Page 2943 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 June 2010

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(a) the ACT Government is claiming to have failed to collect the Change of Use Charge (Charge) properly since a mysterious arrangement or deal was entered into in approximately 2003;

(b) a massive increase in the Charge amounts to a massive tax on housing;

(d) a waiver of the Charge is being used to provide an incentive to redevelop suburban service station sites and that the increased Charge provides a disincentive to develop housing, which will reduce the supply of housing;

(e) the Government is seeking to codify the Charge;

(f) there is considerable uncertainty within industry about the future of the Charge, including the commencement date of codification, and the values that will be applied prior to codification; and

(g) this uncertainty is causing a rush for valuations and lodgement of applications, thereby causing significant delays and inconvenience in advance of the new system; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) immediately inform the Assembly of the current arrangements for determining the Charge, including how it will be applied after 1 July 2010, and how this is affecting housing developments;

(b) provide clarity and certainty to the community by immediately informing the Assembly of:

(i) when codification of the Charge will take effect; and

(ii) which values will be used for codification;

(c) immediately inform the Assembly about how the 2003 Change of Use Charge arrangement came into being and outline who was responsible for the arrangement; and

(d) provide analysis to the Assembly of the impact of the Charge on urban infill by the end of the August sittings.

We are moving this motion today for a number of reasons. I do not ordinarily do this but I think it is important in this case to go through some of the individual parts of the motion. I guess I am getting out in front of the amendment that has been circulated by the Greens, but I think you will note from the wording of this motion that, whilst it is certainly putting our view of the world, it is fundamentally going through a number of statements of fact and calling on the government to clarify a number of points, to give some information to the Assembly.

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