Page 2743 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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argument they just seem to drown you out, Madam Assistant Speaker. That might work in Young Liberal meetings and in Liberal Party branch meetings, but it should not be permitted in the Assembly.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR CORBELL: They are still doing it. They just cannot help themselves when they come under a bit of critique for their own actions. AV Jennings said:
In response to the specific allegations that a builder is profiteering and charging at least $60,000 more for the house component than they would expect to pay if an identical house was purchased outside the scheme, I can assure you that this is not the case for the AV Jennings houses proposed for this scheme.
So there you have it. Four very reputable builders have, outright, completely rejected the scurrilous assertions and allegations made by the Liberal Party on this matter. I thought the Liberal Party were interested in housing affordability in this town. I thought they were interested in good solutions to addressing the issue of housing affordability in this town. This government has very progressive policies on housing affordability, whether it be the 15 per cent mandated minimum requirement of housing affordability in every new residential estate—a proposal that I was very pleased to help introduce when I was the responsible minister—or the land rent scheme. Of course, the Liberal Party do not want to talk about the land rent scheme any more—they do not want to talk about land rent any more because they are a bit embarrassed on that one—or, indeed, the innovative OwnPlace scheme.
This is a government with innovative and progressive policies which are delivering on the ground for ordinary working Canberrans to help them get into their own home. Why do the Liberal Party see fit to continually criticise and demonstrate opposition for the sake of it when it comes to these housing policies? What is the reason? The reason is that they do not have any ideas of their own. They have no ideas of their own on this matter. Their only proposal is a proposal which would dramatically increase house prices in the ACT.
I thought it was particularly telling that in all the time the Leader of the Opposition had to debate the Chief Minister’s appropriation and after the extensive commentary that he led on the land rent proposal in the estimates committee report he never commented on the issue of land rent. Did he mention it once in his speech in the Assembly when speaking to the Chief Minister’s appropriation? No, he did not, Madam Assistant Speaker. He is embarrassed and so he should be. He should now have the courage to come into this place and apologise. He should apologise for making a claim which has been proven to be manifestly false. He claimed that no lender ever would back the scheme. That was his clear and unequivocal statement. He has been proven absolutely wrong. He should come into this place and apologise for making such a blatant and terrible misleading statement in this place.
Debate interrupted.
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