Page 3347 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 19 October 2022

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can be incredibly challenging. There is a cyclical element to Canberra’s housing market and, particularly at the beginning of the year, when new public service recruits, university students and others come to Canberra, the market can be very tight.

We want to see a rental vacancy rate that does not shrink below one per cent. I have come to the view—and I have expressed this publicly—that, with respect to the best way that we can get the currently around 50,000 out of 185,000 properties that we have in the city that are rented, if we can get 50,000 to 60,000, we will increase the supply significantly. We are not going to do that one investor at a time. We need large-scale build to rent, and that is exactly what we are pursuing. That will shift the dial more quickly than any other form of government intervention. It is important that there is commonwealth government investment in more housing, territory government investment in more housing, and that we bring new capital into the field. That new capital is coming from superannuation funds and, I would say, socially just investors who are looking for long-term returns through stable, build-to-rent housing products.

That is the pathway forward. That is what we are pursuing. Part of that mix can also involve the transaction that is an ACT government commitment to spend the equivalent of principal and interest repayments from that historic housing debt on new housing. That is what we are putting forward. That is what I am seeking to negotiate. It will not be done by next Tuesday; I acknowledge that. But we are working on it. I am looking forward to delivering a good outcome, in partnership with the commonwealth, for this community. That is what the government is focused on. That is what Minister Berry and I are working on, through Housing and Treasury, and that is what we intend to deliver. I commend my amendment to the Assembly. I move:

Omit all text after paragraph “(2)(c)”, substitute:

“(d) ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr stated on 24 October 2019, “I would observe that it is an odd state of affairs when a crossbench senator from Tasmania can achieve more through Liberal Government than an ACT Liberal senator who is a member of the government executive as an assistant minister, Senator Seselja”;

(e) now as Labor Finance Minister, Senator Katy Gallagher on 12 October said “the Federal Government is not in a position to waive the Territory’s $98.3 million historic housing debt” in the October 2022 Budget; and

(f) the Assembly on 2 June 2022 unanimously voted to support a Greens motion that the debt be reinvested into further public housing if it was waived;

(3) further notes:

(a) the Parliamentary and Governing Agreement for the 10th ACT Legislative Assembly includes a shared commitment to deliver more and better housing options for all Canberrans, including:

(i) improving social housing and housing affordability, as outlined in the ACT Housing Strategy; and

(ii) continuing to grow and renew social housing and increase affordable housing supply, including the delivery of 400 additional public housing dwellings by 2025; and a goal of delivering 600 additional dwellings by 2025-26;


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