Page 723 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 February 2010
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the parameters so you would not get too many units happening in the cul-de-sacs. We have seen them backing away from that. Now we actually need to see a serious plan to have more people living in our town centres and in Civic.
Simply stating a number that you would like to get to does not get it done; we want to see that there is actually a plan to work with industry, to look at identifying sites, to look at ways of encouraging infill in those areas. We look at how much land is wasted in some of our inner areas and we look at underutilised need, then we see—as we have seen starkly this week—the real problems around housing affordability for young families in Canberra. Many of these people would be very happy to buy units, but even units have become expensive and difficult to get into. I reject absolutely this line that is peddled by some that it is merely the high expectations of this generation that is causing the housing affordability problem. That is not true.
We know that it is the land prices and we know that it is the lack of availability of units that has seen even basic housing—very modest small houses and small units—become very expensive. Part of the answer to that has to be to actually allow for more infill as well as your greenfield development. You cannot have one without the other, and we have seen that neglected. We have seen the greenfield end neglected. There has not been enough coming on line, and that has been a significant issue.
This obsessive focus with their main approach to medium density, which has been the failed core-area policy, has wasted a lot of years in dealing with this. That is part of the reason, I think, why we see from the HIA-Commonwealth Bank report that we are such an unaffordable jurisdiction, even by national standards, regardless, of course, of what the Chief Minister tries to say about it.
We see again in this document that the minister wants to take the politics out of planning. Labor’s record around the country on taking the politics out of planning is a colourful one, let us say. We only have to look to Wollongong to see what their record is on taking the policies out of planning.
Mr Barr: And the relevance to the ACT of that is?
MR SESELJA: Well, it is the Labor Party, you know—
Mr Barr: Are you suggesting Wollongong-type corruption in the ACT planning system?
Mr Hargreaves: Are you going to take Howard’s credit? Are you going to take the credit for John Howard, mate?
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves!
MR SESELJA: Just down the road in Wollongong we see an example of the Labor Party taking the politics out of planning.
Mr Hargreaves: Are you going to take the credit for Baxter? Are you going to take the credit for the detention centre?
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