Page 1321 - Week 04 - Thursday, 5 May 2022
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The problem is that the ACT government withholds land to boost monopoly profits.
When he was asked about Senator Seselja’s plan to release the CSIRO land, he said:
This would help make housing in the ACT affordable, and I hope that other ACT politicians make other proposals along these lines.
That is what he said. He said that, unfortunately, other candidates seem more interested in subsidising public housing, and:
This is empty symbolism. It does little for affordability at large cost to the taxpayer.
He closed by saying:
You do not need large subsidies to make housing affordable. Just let builders build.
That is what he said: just let builders build. That is what we, on this side of the chamber, are keen to do.
Today in particular, we see the stark distance between the planning vision that they have and the vision that we have. On the day that we are debating a motion that would potentially allow thousands more Canberrans to realise their dream of owning a house, we finally get to see what has been, up until this point, the secret report that the government had. They were sitting on it. It gives some insight into their plans for the light rail corridor between the lake and Woden. What an amazing vision it is! The report only came to public view because of a freedom of information request. It sees a whole new urban heat island feel to some parts of our city that we all know and love. It talks about cramming 30,000 dwellings into that part of the light rail route between Parliament House and Woden. Thirty thousand dwellings!
The report concedes that the planning laws would have to be radically overhauled, regarding density and height limits, so that we can create our own little part of New York or our own little part of Shanghai right here in Canberra. They are talking about 1,900 dwellings on the Curtin horse paddocks. I reckon that is going to look great! This is extraordinary. And I am pretty keen to hear from the people of the inner south with regard to the dismantling of their part of Canberra as we know it.
While all this is playing out in the inner south, let me tell you that Tuggeranong is going to be left to wither on the vine. The government’s long-term planning vision sees the population of Tuggeranong declining. The government’s long-term planning vision sees the population increasing in every town area expect Tuggeranong. It sees Tuggeranong stagnating and then declining.
Let’s have a look at the indicative land release program from the government. This program rolls out until 2025-26. In the five-year period that it encapsulates, how many blocks do you think they are releasing in Tuggeranong? The whole program is
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