HOUSING —
BUILDING BONUS SCHEME
25. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Premier:
I acknowledge the students from
Kennedy Baptist College in the gallery today.
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's efforts in driving the state's economic recovery
and supporting local jobs. Can the Premier
outline to the house what the government's unprecedented support for WA's
housing industry, including its building bonus grants, has meant for
business and jobs in the building and construction industry?
Mr M.
McGOWAN replied:
Before I answer the question, I acknowledge
Mattie Turnbull and the planning students from Curtin University who are in the
public gallery today. Thank you for coming.
I thank the member for Southern
River for the question and congratulate him on his return to Parliament with a 44
per cent swing over two elections. Well done, member. Obviously, he is doing a terrific
job.
We have seen unprecedented activity in the housing
construction industry since we put in place our building bonus program. That
has been a $390 million program with over 21 000 applications received, and
today's Australian Bureau of Statistics figures have shown a record
increase in the number of building approvals in Western Australia. In Western Australia,
there was a 134.6 per cent increase in the number of approvals in the March
quarter 2021, compared with the March quarter of 2020; that is the strongest
growth of building approvals on record. In annual terms, building approvals
grew by 59.4 per cent and nationally they grew by 13.7 per cent. In other
words, Western Australia is leading the country when it comes to building
approvals.
In
the past 12 months, the construction of 23 100 new homes has been approved,
which is the most in at least five or six years. That shows the success
of our building bonus program, which we brought in very quickly in May last
year following the impact of COVID on the building industry in Western Australia.
It has secured the positions of 65 000 people in the industry. In housing
finance, commitments for the construction and purchase of new-build homes is up
100.9 per cent in average annual terms, which is the fastest rate of growth in
the last 20 years and the strongest growth in the country by a long way.
National growth was 53.9 per cent; in other words, we are double the national
growth. According to the ABS, investors have increased by 34 per cent in annual
average terms, the strongest growth in 14 years.
The figures that have come out of
the ABS today are great news. They show that the measures that we put in place,
and which we got the commonwealth to support, have certainly secured the jobs
of many people in the building industry—that is, apprentices, trainees,
tradies, people who work in the building companies, and small businesses all over Western Australia. It was obviously a very
dire time back in March, April and May last year, but the measures we
have put in place have secured those positions, and that is terrific news.