Page 2567 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014
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Schedule 1A, Part 1.14—$41,787,500 (net cost of outputs), $26,648,000 (capital injection), totalling $68,435,500.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (11.35): Mr Coe stood in this place last year when talking about the budget for Housing ACT and surmised how tricky this area of government is. He stated:
It is a very diverse area of government whereby you have people who are property managers, people who are counsellors and people who are in effect community nursing. They really are the front line for many people that are often vulnerable and are often in need of assistance, whether it be from the government or from other community groups.
I could not agree with Mr Coe more. It is an incredibly difficult challenge for government in any jurisdiction. It is incredibly difficult to develop the policies that will deal with all aspects of supply and demand for social housing. I commonly say that if it were simple we would have fixed it by now.
I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work that Mr Rattenbury did as the previous Minister for Housing. Housing ACT is part of what should be a housing continuum. Public housing, operated by Housing ACT, should be a place where we cater for our most vulnerable people. It should be a place where we provide a safe and secure home where people can live with dignity.
My concerns with this portfolio start with the rate of homelessness. Of course, the flip side of homelessness is housing. Housing issues in the ACT range from a lack of affordable housing, the expensive private rental market and high cost to purchase right through to government housing and some of its inefficiencies, with the big gap that exists between public housing and the private market—the gap in the housing continuum.
I will talk a little more about housing affordability. We have some of the most unaffordable housing in the country. To buy a home in the ACT now takes 6.2 times the average annual income, as opposed to 3.4 times the average annual income just over 10 years ago. With the median house price over half a million dollars, it is not exactly a market which is easy for first homebuyers to enter. The private rental market is even worse. The 2014 Anglicare national rental affordability snapshot found:
With the exception of shared housing, there were practically no affordable rental options found in Canberra …
That brings us to the question: what is the government doing about it? It is increasing cost-of-living pressures on the residents of the ACT. This is very important to the portfolio of housing. The government is itself putting pressure on the residents of Canberra and increasing the cost of living for families. Rates are increasing by 10 per cent this year alone. What does that do for affordable housing in the ACT? Renewable energy targets will increase electricity bills by at least 16 per cent. What does that do to the cost faced by average families in the ACT? I could go on, but I know those opposite have heard it time and time again from all of my colleagues on this side of the chamber. They know exactly what we are talking about.
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