Page 3973 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 29 November 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
than the Sky network—that it was a deliberate design feature of the previous federal Liberal government’s industrial relations and economic policy framework to keep wages as low as possible, to keep wage growth as low as possible. The result of that 10 years is a cost of living crisis. We have got to get wages moving again, and we have federal laws that are about to start that process.
As an employer ourselves, we have put forward an enterprise bargaining offer that gives the greatest pay increases to our lower income earners within the ACT public service. We recognise that. We recognise also that there should be more fairness in Australia’s taxation system, our income taxation system, so it will be important that the combination of wage increases, of annual reviews of income support payments and fair taxation policy, all combine to address cost of living challenges.
I also welcome the announcements that have followed a major investors’ roundtable that I attended with Treasurer Chalmers in Sydney on Friday. I was there in my role as Chair of the Board of Treasurers, the state and territory treasurers’ body. We have seen commitments across some of our large institutional investors, now totalling into the billions of dollars, to invest in affordable housing across Australia.
We currently have a number of build-to-rent projects in action. We have an open project at the moment in Turner. We have put forward a build-to-rent prospectus that outlines further opportunities for more investment in affordable housing and we have outlined the range of concessions that we will provide to investors, provided they meet our affordability targets in relation to both the quantum of new affordable housing and the level of discount from the prevailing market rate. We also intend to see a boost in the supply of housing, both through land released by the ACT government and through the rezoning proposals that are contained within the draft Territory Plan and district plans that the Minister for Planning and Land Management has put forward.
We understand that the solutions to these challenges require work at all levels of government and require a coordination of policy effort, particularly in housing, between the commonwealth and the states and territories. For the first time in a decade we have the federal government at the table with money, and with leverage through institutional investors to bring more capital to the task of building more affordable housing. So I think there is a pathway forward on that issue.
In relation to energy, I look forward, as I have mentioned, to the announcement, ahead of national cabinet next week, of the major federal government support package. The territory will also look at our own—we do this annually, in every budget—concession programs in relation to energy. We look at what is happening in the market in relation to costs for consumers. We are very cognisant of that. I advise the Assembly that we will, again, be looking closely at both what the federal government does and where energy prices are going, ahead of making a decision in the next budget round about the level of support that we will provide through that particular concession.
I think the other thing we need to focus on is that this almost full employment starts to see incomes rise across, particularly, lower income workers in the territory. We are playing our part, as an employer, and certainly encourage other employers outside of government to do the same. I commend my amendment to the Assembly.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video