Page 3028 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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built home or an existing property in an established suburb. This means that an eligible first homebuyer family who purchase a property valued at the ACT’s current median price of $580,000 will be saving around $15,000 in stamp duty.
As we get closer to the next stage of tax reform, it is important to understand in detail how the first two phases have gone, and what the impact has been on both our community and our economy. That is why we have commissioned a detailed analysis of the impacts of the reform to be conducted through the coming year, with the assistance of an advisory group of independent experts, who include Professor Robert Breunig from the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University; Professor Robert Tanton from NATSEM; and Dr Richard Dennis from the Australia Institute. This detailed work will inform the settings for the next five-year phase of tax reform. We will use the insights to ensure that the economic objectives of this reform are maintained at the same time as meeting the community’s needs and priorities.
Of course, tax reform is not the only big reform that treasury and the government are currently working on. Since the Assembly passed the new motor accident injury scheme earlier this year, the team have been hard at work preparing for the new scheme’s expected commencement in early 2020.
The new scheme replaces the ACT’s at-fault common law compensation scheme with a no-fault defined benefits common law scheme. This means that Canberrans who are injured in a motor vehicle accident will no longer have to prove that someone else was at fault to access treatment, care and support. Indeed, everyone who is injured in a motor vehicle accident will be entitled to receive treatment, care and lost income benefits for up to five years. People who are more seriously injured will continue to be able to make a claim for further compensation through common law, as is currently the case.
This means that around 600 more Canberrans each year will be covered by the new scheme than under the prior arrangements. This 40 per cent increase in coverage delivers a better and fairer scheme for people when the worst happens. At the same time, the new scheme is expected to deliver lower insurance premiums, helping to reduce cost of living pressures for Canberra motorists.
This year, the budget delivers new funding for the motor accident injuries commission so that they can support Canberrans through the transition to the new scheme and provide stronger oversight of insurers from next year. The new scheme is intended to facilitate faster and easier access to benefits without lengthy legal disputes, but we understand that there will always be some cases that need external review, so the budget also provides additional resources to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal to ensure that where MAI matters need external review they have that review and Canberrans can access this quickly and equitably.
Finally, I want to highlight one area of treasury’s work that directly touches on tens of thousands of Canberrans. That is the government’s concessions program. We provide a wide range of concessions to Canberrans on low or fixed incomes or people who are just experiencing a period of hardship. This includes assistance towards general rates,
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