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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 797 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 18 November 2021 by Mr T.J. Healy

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENTS

797. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Minister for Planning:

I refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to deliver responsible development that supports jobs as well as provides housing choice for Western Australians, and the Leader of the Liberal Party's question yesterday regarding apartments.

(1) Can the minister provide the house with further examples of schools that are in close proximity to mixed-use precincts that involve multiple-unit dwellings or hospitality venues?

(2) Can the minister advise the house whether it is correct that people living in apartments are a threat to children, as asserted by the Leader of the Liberal Party in this house yesterday?

Ms R. SAFFIOTI replied:

(1)–(2) I thank the member for Southern River for that question. It was an incredible performance yesterday by the Leader of the Liberal Party, when he basically said that those living in apartments are a threat to children. He said that people living in apartments are a threat to your children—that is what he said. Let us go through the Leader of the Liberal Party's comments and his views. His view is that there are some suburbs that people should not be able to move into. There should not be new residents in some suburbs—that is the Leader of the Liberal Party's view. Over time, we have seen a lot of different approaches to development in the state. There is the possibility of continuous urban sprawl. There is the approach of subdividing every property outside the western suburbs, which was the approach taken by the Liberal Party—the wholesale subdivision of all suburbs except some parts of the western suburbs—or there is the approach that we are taking, which is housing choice and diversity in our suburbs. That means ensuring that not every block in WA is subdivided. In fact, the majority do not change, but we are creating active housing precincts across our community and across our suburbs. We do not believe that any suburb should be off limits. We actually believe there should be housing choice in every suburb. Yesterday in this place, the Leader of the Liberal Party asked me to give him some examples —

Ms S.E. Winton: No, he said one.

Ms R. SAFFIOTI: He asked me to give him one example, which we did yesterday, but I will give him some more today. Yesterday, he asked for an example of a school that has an apartment building opposite.

Dr D.J. Honey: No, no—adjacent to the oval.

The SPEAKER: Order, please, members!

Ms R. SAFFIOTI: The member is refining it to a nothingness now. But yesterday, it was about overlooking schools. The member for Roe, who is sitting opposite, knows Wesley College pretty well. I gave the quick example of Wesley College, where the early childhood centre is overlooked by a block of apartments. As members of this place will know, we did a little straw poll today, did we not? We said, ''Look, you know your areas; give us some suburbs where your school may be adjacent to some apartments or a liquor store or a bar.'' We did a quick straw poll; I thank members for their quick response. We asked for suburbs that have high schools, primary schools, public schools and private schools and might have some apartments or mixed-use developments nearby. This is just a quick snapshot: Kelmscott, Armadale, South Perth, East Fremantle, Fremantle, Victoria Park, Shenton Park, Mosman Park, Claremont, Floreat, Perth, Karrinyup, Darch, Belridge and Woodvale. That is just a quick list from a quick straw poll of where we have primary schools and high schools adjacent to mixed-use developments.

Member, we know that the Liberal Party is good at trying to create division and hatred in the community. We know that is the approach, but we have a shared and collective responsibility to build homes for future generations. This is not about today; this is about our children and our children's children into the future. Where will people live? We are taking an approach that we believe there should be diversity of housing choice and that older people can continue to live in their own suburbs in a smaller place, that young people should have the opportunity to buy in the suburb that they grew up in. That is our approach. The fear and divisiveness of the Leader of the Liberal Party in trying to scare people about people living in apartments is a disgrace, and we will point out to everybody living in an apartment what he thinks of them.