Joint Statement - Jacinta Allan picks Weimar to do another dud job

Joint Statement – Jacinta Allan picks Weimar to do another dud job 

Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning

11 February 2024.

Premier Jacinta Allan has turned to the bureaucrat who helped oversee the world’s longest lockdowns and the $600 million Commonwealth Games debacle to deliver her housing statement.

Jeroen Weimar will be paid more the $500,000 a year to implement Labor’s promise to build 800,000 new homes over the next 10 years – a target independent experts say can’t be achieved as the Government ploughs $200 billion into the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL).

It follows Mr Weimar’s roles as operational leader of Victoria’s COVID-19 response during the world’s longest lockdowns and CEO of the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee. The Games were cancelled last July at a $600 million cost to Victorian taxpayers.

Shadow Minister for Housing Affordability, Evan Mulholland, said: “It says a lot about the judgement of Jacinta Allan that she has turned to the bureaucrat who oversaw the world’s longest lockdowns and the $600 million Commonwealth games debacle.

“His appointment to a $533,000 role is another example of giving a plum job to a Labor favourite. The Premier needs to explain what process was undertaken to select Mr Weimar to such an important role.”

Shadow Minister for Planning, James Newbury, said: “How ironic. The Allan Labor Government has appointed Jeroen Weimar to another dud job of overseeing their housing statement, after leading the Commonwealth Games implementation.

“We all know that the housing promise is a con. The promise to deliver 80,000 new homes each year over 10 years won’t be achieved. The promise is already on track to end up just like the Commonwealth Games. Labor scrapped the Games. Labor’s housing target is a con.”

Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning