Page 2316 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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MR BARR: I will seek some advice from the directorate and I will report back to the Assembly once I have got that advice.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Mr Barr, do you have any knowledge of a 7½ per cent pay cut that is planned by the department?
MR BARR: No.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Treasurer, coupled with the government’s payroll tax changes, does this mean that Shared Services contractors stand to lose approximately 14 per cent of their pay?
MR BARR: No.
Housing—investment
DR BOURKE: My question is to the Minister for Housing. Minister, can you outline how the 2014-15 budget invests in housing?
MR BARR: The budget has a very strong framework for investment in a range of housing initiatives supported by suitable policy work over the last few years. So the government has a focus in the 2014-15 fiscal year of renewing ageing public housing stock. Capital expenditure on public housing initiatives will exceed $82 million in this fiscal year, which is the largest capital expenditure on housing since the nation building economic stimulus package that followed the global financial crisis.
This investment, coupled with the ACT government’s land release program, will boost the supply of housing in the territory, which is the best way to ease housing pressure on Canberrans. Housing ACT will invest over $55 million on a range of projects to rejuvenate the public housing portfolio, to better align the properties to the needs of current and future tenants, and to continue the approach of salt and peppering public housing throughout our city.
A key component of the renewal program is the transformation of the Northbourne corridor. This will include a significant renewal of public housing and is one of the largest investments in public housing that the city has witnessed. The government is committed to replacing ageing and rundown housing. The government has committed to the maintenance of public housing through a roof-for-roof replacement of public housing properties along the corridor. The new public housing that will be built will be purpose built and energy efficient.
Importantly, the renewal program also seeks to better meet the needs of tenants. There is no doubt that demand for housing in Canberra’s regions, particularly Belconnen, Gungahlin and Tuggeranong, is increasing and that the demand for different types of
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