A Woman's Place

I too would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land – the Burramattagal People of the Darug Nation – and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

I particularly want to acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People here this morning.

Thank you Ross.

I want to talk today about place – and I want to talk specifically about a woman’s place.

I'm not going to finish the rest of that expression because obviously I don't agree with it.

Places are essential to everyone.

But they are particularly essential to women.

For most of our lifetimes, women have had the principal responsibility of caring for their families.

Regardless of whether we think it is right, women have throughout the ages been the home makers.

And so often when things go wrong:

• whether it's violence, or
• illness, it's the home – and the sense of place – that's destroyed.

I’ve always been a fan of the Property Council because you have been one of the longest standing advocates of places.

And we too quickly forget that places aren’t just about property developer profits.

Of course, that is an aspect – and as a former head of the Business Council, I’m hardly going to be the person to critique ethically made profits.

But fundamentally, what the Property Council does – and what you advocate for – is:

• the creation of homes
• the creation of workplaces, and
• the creation of places for people to thrive – and I thank you for that.

And for women, this is a hugely important thing.

For me – and for so many of us in this room – place shaped my life.

I grew up in a public housing estate.

We had a house.

We knew our house was secure.

In those days, almost everyone in public housing worked.

By the time, I was running the Department of Housing, society had changed and nobody living in housing estates was working.

When I was growing up, we had a sense of community.

This is not so true of public housing estates today.

I have always understood that place really matters to people.

It matters to their life chances.

Place isn’t bricks and mortar, it is

• security
• belonging
• community, and

I have spent my lifetime, especially in the Department of Housing – which I ran twice in two states – and the Department of Planning:

• trying to improve places
• trying to improve housing estates in Western Sydney and across Victoria, and
• trying to create new forms of housing through housing associations and more innovative finance mechanisms.

I was determined that other people wouldn’t have to experience the type of housing and lack of services I did growing up.

Even though I had security, we didn’t have a bus on Sundays – ever – and the bus service stopped at noon on Saturdays.

Try navigating work, weekend sport and getting essentials from the store without a car – and no access to public transport.

And worse, tenants were regarded as second-class citizens and every encounter my family had with the Housing Commission was designed to put you in your place.  

It’s true that gains have been made in getting the iron triangle of housing, jobs and infrastructure right – but there remains so much work to do.

A few weeks ago I was at an event to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the City West Housing Authority.

Thirty years ago I developed the funding model for this along with Rebecca Richardson – and Federal Minister Brian Howe and the NSW Housing Minister approved it.

Now it’s got 900 houses.

It has given women and many others lives of financial and physical security, of joy and happiness.

We forget the little things we do can make an enormous personal difference to people’s lives.

I also spearheaded estate renewal, tenant participation, and a broader community housing agenda.

They remain things I am most proud of in my career.

But the work hasn’t finished. In fact, it appears to have lost focus.

In many respects – as a society – we have lost the big agendas and big innovation around housing.

Governments are announcing big housing targets, and I agree with this.

But we have to actually reform the housing market system.

We need to:

• sort out supply and demand, and predictable long term land release
• set net addition to stock targets as they have in the UK
• progressively rezone suburbs so we can increase density, as the NSW Government is doing
• continue broad acre land release – but ensuring we put infrastructure and jobs in first
• get connectivity in urban fringe developments, and
• we must get the design and housing mix right in these emerging suburbs, and
• critically sort out approval processes.

When it comes to housing products, let’s embrace innovation in build to rent and financial models.

And our housing stock needs to reflect the demographic changes in our community.

We need more flexibility including options for larger migrant families.

We must introduce better tax and stamp duty incentives to encourage people to move or downsize.

As I said when I ran the Business Council, stamp duty is a productivity sapping, mobility destroying, terrible tax and it needs reform – no, it needs to be replaced.

And can someone tell me why Australia hasn’t embraced the very high-quality prefabricated housing that we see in places like Germany and Canada?

Doing this would enable us to get housing on the ground faster.

The reason that's so important is that it just costs too much to build a house here.

Even before a brick is laid, your ticket is getting clipped with an array of charges and taxes that inevitably get passed on to consumers.

Planning approvals also need to be streamlined across the country.

I congratulate the Secretary of the NSW Department of Planning for her incredible leadership on this.

But we need coordinated urgent action across Australia to get housing approvals working effectively.

And then on the social housing side, where did we get to with the reforms that John Howard tried to initiate – a universal tenure neutral housing subsidy?

The subsidy could have been used for public or private social housing or, indeed, home ownership.

I believe passionately in my soul that if we'd gone ahead with this, the public and social housing system would be much stronger today.

It also included a massive reform of the Housing Association structures.

If I had my way, I would have transferred the bulk of housing to the Housing Association sector as Margaret Thatcher did in the UK – and no Labour leader tried to unravel.

I would have allowed those quite substantial organisations to:

• operate commercial balance sheets
• charge cost recovery rents, and
• borrow equity to both upgrade and create new housing stock.

When it comes to the renewal of public housing estates – this really is a half-finished agenda.

The housing estates that I grew up in are not the housing estates of today.

The are:

• rundown
• the maintenance bills are colossal, and
• most importantly, they are not places to thrive.

Due to demand and supply problems, we have high concentrations of extremely disadvantaged people in the same places.

This is not a philosophical point.

It's just not good for people to live where they feel forgotten and ignored.

It’s particularly not great for women.

And it's not great for girls.

I remember when I was visiting a prominent housing estate in Western Sydney watching a young girl obviously not at school and looking a bit lost.

I thought to myself, ‘how can this girl break the cycle of disadvantage and discrimination that is going to hold her back?’

We cannot allow a situation like this to continue.

I was embarrassed to tell people my postcode and that was in the days when public housing was a very different choice.

Where is the estate redevelopment and estate renewal work that the great Max Beck and I did in Victoria?

Where is the big reform agenda on these housing estates?

We need a national focus on renewing, regenerating and redeveloping – yes redeveloping – these housing estates.

We need to utilise your expertise because this ought to be a win-win for everyone:

• A win-win for residents with new and renewed housing
• A win-win for the property industry, and
• A win-win for the efficient administration of housing estates.

What is disappointing is that during the GFC we spent $6.4 billion on social housing – but we didn’t do the work on reform and renewal.

But across the system if we are to tackle our housing crisis, we need a bipartisan commitment – not just to housing targets – but a fundamental rethink of the private and social housing market, because a woman’s place matters.

It matters because it is women who largely pay the price for system failure.

As the chair of the Bradfield Development Authority I have a chance to get the systems right and right the wrongs of the past.

The Authority is overseeing the development of the first new Australian city in 100 years.

It’s tremendously exciting.

Bradfield is a city of:

• 10,000 new homes
• two million square metres of office space, and
• 36 hectares of open space.

But the point of difference here that is so important – is that it will be a city of advanced industries and new jobs.

It is a chance to do something that is completely different to every other city in the country.

What we are trying to do at Bradfield is turn around what’s happened with housing in Western Sydney for so long – which is houses first, and jobs and infrastructure way too late or not at all.

This forces people to be dislocated.

It forces people into those nightmarish commutes for work.

We are building a liveable city – which includes affordable housing.

People will be close to amenities and on the doorstep of world-class services such as schools, hospitals, child care, and a Metro – and well paying, meaningful jobs.

It will be a beautiful city that blends with its environmental surrounds, promotes arts and culture, and treads lightly on the land of First Nations people.

Bradfield and the area around Western Sydney’s International Airport will transform the economic and social dynamic of Western Sydney – deepening and diversifying the economic base.

In doing that, it changes the economic opportunities for the citizens of Western Sydney but particularly women as they will have access to the high skilled, high-tech jobs of the future.

The first two buildings at Bradfield will be the Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility.

These are not just the first buildings; they are the first steps in a fundamental rethink of how a city in Australia gets designed and built.

Bradfield will be a magnet and a catalyst for job creation in advanced industries which Australia must run hard at to be part of the world's global supply chains and in order to diversify its extremely narrow economy.

I gave a major speech recently on Bradfield and I encourage you to look at it.

We are trying to turn around 100 years of housing without jobs but, more importantly, to create jobs that are in new industries that are:

• accessible to people in Western Sydney and Australia
• high paid high skilled, and
• available to everyone in the population.

But importantly, they can be – and should be – the catalyst for changing the economic diversity of NSW.

If I turn to the work of the University, we are proud to be part of – and serve –the region’s diverse, dynamic, and vibrant communities.

One of the best ways we can do that is through thoughtful placemaking which:

• creates greater opportunities
• awakens ambition
• ensures equity, and
• deepens social cohesion.

If I think about what the most important institution in Western Sydney is, I believe it is Western Sydney University.

I don’t say this because I am the Chancellor but because our university is on a mission to address the missing link in Western Sydney’s economic and social transformation – building a skills base.

By skilling, reskilling and upskilling the region’s workforce, we can attract new industries, investment, jobs, and higher paying jobs.

There is probably no bigger impact-university in terms of placemaking than our university. We honestly care about Western Sydney.

Our 13 campuses are not just 13 campuses – they are 13 communities.

I really encourage you to take a look at our building in Bankstown. For starters, you can’t miss it and secondly, it is a marvellous example of placemaking.

It is at the centre of Bankstown’s rejuvenation which also includes:

• a new TAFE
• new hospital, and

In so many places, Western Sydney University is the catalyst for life changing development in partnership with:

• the late great Lang Walker
• Charter Hall
• Daicorp
• Mirvac
• Landcom, and

Places like Blacktown, Campbelltown, Penrith, Parramatta and Westmead – where we’ve been able to use our land bank to create:

• world class higher education and research facilities
• seventy-five thousand square metres of 6-star green star commercial space
• as well as diverse and affordable housing.

In the last 10 years, we have created about 2,000 dwellings.

We have over 5,000 thousand dwellings in the pipeline, many of which will be targeted for affordable housing.

The university is creating thriving hubs for education and engaged research with partners including:

• TAFE
• schools
• hospitals and

This includes embedding lifelong learning and driving skills and research innovation for the jobs and industries of the future.

We are committed to improving access to education for everyone and increasing students across the campus network.

We contribute more than $1 billion a year in economic uplift across the region and create more than sixty-one-thousand direct and indirect jobs.

The University is about to embark on another decade of transformative placemaking in Western Sydney.

We are really interested in working with the Property Council to make sure we can get a double dividend through apprenticeships and working with the Institute of Applied Technology Construction.

This morning, I’m keen to hear your ideas on that.

Our university and the property industry have a collective responsibility to make sure we are working together to develop the skill base for the future, including for women.

Part of the challenge in the higher education sector is to encourage women into STEM which is a foundation for many existing and new industry jobs.

I’m therefore thrilled that we have announced the Barney Glover scholarships for women in STEM.

I really encourage the property industry to think about a more structured relationship with universities around training and to sponsor scholarships for women.

They will make up the workforce you will need to manage the demand for housing and urban development.

So, to conclude, how do we get these important reforms and important debates back on track?

Well, let’s start by asking ourselves how do we achieve what people want?

Then:

• stop the distractions, and
• stop the noise.

We all have to reshape public debate in this country in a way that allows important things to be done.

This means being:

• respectful
• rational, and
• tolerant

But critically, we need to get back to the common-sense centre where most Australians actually are.

Let’s stop the confected outrage on the Left.

Let’s stop the confected outrage on the Right.

I want to touch on three examples.

The first is migration.

The fact we are on the precipice of a federal election being fought over this issue doesn’t bode well.

Elections by their nature tend to polarise views.

Well-managed migration is an enormous positive.

So instead of blaming migration for many of the problems we have, let’s describe and name the problems properly.

We need a well-managed and integrity driven migration system and two reviews I believe have put us in the right place.

Let’s get on with these.

But make no mistake, a central problem is the housing supply problem – not simply a migration policy program.

We have to get back on track with a national housing policy which picks up all the things that I’ve talked about this morning – and not blame migrants for the failure of governments to address the housing market properly.

Trust me, cutting off migration versus better managing it will be an own goal.

Next, I want to go to the energy debate.

There’s a reason this is called the climate wars, and they never seem to end.

So, why wouldn’t we have a sensible debate on how we make the transition in a way that ensures supply and affordability.

That must include gas and we need to be open to things like nuclear.

Why don’t we properly explore this issue by getting the regulations right as a starting point.

I’m not suggesting we put a small modular nuclear reactor in Pitt Street – I’m talking about embarking on a thorough and considered process with a green and white paper.

And my third example is the anti-woke movement going too far and the so-called progressive agenda going too far.

I don’t believe that embracing diversity, inclusion and gender-equality are woke issues.

I see them as going to the heart of participation and the heart of productivity.

The three Ps of economics are population, participation, and productivity.

Improving workforce participation – ensuring women especially can progress in their hours, careers and opportunities – is all about driving increased productivity.

I don’t see advancing Indigenous Australians as woke – it goes to the heart of social justice and the type of society we want to be.

And I certainly don’t see attracting greater diversity in our organisations – including on corporate boards – as woke.

Surely we want to move away from having our leaders derived from a monoculture that for a long, long time hasn’t represented modern Australia.

Let’s embrace different ways of thinking.

But let’s be careful about overreach in these agendas – an overreach that creates a ‘them versus us’.

Let’s be super careful about taking these progressive agendas so far that they come at the exclusion of others.

Everyone has to be able to see themselves in our national debates and feel part of our broader society.

But in pursuing the anti-woke agenda, are we seriously wanting to go back to a situation where people are excluded because of their:

• Ethnicity
• Sexual orientation, or
• Religious beliefs?

Australia’s egalitarian society is shaped by our embrace of multiculturalism by our embrace of tolerance, civility and respect.

It’s also defined by our ability to have a laugh.

I worry that we have lost our sense of humour.

I’m not sure if Dame Edna Everage or Sir Les Patterson would have flourished as much these days.

I suspect Sir Les would have been cancelled pretty quickly.

Let’s re-find our sense of humour.

Let’s get back to taking the proverbial out of things.

Taking ourselves too seriously, polarising debates and not talking about what matters to people is alienating the crucial middle class that actually decides elections and shapes the fabric of society.

And they feel left out of almost every national debate that is happening at the moment – and we need to be super careful here.

• So – together – let’s get back to the centre and focus on what matters most to people:
• a roof over their head
• a place they can afford
• a safe place to live
• a place where they can get their kids to school
• a place where they can get to work on time
• a place where they can get a good job, a better job, a career, and
• a place where they can have hope and reach their full potential.

Thank you.