Page 1547 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
(b) the Minister for Housing, Community Services and Social Inclusion tabled the ACT Government’s submission to the Commonwealth Affordable Housing Working Group in the Assembly on 3 May 2016;
(c) State and Territory housing and homelessness ministers issued a unanimous call to the Commonwealth for greater funding certainty for housing and homelessness services at their meeting held on 31 March 2016; and
(d) the 2016 Commonwealth Budget released last night indicates that the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness will cease in June 2017, removing funding for frontline homelessness services; and
(3) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) progress work through ministers and senior officials to:
(i) provide whole-of-government oversight and advice for the Government’s actions in housing affordability; and
(ii) consider the Affordable Housing Action Plan and any options for improving housing outcomes for target groups such as private renters in the second income quintile; and
(b) report back to the Assembly on any formal response received from the Commonwealth to the ACT’s submission to the Affordable Housing Working Group.”.
The ACT government welcomes the focus on housing affordability. We on this side of the house have been saying for some time that it is an issue for both territory and national levels of government. We need a coordinated policy in place. We also need a national framework which is sensitive to the different property markets and pressures, including the higher cost housing markets of most capital cities. The ACT government has engaged with the commonwealth in good faith on all of these issues. We made a submission to their working groups and have since engaged through our officials seeking to be part of positive national change in affordable housing policy.
All state and territory housing ministers are keen to be part of this process. As my amendment states, should this process move forward in the next few months, the government will be very happy to update the Assembly. However, last night’s federal budget gives us little confidence. If anything, it seems to be taking Australia backwards on the issue of housing affordability.
The federal Treasurer made a virtue of refusing to give consideration to a change in negative gearing or capital gains tax policy, as Labor has said it will do, to level the playing field for families trying to buy a home to live in and to focus the housing market on greater supply. Combined with this is the Fairfax analysis of the impact of changes to the tax treatment of superannuation. I quote from the Canberra Times:
… two of the country’s leading actuaries, Rice Warner chief executive Michael Rice and Mercer senior actuarial partner David Knox, warned that any
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video