Housing Minister and local Upper House MP, Harriet Shing, has been challenged to come clean on public housing numbers in the eastern Gippsland region.

Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said Ms Shing recently boasted about the number of ‘new’ homes the Labor Government has delivered in the area.

“This is slightly mischievous as the government makes out these are additional homes, and they are not,” said Mr Bull.

“In fact, we have less public housing residences in eastern Victoria now than when the Labor Government came to office, as they are selling off and demolishing old stock quicker than they are building.

“The government’s own figures state that in East Gippsland and Wellington Shires in 2015 we had 1612 residences and in 2023 (the most recent figures available) we have 1610 – two less homes despite the population growth and greater need.

“If you want to look further afield to Latrobe, it has 19 less homes than it had in 2015, so as a wider region we are 21 down – it is not the rose petal story Ms Shing would have us believe it is.

“This is her own electorate and what she has in fact done is oversee a reduction of public housing in her own patch in a period of a housing crisis.

“What she needs to do is start talking what the net gains and losses are - and explain why we have had a net loss.

“The so called ‘Big Build’ is not delivering here and, in fact, we are going backwards, as we regularly see old public housing stock being sold through local agents,” he said.

Mr Bull said if you looked at the number of bedrooms in public housing stock, there had been an even greater reduction. Many of the homes being sold off or demolished have had two and three bedrooms and the rebuilds have largely one or two bedrooms, so from a roof over your head perspective, it is worse.

“In addition, at the same time Labor has slugged mum and dad investors with the second residence tax and that is forcing many to leave and invest elsewhere, including the interstate markets. These homes are not being bought by those on the public housing wait list, so all it is doing is adding a rental crisis to the public housing crisis.

“Labor could not really make a bigger mess of housing if they tried.

“We have a number of agencies who, rather than hold more workshops, need to get on the front foot, calling out the government on its hypocrisy and demand no old stock be removed, so every new home built, is a net gain,” he said.