Page 4662 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS CHEYNE: Minister, who is involved in the development of the policy?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Cheyne for her supplementary. As the Minister for City Services, I want to make sure that our community and industry are partners in helping to design a long-term, informed, evidence-based policy vision for waste energy in the ACT. The ACT government is consulting the Canberra community through the your say website, with consultation open until 27 November. Canberrans can also visit their local library and receive a hard copy of a survey that is being conducted. We are also providing drop-in sessions for residents and the opportunity for one-on-one sessions as well. This will be complemented by focus groups for industry and the community.
The period of consultation will be incredibly important in how the ACT will approach waste to energy policy, particularly around certain technologies that will be regulated. Waste to energy is something that needs to be carefully considered and, as the minister responsible, I am looking forward to working with both industry and the community to investigate and formulate effective waste management policy.
Housing—affordable rental properties
MR WALL: My question is to the Minister for Housing and Suburban Development. Minister, your long awaited ACT housing strategy says that an objective is to grow the supply of affordable private rental properties. How do you expect to increase investment in the private rental market when this government continues to punish people for owning a rental property?
MS BERRY: I do not think that that is an entirely truthful statement that Mr Wall has made. Affordable rentals in the ACT are supported by the ACT government, particularly with regard to providing support to community housing providers that provide affordable rentals in the ACT. We will continue to work with community housing providers to do that.
MR WALL: Minister, when will you introduce a land tax exemption for properties that are provided as affordable rentals?
MR BARR: Madam Speaker, land tax policy sits with me, so I will answer the question. I direct the member to the statements contained within the housing policy framework, which was released earlier in the week, that indicated that the government would prepare such legislation, cognisant, of course, of the available—
Mr Coe: It’s going to be hard to prepare given Mark’s already written it.
MR BARR: His legalisation you could drive a truck through. We have been very clear about how we will approach that task. We will do so in accordance with the available time for the Assembly in this sitting year and the two sitting weeks in February next year.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video