Page 1312 - Week 04 - Thursday, 5 May 2022
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(e) 7 566 Canberrans applied for 92 blocks of land in Whitlam in March 2021;
(f) there is clear demand for blocks of land for detached housing, and the Labor-Greens Government’s land release strategy does not meet the community’s needs or wants;
(g) more must be done to increase the supply of detached housing in Canberra; and
(h) medium and high density housing, such as townhouses and apartments, form part of a balanced approach to provide more choice; and
(3) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) provide Canberrans with more choice, including land for detached and medium-density housing in the Indicative Land Release Program;
(b) give proper consideration to possible future suburban sites now permitted by the National Capital Plan;
(c) commit to a feasibility study into the West Tuggeranong site and its potential for residential development and in doing so, take into consideration:
(i) housing affordability for thousands of Canberrans who want the option to purchase land for a detached house;
(ii) identification and assessment of environmental impacts, including minimisation, mitigation and offsets; and
(iii) the future infrastructure needs of any potential new residential development to deliver essential services; and
(d) report back to the Assembly by the last sitting day in 2022.
The ACT is in a housing crisis. We have the highest median rents in the country and the median price for a house is over $1 million. Tens of thousands of Canberrans have entered land ballots over the last 18 months to buy a meagre 379 blocks. Yet this Labor-Greens government is sticking to its untenable housing policy that is depriving Canberrans of genuine choice when it comes to housing options. The government runs all these lines, of course, about the nationwide housing costs, about federal level tax settings and about interest rate rises. Yes, the housing crisis is not limited to the ACT. I have always acknowledged that there are a complex and diverse range of factors that affect housing affordability. But there are policy levers within the control of this local government.
Labor and the Greens are ignoring the reality. They are ignoring their own responsibility in refusing—out and out refusing!—to use the levers at their disposal to improve housing affordability in Canberra. It is within their power to increase the supply of land for housing and they are doing nothing.
In particular, I am talking about the supply of the housing we know that people want: detached houses, townhouses, dual occupancies and low-rise apartments. West Tuggeranong is an area that has long been considered part of Canberra’s residential development future. It is an opportunity to undertake best practice housing
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