THE HON PATRICK GORMAN MP, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND FEDERAL MEMBER FOR PERTH: Great to be here on top of Perth City Link, a project that, some almost 15 years ago, Labor invested in during the Global Financial Crisis, and now you're seeing it come to life for not just businesses but homes for our fellow Australians. And we're here to make a very important announcement about building more homes. More estates. One of the things the people in my electorate tell me time and time again is that they want more manufacturing jobs here in Western Australia. They want more capability here in Western Australia, and they want more homes for their fellow Australians. And we have been determined every day that we've been in government, working in partnership with the Cook Government, to make sure we deliver those homes for more Australians. And one of the things I’m really excited about is to be here, standing alongside not just the crew from Built Living, who are building homes for so many, but also the National Reconstruction Fund. The National Reconstruction Fund is something that Labor championed. We pushed it through the Parliament against fierce opposition, and we can now show the results of that legislation delivering real change for Australians and real change for Western Australians. We’ll talk more about the partnership when it comes to our housing policy and the partnership we have when it comes to building more homes for Western Australians. I'll hand over to Minister John Carey.
THE HON JOHN CAREY MLA, MINISTER FOR PLANNING AND LAND, HOUSING AND WORKS, HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE, MINISTER ASSISTING THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE, STATE MEMBER FOR PERTH: Thanks, Patrick. As we know, our government is working with the Federal Government to do everything it can to accelerate the delivery of housing in Western Australia. One of the structural weaknesses that our state has faced is the delivery of medium- and high-density apartments. The reality is, we, unlike the East Coast, could not have the same level of builders who have had the capacity to deliver apartments for Western Australia. As a result, Western Australia has been behind but is now catching up through changing our planning rules to accelerate and make it easier to get apartments off the ground. But the other part of the picture is making sure that we build capacity to enable apartments, and this is why our Built initiative is so important. Our state government has invested in an advanced manufacturing facility that is about creating a modular construction process to get apartments built. We have provided a $20 million grant as well as 10 hectares of land to enable the advanced manufacturing facility to re-establish and the Federal Government's announcement today backs this project. This is all about accelerating the delivery of apartment construction in Western Australia. We need this. It is critical that we have more apartments across the board to tackle the growing demand for housing. And what we know is more people want to live in apartments. Young couples. Downsizing. Singles. We have extraordinary demand for apartment living, and this announcement today helps back in to mitigate demand. I’ll now pass on to Minister Ayres.
SENATOR THE HON TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION AND MINISTER FOR SCIENCE: Well, g'day! It is absolutely incredible to be in WA. This is a partnership between the Western Australian State Government – the Cook Government – the Albanese Government and Wesfarmers to deliver a $240 million package that will generate blue-collar manufacturing jobs here in Western Australia. More homes delivered faster, and more homes delivered cheaper. This facility, when it commences production, will have the capacity to produce 2,000 apartments every single year. It'll mean that construction happens 50% faster and 20% cheaper. That's Western Australia and Built leading Australia on improving productivity, efficiency, cost, and speed in the construction industry. It's a $120 million investment here from the Albanese Government's National Reconstruction Fund. Its job is to deliver investment in new manufacturing and new capability across Australia to build good jobs in our outer suburbs and in our regions to reindustrialise the Australian economy. And in this case, it will deliver industrial jobs. It'll deliver more homes. It'll deliver more homes faster, and it'll deliver more homes cheaper. This is a very good deal for Western Australia. I’m really pleased to be part of this announcement today and will be following the construction of the new facility very closely, which we anticipate construction commencing over the next few months. So, congratulations to Built, to Wesfarmers. Thank you for the partnership with the Cook Labor Government here. It is only through Labor governments focused on delivery, delivering real change at the state and national level, that we make progress on reindustrialising the economy and delivering good blue-collar jobs, and in this case, enormous dividends for housing and for young Australians who’ll be building homes. I'll hand over to David Gall, the CEO of the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation.
DAVID GALL, NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION FUND CORPORATION CEO: The NRFC is absolutely delighted to be able to support Built Living with this wonderful facility. We think it makes an enormous difference in terms of advanced manufacturing in this country, and in particular what it does to both the speed of supply, as the minister said, at least 50% quicker, but also the affordability of medium- and high-density housing as well, reducing costs by in the order of 20%. What is particularly pleasing here, in addition to the productivity benefits, it does create well-paid skilled jobs and new career pathways in construction as well. This first facility will actually have 150 permanent roles and another 150 roles during the construction of it as well. So, we're excited to see it up and running, delighted to be able to support Built Living, and looking forward to actually seeing the finished product. Thanks very much.
DALE CONNOR, BUILT LIVING CEO: Thanks, David. Dale, the CEO of Built Living. Thank you, Minister Ayres, for making it today. [INAUDIBLE]. So, Built and Wesfarmers have come together to create built living, designed to create apartments faster, cheaper, and at an industrial scale. Designed to manufacture in a way to create repeatable, high-quality product and capacity. In fact, the NRFC, in having the confidence in us in this endeavour, and the confidence not only creating our facilities here, but to take this on a national scale. We know that with recent global events, the global supply chain represents a great issue for all in industry and in the creation of housing. Our approach – on-site local manufacturing – will create stable manufacturing jobs and will create a supply chain that is close to where we want to create our assets and create a new future for housing, not only in Western Australia, but for the start of our ambition to take this on a national level. So, we thank greatly the National Reconstruction Fund for having confidence in modern methods of construction and the confidence in Built Living. Thank you very much.
AYRES: Any questions?
JOURNALIST: How soon will the apartments be built?
AYRES: Well, the plan here is to commence construction of the facility over the coming weeks and months. As I understand it from Dale, we're looking forward to late 2027 through 2028, early production.
CONNOR: Yeah, we'll start production in early 2028. We'll start to see us in construction a bit earlier than that.
AYRES: And as you would imagine, in a production process, they will start with smaller levels of production, but the capacity of this one facility will be to deliver 2,000 additional units every year. And I believe that what this announcement will do. I'm sure, from Built’s perspective, opportunities for construction of new facilities on the East Coast of Australia. But it will drive, I think, a discussion across the whole construction sector about modern methods of construction, how we can drive productivity and new innovations in construction to make housing cheaper, to make it delivered faster, and to deliver more homes for young Australians.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
CONNOR: Yeah, our advanced manufacturing facility is [INAUDIBLE] that coming out of the factory will basically be assembled on site from slabs, walls, facade panels [INAUDIBLE]. So, you basically see the building from a slab on ground, basically created in front of your eyes, such we can come in with kitchens and [INAUDIBLE] much faster than in other conditions.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
CONNOR: Look, we're very much needing this innovative approach for Australia. I say innovative for Australia, but it is something that Built has been seeing over the last two years, heavily done at custom plants in Europe, in Scandinavia, in Canada. This is an approach that is tried and proved around the world. It requires strong investment in strong targets like Wesfarmers that's supposed to make it happen and the government [INAUDIBLE]. But we're confident of that.
AYRES: Dale's really underselling some of this, right? So prefab concrete, but all of the electricals done inside the system, built ready to go out on site, plumbing, glass facades, balconies, balustrades – all pre-constructed on-site. And that means precision to not just the millimeter level, but the micrometer level, to make sure that in an advanced manufacturing process, these are being delivered in a way they can be clipped together on site, and all the finishing work is really what is left to be done. That is an enormous innovation for Australia and the world. We've seen prefab housing and cottage construction, but this means in large-scale suburban and city developments that we will see developments like this happen in half the time.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: Well, we've got we've got challenges making sure that we're getting young Australians into trades and manufacturing jobs. That's why we're delivering fee-free TAFE, so free TAFE for young Australians. These are good jobs for young Australians to get into, not just in economic terms. The kind of jobs where you can build a family, buy a home, have transportable skills. These are also jobs that are about building Australia and making Australia stronger.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: Well, what this will deliver is a manufacturing facility that will service all of the surrounding regions, and in order to deliver modular construction at industrial scale around Australia, that will need more investment in more of these kinds of facilities. This is Western Australia and Built leading the way on modern methods of construction to deliver cheaper housing, delivered faster, and delivered at industrial scale.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: Well, I traveled over here yesterday with the Prime Minister, and this is his 40th trip as the Prime Minister of Australia to Western Australia. This is a Prime Minister who traveled here throughout his parliamentary career and before that. He gets Western Australia. He understands the contribution that it makes to Australia's economy and to Australia's growth, and he also understands the particular shape and requirements of the Western Australian economy. This is this discussion is all in response to report from the Productivity Commission. What matters here is what governments do, not reports. What matters is what governments do. The Prime Minister has made it very clear that Western Australia will continue to receive its fair share, and I'm sure he'll have something to say about that at a press conference, which I understand is scheduled for a couple of hours.
JOURNALIST: In regards to data centres, Queensland is pushing for its own rules around data centre approvals. Is your government at all flexible on new data centres powering themselves on the normal grid?
AYRES: Yeah, I want to be respectful of the National Cabinet process. The National Cabinet will meet in a couple of days' time, but we have set out our objective here to legislate AI data centre standards for Australia, and that means not having a race to the bottom on electricity and water. And one of the most important principles in those artificial intelligence standards and the legislation that the government will bring to the Parliament is renewable electricity additionality. That is, new generation, wind and solar, the lowest-cost form of power backed by storage and backed by gas in the electricity market. So, delivering not just what large data centres require, but investing in capacity for every other customer, putting downward pressure on prices for households and business. It's no different to what the Albanese Government and the Crisafulli Government did when we secured the future of the Boyne Aluminium Smelter. They're not that different, really, large-scale industrial electricity users and data centres. That one facility in Gladstone uses about 10% of Queensland's electricity. It is now, thanks to the deal with the Crisafulli Government, going to be powered by wind and solar, backed by batteries and gas. That is the lowest possible cost alternative for Rio Tinto to run that facility. That's driving investment through well into the 2040s. Investment as far as the eye can see in blue-collar jobs and apprenticeships and industrial capability. We are bringing the same principles to the artificial intelligence standards to make sure that data centres are built in the right place and they drive an improvement in conditions for Australians in electricity terms and in water terms.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: Well, there will be a meeting of Premiers on Wednesday. There are particular rules around the way that Energy Ministers engage in these processes. I am very confident that where we will end here is the AI standards being delivered by the states in a way that means new investment in wind and solar, backed by storage, backed by gas that will put downward pressure on prices. Any alternative means more uncertainty, less investment, and higher prices for consumers and for businesses. So, we'll press ahead with that. But, as I say, I want to be respectful of the National Cabinet processes and wait until that's concluded. But we've got a job to do for Australia here, making sure that these data centres are in the right places, delivered at the right time in a way that puts downward pressure on electricity devices.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: The most important thing that any government can do, whether it's in terms of rentals or first home buyers, is to build new supply. 660,000 homes built since this Government was elected, but we need to do more. We need to do more, and investments like this one in new unit construction, some of which will be owner-occupied, some of which will be renters, means that we'll see downward pressure on prices and more housing availability. This Government, the Albanese Government, has done more than any government in Australian history. The largest increases in renters' assistance for decades. Bringing more housing construction on. Working with the states to make sure that we deliver good, strong rental standards. We're getting on with the job, but there is so more to do.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: I know that SunRice facility and the facilities around it in the Riverina really well. I used to work in that region and worked with SunRice very closely in my previous career and very closely over the course of my ministerial career in the Parliament. They are an Australian success story. Sitting behind SunRice is the Ricegrowers’ Co-operative. Hundreds of rice farmers investing in the Riverina region. We are making very good progress in a process led by Environment Minister Murray Watt, but engaging ministers across the Government to deliver more investment in that SunRice facility. And absolutely consistent with what was said yesterday on the Insiders program, we will deliver a good result there for rice growers, and a good result in that community.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
AYRES: We are unashamedly a pro-manufacturing, pro-blue-collar jobs government. We have the largest pro-manufacturing package of any government in Australian history. The Future Made in Australia program is all about building the resilience and capability of existing facilities, and also making sure that we are reindustrialising the economy with new investment in new jobs. I saw today that our decision to reserve Australian gas for Australian industry and Australian households, much like what has happened here in Western Australia since the Carpenter Government introduced gas reservation, is leading companies that have mothballed their facilities to begin to build plans to reopen new manufacturing capability. So, yep, industrial support unashamedly, but also pulling the levers in terms of electricity generation, in terms of gas reservation on the energy questions, to make sure we're doing everything that we can to build industrial jobs and to build Australian capabilities.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE].
CAREY: Oh, I was actually doing phone calling. I mean, look, the Premier's already been on the record. We are fighting for our lives. It is normal in these scenarios where you have a by-election. We've seen it before, of course, from memory in Darling Range, so, but we are doing everything we can, and I have to say, unlike One Nation, who seems to have already called it and believes that they've won it, which I find incredibly arrogant, our candidate and our team is making extraordinary efforts, 1000s of calls, 1000s of door knocks. We will fight right to the end because we believe in showing respect to all voters.
JOURNALIST: When you were on those phone calls, what were the main issues you're hearing about from voters?
CAREY: Look, it’s interesting because it can be varied. Obviously, cost of living relief is a key issue, which of course our State Government has prioritised. Housing, health. I mean, they're the issues that West Australians raise across communities, so it's not particular to Secret Harbour.
JOURNALIST: Just back on the rental stuff, new data shows someone earning $130,000 a year is spending around 36% of their income, while someone on $70,000 is spending more than half on rent. How concerning is that, and what more are you guys doing that is that pressure?
CAREY: Well, look, we understand the pressures in the rental market. Ever since the COVID pandemic, we've seen an extraordinary number of factors align to create the situation that we face. What I would say to every renter in Western Australia is that, as a state government, we are doing everything we can to get more homes built. Ultimately, it is about more homes being delivered into the rental market that will provide relief for tenants. Now, it's announcements like this that demonstrate what we're doing. I mean, do not underestimate. This is big. This is a game changer to be able to pump out more apartments that we critically need faster. There are so many benefits, and I have to say this: other states are jealous, other states want this, but like the usual East Coast states, they're always behind us. We are out front. This is an incredible initiative that is being made possible with Built, Wesfarmers, the State, and Federal Governments.
ENDS.
