Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Environment and Water, Minister Watt. Since 2022 the Albanese Labor government has been focused on fixing the decade of coalition neglect, dealing with the challenges of the present and delivering on our promises to build Australia's future. Increasing the supply of new homes is a challenge the government is tackling head on through the establishment of a housing strike team to speed up project approvals. Can the minister update the Senate on the progress of the strike team, including how many new homes have been approved since its establishment?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Walker, who I know is a fierce advocate of the needs of younger Australians when it comes to housing. The Albanese Labor government is taking decisive action to cut through the red tape and delays in approvals that have held up the construction of more homes. After a decade of delay under the coalition where we saw no investment in social and affordable housing, we're speeding up approvals to build homes more quickly. For too many builders in Australia, it takes longer to get approval for a home than it does to build one, and this has held back housing supply and made it harder for ordinary Australians to get into a home of their own. Our reforms to the EPBC Act will speed up environmental assessments and approvals while strengthening environmental protections.

But we're not waiting for those reforms to commence; we're taking action now. Last year we established a new housing strike team within my department to accelerate assessment of the more than 26,000 homes that were with the department for assessment. Since the announcement of the housing strike team in late August 2025, tens of thousands of new homes have been approved by the Albanese government.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How many have been approved?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Bragg, we're always happy to answer a question about housing and the environment, but you just don't seem to make the cut, so we'll take the questions and let you know. In total, the government has given 26 housing projects the green light since that time, supporting 19,889 new homes. The projects include 15 metropolitan developments, supporting 16,210 new homes, and 11 regional developments, supporting 3,679 new homes. Most recently, approval was given to our new housing development in Thurgoona, in an electorate that we know quite a few people over there have got an interest in—it's the electorate of Farrer. And that development will include 425 homes, roads and infrastructure and a school. We're on track to deliver on our goal from the economic roundtable of assessing 26,000 new homes by July this year.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Walker, first supplementary?

Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese government's housing strike team is paving the way for the development of thousands of new homes for Australian families. How is the government ensuring the environment is being protected while still approving the homes Australians need?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Senator Walker. In delivering new homes, the Albanese government is getting the balance right by also ensuring that Australia's spectacular natural environment is protected. The approval for the development I mentioned in the electorate of Farrer earlier includes targeted conditions to protect listed threatened species. The conditions include strict clearance limits and a management plan to create, enhance and protect habitat for the endangered Sloan's froglet and the critically endangered regent honeyeater.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a pity you're not running in Farrer!

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The poor old Nats have already conceded defeat in the electorate of Farrer because they didn't deliver any new homes, unlike the Albanese government. Our approach to speeding up environmental approvals stands in contrast to what we saw in the coalition's decade of housing roadblocks. At one point during the coalition's term of government, they provided no funding whatsoever for housing approvals in the environment department. Their neglect meant that not a single approval was made on time. So dire was the situation when we came to government, there were nearly a hundred housing projects sitting unapproved by the coalition. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Walker, second supplementary?

Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last year, the Albanese Labor government passed once-in-a-generation reforms to Australia's environmental laws. How will these changes smooth the approval pathways so that housing projects can be approved even faster than is currently occurring while still ensuring strong environmental protections?

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand why the Nationals get a bit toey when we talk about electorates like Farrer. It's because their new position in Australian politics is to be a preference distributor to either the Liberal Party or One Nation. That's how irrelevant the National Party has become.

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Watt does not need the yelling that's going on. You are to listen in silence.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for your protection, President. The housing approvals process is only going to get faster from here under the Albanese government, as well as simpler and more reliable, with the rollout of our landmark national environmental laws well underway. We'll see faster approvals via a new, streamlined approvals pathway, better and more enduring bilateral agreements between federal and state governments, and improved strategic assessments and bioregional planning. What a far cry from the situation we inherited from the coalition when we came to office. There were nearly 100 housing projects sitting unapproved and not a single dollar provided to the environment department for environmental approvals for housing. Since then, we have approved 79 housing projects totalling 62,000 homes, and there are more to come under the Albanese Labor government.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on notice.