Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): My adjournment is to the Minister for Planning. The action I seek is that the minister organise a briefing for me with his department to discuss opportunities for delivering better social, economic and environmental outcomes through our planning framework.
I know the minister shares my view that our planning system can be a strong mechanism through which we can create more livable and equitable suburbs and deliver substantive action on climate change. The National Construction Code, currently being reviewed and updated, is one example of where we have the opportunity to embed sustainability into the foundations of our built environment. I am proud that the Andrews government have committed to 7-star building standards as part of our climate strategy, and we are pushing hard for an ambitious national approach to household energy efficiency standards. We want a national code that delivers new homes that are comfortable to live in, cheap to run and climate resilient.
Planning can also have a deep impact through social and affordable housing. Led by the Minister for Housing, we are already doing incredible work to increase the amount of social housing in Victoria through our unprecedented $5.3 billion investment in the Big Housing Build—12 000 new homes. There is always more to do, and Victorian Labor have never shied away from the complex challenges facing our state to deliver real change.
In the Northcote electorate we are seeing rapid population growth and development across our suburbs. It is critical that we balance growth with community amenity, services, infrastructure and open space but also that we build equity and affordability into the foundations of that growth. Northcote is a wonderful place to live—the best, in fact, according to a PwC report—but for many of our young people, owning a home in the suburb they have grown up in is becoming more and more out of reach, and for those on a low income or facing housing insecurity, access to a safe and secure home can be the difference between poverty and opportunity.
Locally we are seeing progress on multiple social housing projects, and recently I have been proud to secure two of the major ones as completely gas free. But we need to look at introducing mandatory inclusionary zoning. This would make it compulsory for new developments of a certain size to include a minimum level of affordable housing, such as public and community housing, before gaining planning approval. It would ensure that where we see population growth, we also see concurrent long-term investment in affordable homes. In other states and around the world we are seeing inclusionary zoning deliver enormous benefits to communities, creating greater economic and social mobility and less disadvantage.
Constellation Project modelling has estimated that inclusionary zoning could deliver up to 86 000 new affordable homes in Melbourne by 2036. We can build social, environmental and economic good into the growth of our state. We can plan livable, inclusive suburbs. We can build energy-efficient, affordable homes. I look forward to hearing more about making sure our planning system works for us and builds us a fairer, brighter future.
