Page 1974 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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My motion today simply calls for some transparency about what the government are doing. They are either absolutely negligent or they are incompetent. One way or another, it does not bode well for Canberrans. I think it is pretty reasonable to ask the government to tell us what the breakdown is of units, townhouses and standalone dwellings that are planned for the next five years. That should be able to be presented in this place.
If they cared about transparency and if they cared about housing affordability, surely they would come in here and tell us what the breakdown is for years 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for apartments, townhouses and standalone dwellings. But they can’t or they won’t, because they want to drive the speculation even more. They want to drive the speculation for apartment sites. They want to drive the speculation for standalone homes. They want to gouge Canberrans more. Seventy-eight per cent profit is seemingly not enough for this government. They want even more.
They are gouging Canberrans, and it is absolutely wrong. At least tell Canberrans what they can expect under Labor’s plans for the next five years. At least give Canberrans the courtesy of telling them how many townhouses, how many apartments and how many standalone homes are expected to be built over the coming five years. To not even give us that information, to vote against this motion today, is a pretty damning indictment of where we are at. It is a government that simply does not care. It is a government that is happy to have younger Canberrans give up hope of ever buying a new home. It is a government that is happy to have median rents at $575. This government has failed. This government is failing Canberrans, and the only way to fix it is to change the government.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (3.31): I have had a look at the proposed amendment from Ms Berry. The amendment basically says, “You know what? We’re really happy with the way things are going.” The amendment pretty much says, “We’ve done all of this really good stuff. We’ve surveyed. We’ve had a look at what’s going on out in the suburbs. Let them eat cake.” That is pretty much what it says. It says, “We’re really happy with the way things are going because we’ve done a good job.” When it comes up, I cannot see that we will be supporting it.
In supporting Mr Coe’s motion on housing affordability, I would ask: what does the Chief Minister say to the people impacted by his rather strange housing and land release policies? What does the Chief Minister say to people who want to live in houses, not apartments? What does the Chief Minister say to Shaun, who messaged me on social media last night? Shaun said:
Hey Mark, great video about Labor cutting jobs.
That is how he started it. He continued:
I’ve lost both my jobs in the last few weeks and I’m not sure how I’m going to keep a roof over the heads of this family of five. We cannot financially keep going or we’re going to be genuinely homeless. If we lose this house our rental options are completely non-existent.
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