Page 1973 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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Once again we are in this place talking about the plight of so many Canberrans that are doing it tough—so many Canberrans that are being shut out of the housing market because of the Labor-Greens policies. We have a planning system that is fundamentally broken, we have a housing strategy that has failed, we have 36,000 people in the ACT living below the poverty line and we have tens of thousands of Canberrans that have given up all hope of ever owning their own home. This is the legacy of ACT Labor. This is what you get after 19 years in government.
The planning system in the ACT really is broken. As I have said on numerous occasions, we actually do not have a territory plan. All that we have is a point-in-time description of current land uses, and that is up for negotiation. Take the lease that was sold in Molonglo: sold for 45 units; amended to a couple of hundred. How can that be? We have totally degraded and devalued the planning system when leases like that are worthless and when the Territory Plan has no impact whatsoever.
Ms Stephen-Smith: It’s actually worth quite a lot like that.
MR COE: The minister jokes, “Actually, it’s worth quite a lot.” Well, you are right. The ACT government has just given a massive free kick to a developer. It is a massive free kick to a developer. It is extraordinary stuff.
We have tens of thousands of Canberrans that have absolutely given up hope of ever buying a home. We have a median house price in the ACT of $819,000. We have median rent in the ACT at $575. When you are forking out $1,100 a fortnight in after tax income, how can you possibly save for a deposit? You can’t. That is why so many people have given up hope. That is why so many people are seeking refuge over the border in Jerrabomberra, Tralee, Googong, Bungendore, Sutton, Murrumbateman or other places. It just should not be this way. We have fundamentally let down a generation of Canberrans because they have been locked out of the housing market as a result of Labor and Greens policies.
The Suburban Land Agency is running at a profit margin of 78 per cent. Super profits like that would be condemned if they were a quarter of that. I am advised that developers aim for maybe 15 or 20 per cent. The ACT government is at 78 per cent. Actively and deliberately gouging Canberrans: that is the housing strategy of the ACT Labor Party, with the Greens’ consent. They are letting down a generation of Canberrans with their failed housing strategy. It is all about delivering super profits, rather than delivering affordable housing.
Every single estate that is put on the market by the ACT government is, of course, controlled by the ACT government. They control the land. They control the planning. They control the blocks. They control the reserves. Absolutely every aspect of the system is controlled by the government, so they cannot wash their hands of it. They cannot say it is because of the market. They control the market. They are responsible.
Every estate is pitched like it is going to be the last. Every one is marketed as if it could be the last, to try and drive up speculation, to drive up the prices and to make people invest more and more money. This government has failed a generation of Canberrans when it comes to housing.
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