Page 941 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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Rather than talking about what comments may or may not have been made on the matter of financial implications, this amendment includes a point in the requested implementation plan for the government to protect would-be participants from any financial penalty if the scheme should fail or linger on. The implementation plan here, in the next point of the amendment, is the bare bones. The ACT government may choose to address more issues or provide more support for participants and more assurance for the Canberra community.
The bottom line, however, is that the ACT government was not able to ensure that there would be finance available at the inception of this scheme. In our minds, it has not properly considered the risk and complications faced by the industry and participants, and there has not been proper consultation with local experts. The motion asks the government to do that and then to report back to the Assembly on the progress it has made.
It is our view that the next three months, with the situation of banks having somewhat settled down for better or worse, should be long enough to either get the scheme up and running or give us the evidence that it is not going to succeed. I urge the Assembly to support this amendment as the most constructive way forward.
MR STANHOPE (Ginninderra—Chief Minister, Minister for Transport, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Minister for the Arts and Heritage) (10.42): I am very pleased to be able to speak again on this very significant, new, innovative and very practical measure to seek to increase affordable housing for Canberra families. It has been a major imperative and priority of my government, and I am very pleased by the great progress we have made through our affordable housing action plan—an Australian-leading action plan with 62 very significant initiatives, one of which, of course, is the land rent scheme. The land rent scheme pushes the dream of homeownership closer to very many Canberrans and makes the possibility of owning a home a far more realistic option for a great number of households that are currently unable to access the housing market.
An affordable housing strategy such as the one that we have initiated has had some very significant successes to date. The strategy has seen record releases of residential land, 15 per cent of which are now required to be affordable. It is a strategy that has enhanced stamp duty concessions for low-income Canberra families, and that has seen blocks of land become available for sale over the counter and a restructuring of public housing to better meet the needs of tenants. The strategy is setting new standards for affordable housing. We have encouraged innovative design and construction of affordable homes, and just last week the Land Development Agency celebrated the commencement of construction on OwnPlace blocks, which will deliver house and land packages for less than $300,000 for young families.
The affordable housing strategy is setting new standards in innovative approaches to address housing affordability. The land rent scheme is just one of the initiatives put forward as part of the strategy—one of the innovative ways that will help more Canberrans into homes of their own. The scheme is expected to be used as a means
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