Press Conference, Rockingham

SUBJECT: Hundreds of New Homes for Defence Personnel in Rockingham.

MEMBER FOR BRAND, MADELEINE KING: Well thanks so much for everyone for being here today here in Baldivis. I want to start by acknowledging the Traditional Owners and the land in which we're going to talk about really soon, the Whadjuk-Noongar People and pay my respects to elders past and present. Welcome to Baldivis, the heart of Rockingham. My name is Madeleine King. I'm the Member for Brand and the representative in the Federal Parliament for this extraordinarily vibrant area. I want to acknowledge my colleague Minister Matt Keogh, Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans’ Affairs. Also the State Member, the Member for Baldivis, Reece Whitby, also a Minister in the Cook Government here in Western Australia. And Paul Papalia, the Minister for Defence Issues here in WA. As well as the Right Honourable Mayor of Rockingham, Deb Hamblin and also Captain Ken Burleigh, the Commanding Officer of HMAS Stirling. Which is going to be, has played such an important role in the defence of the nation, but also in the growth of Rockingham and Baldivis and surrounding suburbs for so long. So thanks for being here, Ken and to your team as well. The announcement here today is really important for a growing community and a growing community that's going to be even more vibrant than it already is, thanks to the AUKUS investments of the Albanese Labor Government. I grew up around the corner in Shoalwater Bay when I was a young kid. Baldivis was not like it is today, it was very different. It was sand mines and agricultural land and a lot of bushland and kangaroos and it's changed as it has grown. And such a vibrant and welcoming community here in Baldivis. I look forward to welcoming personnel from the Royal Australian Navy, also the British Royal Navy and of course the US Navy when the personnel and their families come to live here in what is of course the most beautiful part of the State of Western Australia and therefore the most beautiful part of Australia. With that, I'm going to hand over to Minister Matt Keogh to talk a bit more about today's announcement.

MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE PERSONNEL, MATT KEOGH: Well thank you very much Madeleine and it's great to be here today in Baldivis just down the road from Fleet Base West HMAS Stirling which is Australia's largest naval base and is already seeing growth and will continue to see significant growth over a number of years as part of the AUKUS program and other programs operating out of that base. And that means that we need to make sure that we are providing for our most significant capability in the Defence Force and that's our Defence people. Today we're very pleased to be announcing that Defence Housing Australia has partnered with three critical local partners when it comes to building development. Parcel, Forma and Plunkett to deliver 550 homes to DHA to provide for our Defence Force personnel that will need housing around HMAS Stirling here in Baldivis and in surrounding suburbs. This is very important because it means that our Defence Force personnel will be able to access modern homes here in the local community. They won't be competing against the private rental market. They'll be able to access those homes through DHA. It's a great example of us working in partnership with local industry to provide that security of housing, modern housing in the community. It meets the needs of the community as well by making sure that we're able to provide the housing through DHA and we don't have our Defence Force personnel unnecessarily competing in the local rental market in the community either. We're in the process of engaging in further agreements as well to provide several hundred additional homes on top of the 550 over coming years. The first homes will come online from next financial year 2025-26 and this will be a program that runs out to 2030 and as part of a national program that Defence Housing Australia is engaging with to supply additional housing where we need them for our growing Defence Force needs. Our growing Defence Force personnel numbers around critical base areas around the country and of course HMAS Stirling out of Rockingham, Fleet Base West is one of those major centres. It'll see housing based here in Baldivis and surrounding suburbs so that our Defence Force personnel are integrated into these thriving communities which are so welcoming and so well supported with infrastructure and schools like we have across the road here to support their families. As well because we're not just supporting our Defence people, we're also supporting their families and this is a critical venture and starting off today to provide those additional homes. Now going to get the State Minister for Defence Issues, Paul Papalia to say a few words as well about how this impacts for the State.

WA MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY AND VETERANS’ ISSUES, PAUL PAPALIA:  Thanks Matt. Look it's very exciting to be here today. What this confirms, this big investment, this big uplift in Defence housing in Western Australia confirms that Western Australia is absolutely at the cutting edge, at the forefront of the nation's Defence efforts. We've seen in the last 12 months a commitment by the Federal Government to do continuous shipbuilding in Western Australia so for generations to come Western Australians will have the opportunity to work in the defence industry. Solid, interesting, high tech jobs forever. Forever going forward and in the national interest to provide our Defence personnel with the best equipment they possibly can. And of course, AUKUS gets real in Western Australia. This is the place where AUKUS becomes very real for all of us. In only three years time this will be the location for forward rotation of American and British nuclear submarines and then we'll be getting our own nuclear submarines in 2032. This is the place where Defence is really stepping up. The nuclear submarine acquisition of nuclear submarine capability is the single biggest uplift in Defence capability in the nation's history
and it will be happening here in Western Australia. We need more Defence personnel, we need people to support Defence and all of that represents opportunity. Fantastic to see the Federal Government providing additional housing for that effort and we as a State Government are lockstep with the Federal Government on enhancing our Defence capability right here in WA.

CHAIR OF DEFENCE HOUSING AUSTRALIA, ROBERT LANG: Good morning, I'm Dr Robert Lang. I'm the Chair of Defence Housing Australia and I'm just delighted to welcome Minister Keogh and Minister King along with members of the State Parliament, members of industry, Defence Forces and all of you here to this landmark opportunity to announce a fabulous new New Builds Volume Leasing Program which will see greater numbers of quality homes being delivered for Defence personnel. Defence Housing Australia remains steadfastly committed to working with the Australian Defence Force to deliver their needs wherever they may need to be and here at Rockingham is important, a first example of this New Builds Volume Leasing Program which will see the quality homes that our Defence personnel deserve and will receive being delivered in a very timely and flexible fashion. On that note I'd like to thank you all for coming, particularly like to thank the ministers and all our distinguished guests for coming today and invite them to do a sod-turning on this site.

MINISTER KEOGH: We'll do questions before we do a sod-turn. Any questions?

JOURNALIST: How many homes will be built on this lot?

MINISTER KEOGH: I think Parcel is providing several hundred homes on the land that it's developing which includes these lots here and then working with the other builders, Forma
and with Plunkett, there's a number of sites across suburbs, across the city of Rockingham and extending into some suburbs in Kwinana and out to our east as well. That's important because we don't want to see just a conglomeration of every house in one area being a Defence house. We want to give the opportunity for our Defence Force personnel and their families to be integrated into the community, for their kids to be integrated into schools across the broader community here as well and to be part of a community. So that's why you'll see that as well as this development right here, the housing that's being delivered, the 550 are spread out across suburbs and housing developments that are happening across the city of Rockingham and beyond.

JOURNALIST: When are those funds going to be delivered and the housing expected to be completed?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, the project will see housing starting to be delivered from 2025-26 through to 2030.

JOURNALIST: Has there been any development on where the foreign sailors will live? 

MINISTER KEOGH: So, yes, the housing that's being delivered through this program with DHA is housing for our Australian Defence Force personnel principally for Navy with Garden Island, HMAS Stirling. We are working through projects around how we will be supporting the housing of American and British sailors that will be coming as part of the Fleet Rotation Program with AUKUS and that will be a future and separate program.

JOURNALIST: Is that 550 for local personnel? Is that quite an uplift in what we've been doing at AUKUS? Is that more than you expected to build?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, the 550 and we also have additional agreements that we're working on for several hundred on top of that is to make sure that we're provisioning for the number of individuals that will need access to this sort of housing. It's part of our overall plan to uplift our Defence Force numbers nationally which of course HMAS Stirling is a critical part of that given the significance of the AUKUS program. Growing the size of our submarine force in particular which will see Australian submariners operating initially in American Virginia class submarines which will be Australian submarines that we're acquiring from the United States and then of course the AUKUS submarine. So, this is about providing that support for the growth of our Australian Defence Force personnel which is all part of not just the AUKUS program but other programs operating out of HMAS Stirling.

JOURNALIST: The housing industry here is already under a lot of pressure in terms of having the workers they need to build houses. Is there an acknowledgement that this puts even more pressure in terms of these workers building Defence houses when they could be building other houses?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, I think what's really important to understand is when we think about the overall, we're talking about a program that's going to be delivering housing from 2025 through to 2030. And that's several hundred on top of the 500 homes. That is actually a drop in the ocean to a total number of homes that are being built throughout this area in Rockingham alone let alone across the City of Kwinana, the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. So it's important that by provisioning these homes so that they can be leased by DHA to provide through to our Defence Force members, it means that Defence Force members are not competing in the private rental market but in terms of the overall number of homes that are being developed in this area alone, let alone across the metropolitan area, it is not a significant number.

JOURNALIST:  Are you expecting that these hundreds of homes will be able to, they'll be able to supply every Defence family with a home or will there be some who would elect to fight it out on the rental market?

MINISTER KEOGH: So, Defence Force members access a broad variety of housing. Some Defence Force members will actually live on base at HMAS Stirling. Some Defence Force members choose to buy their own home and that is something that we encourage and we support through a number of other measures through the Defence Force and that's important to be able to provide them with stability and financial support. But a number of Defence Force members, a significant number would otherwise be in the rental market if they're not able to access DHA homes. So, making sure that we're providing a significant number of DHA homes which is what this program is about means that we don't see as many Defence Force members competing in the private rental market whilst we have other programs that support them in buying their own homes and of course housing them on base as well.

JOURNALIST:  How many Defence families/personnel would you expect to see move to the area from now until 2030?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, certainly we're expecting to see many hundreds of Defence Force members and families moving into this area through this program buying their own homes and we'll see that though over a period of time. Remember this particular program to construct these homes and to have them available through DHA is expanding out over a five-year period and we'll see that ramp up of Australian Defence Force personnel operating out of HMAS Stirling going beyond that as well. So whilst we'll see a very significant number increase for Australian Defence Force members and families in the area, it will be over a period of time as well.

JOURNALIST:  Minister, just on a different issue, do you agree with your colleague Jason Clare's comments that Israel is not complying with international law?

MINISTER KEOGH: I haven't seen Jason's comments this morning in relation to that, but obviously we've seen quite a bit of concern raised through the ICJ and others around some of the activities that we've seen in the Middle East by Israel and others. And what is really important and I think what everyone strives for here is that there is some form of peaceful resolution and that we've been calling for is we've been calling for, for some time, for there to be ceasefires, for there to be the release of hostages and that we want to see a return to stability in the Middle East.

JOURNALIST:  He said the bombing of schools and hospitals was not in compliance with international law.

MINISTER KEOGH: Any bombing of schools and hospitals is not [inaudible]

JOURNALIST:  Judge Nicholas Egan has said the Commonwealth should compensate the state for having to hold Andrew John Hickling in Hakea Prison because he was able to run a drug operation from the detention centre and said you would expect the Commonwealth to be operating that centre in a way that that wasn't possible. Do you agree with the judge's comments?

PAPALIA: Look, that whole, that's a really interesting question, and complex and a little difficult for me to answer now. It’s before the courts and all manner of complications around that. I haven't seen the judge's comments so maybe another day. Anything else? Good? Okay, good. Thanks.

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