Page 949 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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one finance provider available. We would also like the ACT government to assure would-be participants that they will not be hung out to dry if the scheme fails. We also need an answer on whether any costs have been incurred by people who have been in the scheme to date. We have heard that they have not been charged stamp duty and so on, but are there other costs that we have not become aware of?
I understand that the Liberal Party has a very different view of this scheme, of how the market works or should work, than we do. The Greens supported the introduction of the scheme because we believe it opens the door to a range of options. However, the onus is on the government now to make it work or, failing that, to let those people who would like to participate off the hook.
MR COE (Ginninderra) (11.09): The great Australian dream played out in song and literature is to own a home among the gum trees. I guess you could say owning a depreciating home in the bush capital on rented land does comply with that great Australian dream. But I think if you took a much more sensible approach to the great Australian dream you would probably find it is to have a house and land package, to have ownership, to have control of that land, to have security, to have an investment, to have something to give your children when you move on from the world. This government does not share that dream. This government does not share that aspiration of so many people in our community. In the ACT we have got 37 per cent of people renting, according to an AAMI survey. Thirty-seven per cent renting is a very high percentage. In fact, it is up there with the highest in the country.
To help combat the difficulties of homeownership, last year the Liberals took a policy to the election to abolish stamp duty. The government were pretty quick to pick up our policy on smaller class sizes but, unfortunately for Canberrans, especially young Canberrans and Canberrans on low incomes, they did not take up our policy to remove stamp duty for first homebuyers. Instead, they have stuck with their systems, shoddy as they may well be, to try to maintain their credibility, to try to maintain some integrity, to try to maintain their pride at the expense of young Canberra families. On 28 August last year, the Chief Minister said on the ABC:
They indicated that they were prepared to back this scheme—
“they” being financial institutions—
and we proceeded on the basis of assurances from a broad range of financial institutions that they would support the scheme.
I wonder whether the Chief Minister would support that quote with regard to this new financial operator that is allegedly coming on board. I wonder whether that quote remains true. I will read it again:
They indicated that they were prepared to back this scheme and we proceeded on the basis of assurances from a broad range of financial institutions that they would support the scheme.
He went on to say:
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