Meaghan Scanlon given beefed up role by new Premier Steven Miles

Premier Steven Miles will on Sunday announce Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon is to head a new super-ministry as the government redoubles its efforts to tackle one of the state’s biggest problems.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon will be given responsibility for local government and planning in a new super-ministry designed to deliver more homes as quickly as possible.

Premier Steven Miles, who was sworn in on Friday, has acted quickly to hand the Gaven MP the new responsibilities as Queensland grapples with an unprecedented housing crisis.

Mr Miles will on Sunday announce that Ms Scanlon will now become the Minister for Housing, Public Works, Local Government and Planning.

The Gaven MP was only promoted to the critical housing portfolio in May, but government insiders said she had impressed in the role.

“The Premier thinks Minister Scanlon has done a great job as housing minister and is up to the task of a larger portfolio,” they said.

“Along with the Housing portfolio Minister Scanlon will be able to use the levers available in Public Works, Local Government and Planning to unlock more housing lots, support infrastructure delivery and enable councils to deliver more homes.”

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon arrives at parliament for a special caucus meeting on Friday December 15. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Highlighting the importance of housing, Mr Miles in his first speech as Premier on Friday said the state government would do “everything we can” to deliver more homes.

“Queensland’s golden decade of growth means that we need more homes than ever before,” Mr Miles said.

“I also say to every Queenslander today who is struggling to pay the rent or get into the housing market that I’m on your side. We will do everything we can to work with the federal government, councils, and developers to deliver more homes.”

The addition of the local government and planning responsibilities to Ms Scanlon’s portfolio puts her in charge of delicate negotiations with the Gold Coast City Council on stalled amendments of its City Plan.

Mr Miles, who held the responsibility before becoming Premier, had previously refused to sign off on several amendments, believing rules on setbacks and building heights would limit housing supply in the midst of the housing crisis.

“You can’t increase housing supply with a plan that will decrease housing supply,” he said at the time.

New Premier Steven Miles. Picture: David Clark.

Despite negotiations, more than 12 months later council and the state have still been unable to reach an agreement on the controversial amendments.

In comments to the Bulletin in October Ms Scanlon hit out at the delays, calling on council to stop putting in place “roadblocks” to affordable housing.

“I’d like to see council hurry up and work with the state government to make sure that we’re unlocking affordable housing,” she said.

“As a politician, I get that it’s hard sometimes to have conversations with the community … but we ultimately need more houses and the longer that the council puts in place roadblocks, the more amount of time that people don’t have access to affordable housing.”

The Bulletin understands that further high level talks have since taken place and council sources are hopeful there will be progress on the amendments soon.

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Originally published as Meaghan Scanlon given beefed up role by new Premier Steven Miles