last visit to Tasmania with the State Minister, Kerry Vincent, and with a full crew of my team; Peter Khalil, the Assistant Minister for Defence, who has had responsibility for this program, as well as Tasmanian representatives, the Member for Lyons, Bec White, the Member for Franklin, Julie Collins, and of course Senator for Tasmania, who might have to duck off quickly because his partner’s about to give birth to their first child, Richard Dowling. So, we wish him very well, Richard over the next 24 hours. But this is an exciting project. Back in February, my government committed to undertaking the most significant reform to the Defence Estate ever, to ensure it’s fit for purpose, to ensure it continues to provide what we need for the defence of this country. But at the same time, to make sure that we are using facilities for the national objective, the national objective of building more houses, particularly in areas such as this. You look at this site and what a wonderful place it will be to live. This is a key recommendation of the Defence Estate Audit that we did to reduce Defence property holdings, including the divestment of several sites. This is about not just taking advantage of locations like this that aren’t fully utilised, it also is about making sure that good fiscal policy, that the maintenance costs of a range of sites around the country, it’s enormous, goes into the literally tens of millions of dollars, and it isn’t the best way in which to ensure that our Defence dollars goes for the right purpose. And importantly, we’ve indicated that every single dollar that’s raised from any of these projects will go straight back into Defence to provide us with the assets and support that we need going forward. Today, I’m very pleased that my government and the Rockliff Government have agreed to work together to redevelop and transform this site to provide more housing, open space, and community infrastructure. And we’re working as well with the local council, the Mayor of Glenorchy here as well, to make sure the three levels of government working together in the interests of Tasmanians.
This transformation could result in up to thousand new homes. This announcement builds on the decisive action that we took last week to boost housing supply and deliver outcomes. We have said very clearly that housing supply since we came to office has been our concentration. Whether it is the Housing Australia Future Fund, where earlier today I was in Melbourne at a site of 45 homes, I was there a year ago when it was under construction. Today it’s finished and tenants will be moving in over the coming weeks. Whether it’s our Help to Buy scheme, shared equity, whether it’s the five per cent deposits that have helped 250,000 Australians into their first home. Whether it be the changes that we’ve put in place as well to the arrangement of taxes with housing, so that there’ll be 75,000 additional first home buyers will be able to access their first home. This is absolutely critical, because we know that the security of a roof over your head is a precondition for a good life, for good educational outcomes, for good health outcomes, for good employment outcomes as we go forward. Now, the transition will be managed in a staged and sensible way, in close consultation with the Defence workforce, and in close consultation with the local community as well. So, this is a good example of the three levels of government working together across party lines to make a difference for Australians. It’s something that I’m very focused on, and I’m pleased that I continue to work constructively with the Premier of Tasmania, and we’ll hear from him, and then hear from Peter Khalil, Kerry Vincent, the respective ministers, before we hear from the Mayor, Sue Hickey as well, and then we’ll take some questions.
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