Page 943 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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MR STANHOPE: They don’t want to hear from the experts; they don’t want to hear from Professor Brian Roberts of the University of Canberra; they don’t want to hear from Professor Vivienne Milligan from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR STANHOPE: You hear the hubbub now, when you get down to the nitty-gritty of how well received this scheme has been—
Mr Seselja: You can get a million academics, but how many are actually getting a house?
MR STANHOPE: Here we go; Mr Seselja says: “They’re only academics. They’re not building houses.” Professor Vivienne Milligan, a director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute—only an academic, in the eyes of the Liberal Party—describes land rent as an innovative scheme for improving access to homeownership and has noted that the ACT is uniquely placed to offer land rent because of our leasehold land tenure system.
The banks themselves support the scheme, and consultations with lenders in the development of the land rent scheme were overwhelmingly positive. In fact, as we announced yesterday, we now have a financial institution which has provided their in-principle support for the scheme. Indeed, the government hopes that this burst of negativity led by the Liberal Party will not impact on their willingness to access the scheme. The fact that many more lending institutions have not come forward is overwhelmingly a reflection of the impact of the global financial crisis rather than a reflection on the land rent scheme. Just in the context of the position of banks around the world, there are only 12 banks in the world that remain AAA rated.
Australia, of all the OECD economies, is about the only one that has not yet either nationalised or partially nationalised its banks. A reflection of the impact of the global financial crisis on banks around the world is that almost every one of the OECD nations has begun a process of nationalising their banks. And we saw it again just this week, with President Obama involved in negotiations on the nationalising of banks in the United States of America.
All around the world, financial institutions are having difficulty in accessing and providing finance for even their longstanding lines of business, let alone for a new product line such as land rent. Speak to some of the developers around town. Ask the airport whether it has been able to access credit; ask John Hindmarsh how easily he has been able to access lines of credit. We are talking about established major businesses that are having difficulty establishing credit, and we are talking here about a new product line, a brand new product line. And, surprise, surprise, there is some resistance within a sector of the economy or the community that is under enormous pressure as a result of the global financial crisis.
Despite the global financial crisis, this government is determined to advance this particular issue. We have continued discussions with a number of major lenders since
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