Page 423 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 22 March 2022
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we are doing things above and beyond what private sector developers have done, to keep the supply up. Right now there are no blocks available over the counter in the private New South Wales sector estates of Googong or South Jerrabomberra, or in the Molonglo Valley estate of Denman Prospect.
When the private sector was reducing its inventories and limiting new releases, the SLA continued to release new blocks to the market, even if it did not sell at the time. The SLA no longer has single residential blocks available for purchase over the counter; however, land is still currently available for purchase through the arrangement with partner builders. There are approximately 192 blocks available in Whitlam and Taylor, including 100 affordable housing blocks.
What all this means in terms of today’s motion is that the ACT government’s ILRP is not the cause of house price increases. In fact, the annual ILRP itself represents, as I have said continuously today, less than two per cent of the ACT’s total established housing market. We simply cannot bulldoze away those economic facts.
I have summarised what the government is doing to meet our housing needs and keep developing our city responsibly. But let me illustrate the difference between the government’s approach and that of the Canberra Liberals. If Ms Lee and Mr Cain gave us a map tomorrow of all the places that they would develop for homes and we agreed, the reality is that the building and construction industry is also seeing really high demand and cost increases. It costs money to develop new suburbs. It costs money to build homes. And the very same economic factors that are driving home prices are affecting the construction industry.
This motion, as it stands, is not a realistic plan. Canberrans want more than just slogans or campaigns; they want concrete deliverables. The amendments I will be putting forward make clear what the challenges we face really are. The amendments also set out a clear picture of what the government is doing to meet those challenges. I move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit all text after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes that:
(a) house prices are rising nationally and internationally, and the ACT is affected by these increases alongside other jurisdictions in Australia and across the world;
(b) the ACT Government is using the levers it has available to improve housing affordability, including:
(i) reducing stamp duty every Budget;
(ii) abolishing stamp duty on off the plan unit purchases up to $600 000;
(iii) a land release program that supplies dwellings at above the rate of population growth;
(iv) the Home Buyer Concession Scheme;
(v) aiming to deliver 600 additional affordable dwellings by 2025-26 (along with an additional 400 public housing dwellings); and
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