Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

All of us as MPs, particularly regional and rural MPs, want to see our regions grow and prosper. The Liberal-National government since 2013 has had a decentralisation agenda to support our regions to grow and also to alleviate the pressure in capital cities. The benefits of living in Australia's regions has certainly been shown off this year. If there was ever a time to consider a sea or tree change, it's now. COVID-19 has shown us that you don't have to live in a capital city to have a good job that pays well. We now have better telecommunications. The mobile blackspots have been improved. We have much better highways and the federal government has invested in aviation to keep our regional airlines flying. This has meant better access between the regions and the cities and more fluid access between both of them. So many city dwellers, both young and old, are taking up those lifestyle benefits and moving to the country, moving to the regional cities and rural towns.

For Coffs Harbour, which is in the northern part of my electorate, our decentralisation agenda has provided over 60 jobs in the last 18 months. There were 50 jobs in the Australian Maritime Safety Authority when they moved to Coffs Harbour in 2019, and a further 10 new jobs relocated from Canberra to Coffs Harbour in the National Indigenous Australians Agency. But, while we're attracting more people to Coffs Harbour and the Mid North Coast region, it's becoming evident—and it's been an issue for some time—that our housing stocks just can't keep up with demand. This is a vital resource in the growth and prosperity of our region. Without housing, we're unable to take full advantage of this government's agenda and measures to strengthen and grow the regions.

Last week, I attended a housing roundtable in Coffs Harbour with the New South Wales Minister for Housing and the New South Wales member for Coffs Harbour. Importantly—a necessity, of course—the general manager of the Coffs Harbour City Council was there as well as representatives from the building and real estate industries and the New South Wales government housing and homelessness services. Regional Development Australia Mid North Coast was also there. The meeting was prompted by the chronic diminishing housing stock on the Coffs coast, either houses for rent or for sale.

Other parts of the electorate of Cowper as well are experiencing extremely high demand. Real estate agents are telling me that there is a shortage of properties coming onto the market and an unmet demand for rental properties. They're receiving anywhere from 30 to 60 applications for one property. In one case there were over 180 applications for one rental property in the space of two days. I had one constituent tell me that going to an open house—a rental property—is now like going to an auction. Prospective tenants invariably offer to pay above the asking price in fear of not being able to get a new lease before their old lease has expired, and this effectively starts a bidding war. The flow-on effect of this is the knock-on effect for vulnerable residents, who are unfortunately experiencing greater financial stress and finding themselves needing to either sleep rough or sleep in their cars or on the streets. It's a fact.

The recent Everybody's Home report released during national Homelessness Week in August claimed that there were 4,400 people homeless in my electorate. This is a lot higher than the ABS Census of Population and Housing estimate taken in 2016, but the figure of 4,400 is certainly anecdotally supported.

There are other pockets within my electorate suffering from significant social and economic disadvantage as well. The New South Wales Council of Social Service, in their report of September last year, found that 20 to 28 per cent of people living in Nambucca Heads and Kempsey were in economic disadvantage, and across the board in Cowper the figure is between 15 and 20 per cent. That's much higher than the national average. Whilst it's the state and territory governments that are largely responsible for the provision of day-to-day housing and homelessness services, the Commonwealth government supports states and territories by spending more than $6 billion every year to improve housing and homelessness—$4.6 billion in 2020-21 through Commonwealth rent assistance to help eligible Australians on low and moderate incomes to pay their rent; around $1.6 billion a year through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement to states and territories; and up to $118 million over five years starting in July 2018 for the Reconnect Program, which is a community based program for early intervention and prevention for young people and their families who are at risk of being homeless or who are homeless.

One very positive thing that occurred after the budget is that for my electorate it included $6.5 million for a new youth and family hub in Kempsey for young mothers and children escaping domestic violence and homelessness. This is jointly delivered with the New South Wales government and will provide more than just crisis accommodation. It will provide services for young people to ensure they reach their full potential. In terms of accommodation space, there are 24 rooms, so you have 24 rooms providing a safe place for young people to stay, which is a great thing for the Kempsey community.

The housing shortage across the broader region has no easy solution. It's not as simple as supply and demand. There are so many factors contributing to it, such as property zoning, land release, planning predictions, occupancy type, social services, infrastructure, stamp duty, land tax. I could go on and on and on. There is just no silver bullet. But what I do know is that we have to act, we have to act together and we have to act now so that our most vulnerable people have access to housing. They must have access to housing and, by doing that and by concentrating on this, we can find ways to grow without disturbing the environment and without ripping down large swathes of trees and we can provide that solution, not just for my electorate. It's not uncommon, my friend across the floor. We face the same thing.

We have a bypass that is coming to Coffs Harbour very, very soon. That is going to create 12,000 much wanted jobs. But what it will also create is another pressure on the housing market, because, although many of the jobs will be filled by people living in the electorate, many of them won't. Now, whether that's 1,000 or 2,000 or 5,000, that's going to put a great deal of strain on the community. You'll have people in the construction industry who are being paid very, very well, and they'll be able to afford those properties. They'll get in before everybody else. That will leave the community of Coffs Harbour. Whether you're middle income or low income, that will put pressure on you if you don't own your own home. In a situation where you're renting, it'll put pressure on you financially and it'll put pressure on your family. We need to find a solution before then. So I was very pleased to be there at the round table with all the cohorts, and I will continue to work with them. We have to find a solution not just for the short term but for the long term, and that is exactly what we will do.

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