Page 229 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007
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the massive increase in revenue received from the federal government. We have seen massive increases in GST revenue. We have seen the resources booms in other states flowing through into federal government coffers, and all of that was predictable.
Certainly it has all been predictable for the last couple of years, and we have seen a very slow response to this situation. We knew definitely from the time of the last federal budget in May that, as a result of federal government expansion, we were going to see thousands of extra workers in the ACT. But the response once again has been slow—so slow that the Chief Minister had to make a hurried announcement in December that 500 blocks would be released in west Macgregor.
I welcome the 500 blocks—I certainly do—but they, of themselves, are certainly not going to be enough. We are reading, it seems almost every day, about the mini boom we are experiencing in the ACT. The 2001-02 boom all around the place was almost unprecedented. Now, while other markets are stagnating, Canberra is experiencing a massive boom. Just yesterday Bernard Salt said that the cheapest house and land packages sell for just under $300,000. Mr Salt said that comparable blocks in Melbourne were priced at about $270,000 and there was no reason why Canberra could not offer cheaper options. The question does need to be asked: why, in a place like Melbourne, are comparable packages going for $30,000 less?
The planning minister has put it out there that in west Macgregor the $160,000 blocks are going to make housing more affordable because it will result in packages under $300,000. I think that is optimistic. I think it is ambitious to expect to build a reasonable family home for under $140,000 on a $160,000 block. The current going rate is $1,200-plus per square metre. For $140,000, you would get a home of about 115 square metres. That is a pretty tight family home, a pretty basic old-style three-bedroom govvie house. Some people might be able to squeeze in under $300,000, but we are talking about much more on those blocks. For a block less than 400 square metres, which is what these blocks will be, is $160,000 cheap? On a square metre basis, it certainly does not seem to be cheap to me.
The LDA has been slow to respond. In terms of land release, in west Macgregor we see another northern front, but we see nothing in the south, other than a very small parcel in Bonython. Where is the southern front? We are told that in 18 months we will see land releases in the Molonglo Valley. I certainly hope that will be the case, but the question is: why has it not been brought on sooner? Why has some of this work that is now going on with the NCA been slow? We have not seen a southern front for some time. They have been slow to respond.
The planning minister is now seeing his Chief Minister come in and trump him. The Chief Minister has gone direct to the market, which is welcome. That is going to have to happen much more if we are going to play catch-up. But the real issue here is that this government has taken so long to respond to this issue they cannot now fix it quickly because of the reasons I have outlined. They cannot simply flood the market. They would not be in a position to even if they wanted to, and I would not advocate that. But they are going to have to be ready.
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