Page 202 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014

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Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Ayes 8		Noes 9
Mr Coe	Ms Lawder	Mr Barr	Ms Gallagher
Mr Doszpot	Mr Smyth	Ms Berry	Mr Gentleman
Mrs Dunne	Mr Wall	Dr Bourke	Ms Porter
Mr Hanson		Ms Burch	Mr Rattenbury
Mrs Jones		Mr Corbell

Question so resolved in the negative.

Motion agreed to.

Housing—land rent scheme

MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (4.18): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes:

(a) the Government’s changes to its Land Rent Scheme as of 1 October 2013 by discontinuing the four per cent rate and increasing the household income threshold by $65 000; and

(b) the new initiative’s perverse outcome, whereby lessees who earn less money under the pre 1 October 2013 scheme are paying double the land rent rate than lessees in the new scheme; and

(2) calls on the Government to amend the Land Rent Act 2008 to include an option for qualifying lessees under the pre 1 October 2013 Land Rent Scheme to change their leases to reflect post 1 October 2013 conditions.

Madam Assistant Speaker, it is common knowledge that the Canberra Liberals have never supported the government’s land rent scheme. As has been presented in the past, the government’s land rent scheme misleads low income families about home ownership. The Canberra Liberals have always maintained our concern that homeowners under this scheme bear the risk of home ownership but have not the associated benefits of land ownership. In other words, the scheme is structured in such a way that homeowners would be subjected to negative equity. To flesh this out further, the government would be holding an appreciating asset—the land—while the homeowner would be holding the potentially depreciating component of the property—the house.

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