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Queensland’s deputy premier wrote to developers asking them to remove affordable housing from their building applications, months after changing planning laws to remove requirements for developers to offer cheaper homes.
Jarrod Bleijie, who also serves as the state’s planning minister, wrote to Meridian Property in May to ask that its proposed development in Brisbane’s inner north be amended to cut its affordable housing component, arguing the removal will improve housing supply.
Under the original application, the Lamington Markets project in Lutwyche included two residential towers with 134 dwellings, of which 36 would be affordable.
Bleijie said the units should be reallocated at “standard market-rate housing within the development” to align with LNP changes to Queensland’s State Facilitated Development legislation.
“The changed application will maintain development that is for an urban purpose and will assist in the delivery of an identified priority of the state, being the delivery of housing,” Bleijie wrote.
A similar request was made of Walker Group’s Lakesview development in Robina, originally planned for 2750 homes, of which 550 would be affordable.
In a response letter to Bleijie in May, Walker Group executive of development Peter Saba acknowledged the request to remove affordable housing and supported the change.
“In addition, in response to changing market demands and revisions to the proposed apartment typology, the application now seeks approval for a total yield of up to 2500 dwellings,” Saba wrote.
State Facilitated Development was a special planning instrument introduced by the former Labor government in 2024 to speed up planning approvals and supersede local government planning laws.
Earlier this year, the government announced an SFD “reset” to unlock housing faster, and removed the requirement for developers to include at least 15 per cent affordable housing in their applications.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles, who revealed the letters during a press conference on Tuesday, said the requests by Bleijie were evidence of the government effectively directing developers to make their developments more expensive.
“This is an extraordinary abuse of power by the deputy premier, an abuse of power that should be used to direct developers to build more affordable homes,” Miles said.
Shadow housing spokesperson Meaghan Scanlon was particularly critical of the amendment to the Lakesview proposal, which was initially pitched to provide affordable housing for frontline health workers near Robina Hospital.
“The LNP have killed these projects and killed the very process designed to allow working people to live in the cities that they work in,” Scanlon said.
Bleijie did not comment on the letters directly, but said “availability equals affordability”.
“The Crisafulli government is pulling every lever it can to boost housing supply, unlocking more than 100,000 homes through our Residential Activation Fund and Land Activation Program, as well as initiatives to boost affordable housing,” he said.
Queensland Council of Social Services acting chief executive Bronwen Kippen said governments needed to be pushing for more affordable housing, not less.
“On the face of it, this decision runs in contravention to this,” she said.
“Five years ago, community services organisations were telling us they were concerned that they could not find homes for people and families they were supporting. Now they are concerned about their frontline workers, who can’t find affordable housing and, in some instances, are experiencing homelessness themselves.”
The Walker Group and the developers of Lamington Markets have been contacted for comment.
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