Page 1974 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2022
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(a) in early 2022, the Australian Government committed to the sale of 243 hectares of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Ginninderra site for housing development;
(b) demand for housing in Canberra, particularly detached housing, is at crisis point, and is not being met with an increase in the supply of land by the ACT Labor-Greens Government;
(c) the ACT Government’s land release policy to have 70 percent of people living in high-density dwellings is making Canberra’s housing crisis worse;
(d) nine out of 10 Canberrans would prefer to live in low or medium-density housing, such as a detached house or townhouse;
(e) the latest land release ballot for Macnamara for 51 blocks had over 1,700 entries on the day it opened in May 2022; and
(f) other recent ballots have seen thousands of people applying for a small number of blocks, such as the March 2022 Whitlam ballot for 101 blocks, which had 12,417 entries;
(2) calls on the leaders of all parties in the ACT Legislative Assembly to:
(a) write to their Federal counterparts urging them to support the release of the 243 hectare CSIRO Ginninderra site to the market as soon as possible; and
(b) table a copy of their respective letters in this Chamber by the last sitting day in June 2022; and
(3) calls on the ACT Government to commit to allowing low and medium-density housing at the site, in keeping with Canberrans’ housing preferences.
The ACT is in a housing crisis. Whilst the reasons affecting housing affordability are complex and diverse, we must do everything we can to help ease the pressure for the many Canberrans who are struggling with housing. Now, more than ever, in the face of interest rate rises and the growing cost of living, the need to do more is becoming more and more pressing. The median price for a house in the ACT is over $1 million and we have the highest median rent in the country. There is clear demand for more land for housing. We know that Canberrans want genuine choice when it comes to housing, whether that be a high-rise apartment, a townhouse or dual occupancy, or a standalone, detached house.
In the lead-up to the last federal election the Liberal-Nationals government committed to releasing 243 hectares of land on the CSIRO Ginninderra site. Based on the size of average blocks, this would equate to at least 2,000 detached houses. This is an area that has been explored for many years for residential development, and the Liberal-Nationals government ensured that any federal restrictions were removed to prepare it for residential development.
I note that the Chief Minister, whilst taking a petty clip about Senator Seselja’s announcement in the lead-up to the election, supported this land for housing. His problem seemed to be that he got his nose out of joint because the land was not offered to the ACT government directly. To be brutally frank, it is neither here nor
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