00:01Selling, selling and we're sold.
00:04Being able to afford a home is one of the biggest issues facing Australians.
00:08In 2023, the Victorian government said it would build 800,000 new homes over 10 years.
00:1480,000 units a year and no one's saying that'll be easy.
00:17It is proving to be tough.
00:19Data shows new dwellings completed in Victoria hit just 54,000 in the 12 months of September last year,
00:25down from 61,000 in the previous period.
00:27It's the fewest new completions in more than a decade.
00:30This shows why we need to build more homes.
00:32Market conditions are such that it's just really difficult to build.
00:36Construction costs are up 40% since the pandemic,
00:39whereas apartment prices have not moved anywhere near as much.
00:42Interest rates have also had a chilling effect on investment.
00:45Expert Brendan Coates says the state's bold planning reforms can work.
00:49We need to see that same tenacity and ambition applied to other parts of the feasibility problem.
00:55Victoria is building more homes than other states,
00:58but many in the industry say Victorian taxes are holding back greater investment.
01:02Clearly, the government hasn't done their job.
01:04So, what's the Coalition's plan?
01:06Yeah, well, we need to unlock supply.
01:09We need to free up the market when it comes to regulations and red tape.
01:13The Liberal Party want to block every measure that we take to get more homes built in Victoria.
01:18Home ownership and housing affordability will be a battleground issue with this election,
01:22and pressure will continue to rise on the Coalition to show how it plans to fix this generational problem.
01:28It's also facing internal pressure over pre-selections,
01:31with several Upper House MPs being challenged,
01:34including a key member of Jess Wilson's leadership team.
01:37Upper House leader Bev McArthur is in the spotlight
01:39after she charged taxpayers nearly $8,000 to fly to the UK for a month-long trip.
01:44But her travel report only shows three days of meetings,
01:47including with Conservative MPs and gender-critical activists.
01:51As I understand it, all guidelines have been adhered to.
01:54MPs can access up to $11,000 a year for international travel.
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