Page 3471 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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You wonder why young families cannot buy a home in Canberra! We have got a government that simply cannot get the land out. This is why we have argued long and hard for changes to the way we do things—having a genuine land bank, having infrastructure reform through infrastructure Canberra, having genuine competition in the market rather than this virtual LDA monopoly that is being re-implemented under Simon Corbell.
That is the sort of thing we need to be doing. Those reforms will make a difference. That will allow us to be able to respond to demand. When demand is slowing, you can slow it down. When demand is up, you can respond quickly.
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Members! One moment, Mr Seselja. Members, could you just keep the noise down a bit in the chamber.
MR SESELJA: Thank you, Mr Speaker. We can respond quickly. That is what we need to do. We have been saying it for years. Years ago I remember asking how you go about getting land over the counter. They were saying it was coming. We have asked the question again. We asked this question: “How much land is currently available over the counter for homebuyers?” The answer was this: “There are no blocks currently available for sale over the counter.” If we had asked that at any time over the last few years, we would have got virtually the same answer.
Mr Speaker, it is not good enough. We have heard it for a decade. We have heard it for 11 years: “It is coming. We are going to respond to land release.” They have not. They have not responded to land release. And it is not good enough.
Mr Smyth has referred me to recommendation 87 of the estimates committee:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government assess and report to the Legislative Assembly on whether the current machinery of government arrangements for land releases, infrastructure development and planning approvals in the ACT are delivering optimal outcomes.
The government response is “noted”. That is not good enough. You have had 11 years and you still cannot get the land out. Half of the land that was meant to be out in that financial year was released. You still cannot get land over the counter.
We have no shortage of land here in Canberra; we should be able to do much better. We can do much better through making simple reforms—simple reforms that need to be done. I am being pointed to more recommendations, from the review of the Auditor-General’s report on the residential land supply:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government ensure that the Land Development Agency establish quarterly targets for over-the-counter sales and report quarterly to the ACT Legislative Assembly on these sales.
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