Page 732 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 1 May 2007
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We are moving quickly to implement the action plan. I have established a high-level team within the Chief Minister’s Department, headed by the former executive director of the Master Builders Association, Mr David Dawes, to oversee the implementation of the plan. The plan contains 60 broad-ranging actions relating to all areas of housing. I am certain that Mr Dawes, with his wide experience in the building industry, his contacts, his business knowledge and his strategic skills, will aid the smooth and timely implementation of the plan.
Mr Dawes and the team that has been gathered to assist him will review the residential land release targets annually within the life of the strategy; report on progress with implementation and status of the land pipeline twice a year; review compliance with the land release pipeline strategy annually, whether there is an adverse effect on the balance of supply and demand; monitor the market to ensure sufficient diversity of product; and monitor the development of other shared equity models that are in consideration for the broader community to test their suitability for the ACT.
This is an excellent plan. It is timely. This is a significant issue. There are a significant and, regrettably, growing number of Canberrans who either are having significant difficulty accessing affordable housing or have been squeezed out altogether—a plight which we all acknowledge—of the great Australian dream, the capacity to own our own home. They have increasingly been forced into the rental market. Perhaps some have been forced to access public housing, a circumstance which they imagined would not be part of their life experience. This is a timely report. This is a significant national issue which we are addressing here. (Time expired.)
MR GENTLEMAN: Chief Minister, what specific action, then, is the government taking to increase land supply under this strategy?
MR STANHOPE: One of the major initiatives announced in the government’s affordable housing action plan is the release of more land for affordable housing and the streamlining of land release processes to enable land to be brought to the market more quickly. That, of course, will help all purchasers of new dwellings, but particularly assist moderate income households to enter into home ownership. The reforms build upon the additional land releases announced earlier this year by the Minister for Planning and on the government’s land supply strategy for 2006-07 to 2010-11 that I released last year.
Overall, the aim of the action plan is to better match supply with demand in the medium term. To do so requires a range of initiatives combined with system reforms to ensure that we can respond appropriately and in a timely fashion. Specifically, the government is releasing an additional 1,500 blocks for residential development and ensuring that there is a spread of locations and sizes to cater for all income levels in the market; supplementing the land release program by providing more land to cater for the expansion of community housing and private rental programs; introducing a program of regular en globo releases, targeting two land sales annually with at least one-third of land released through this means; and introducing over-the-counter land sales at a range of block sizes and prices, particularly focusing on the release of land priced between $60,000 and $120,000, thereby allowing home buyers to establish dwellings in the range of $200,000 to $300,000.
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