Page 385 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 10 February 2021

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MR BRADDOCK: Minister, what is your government doing to ensure that all apartment buildings that are built, going forward, will be EV ready, with capability for separately metered electric vehicle charging for residents?

MR BARR: It is a good point. It certainly needs some further work. Part of that is regulatory, on the planning side, and another part, frankly, is the practical reality of the grid and capacity within certain parts of the city. That is something we are going to have to look at in the location of the public charging facilities in terms of what is available, what extra infrastructure may need to be installed. I think it is also relevant in the context of the distributed Big Canberra Battery as to where we may be able to augment the electricity network to align with EV charging opportunities, both private and public.

Land—sales

MR COE: I have a question for the Minister for Housing and Suburban Development. What plans does the ACT government have to ensure that there are adequate land supplies to keep pace with demand, particularly in 2022 and 2023?

MS BERRY: The ACT government provides an indicative land release program, through the minister for planning, to ensure that there is adequate land supply. Adequate land supply has been provided in the ACT for many years now. Last year, during COVID, whilst there was a slight pause, understandably, in housing purchases and housing construction, the land supply program provided opportunities for people to purchase land and have land available across the shelf, which has not been the case for a very long time in the ACT. That is the case now, and that land supply pipeline will continue.

We still have land available in Taylor. There is land to be released again in Whitlam in the middle of this year. Denman Prospect will soon be releasing more land in its project, as a private developer. Kenny will be coming online. Ginninderry also has land available for purchase for public housing, for community housing and for affordable housing.

MR COE: Minister, for this financial year, what portion of SLA land sales have attracted support from the commonwealth government through the HomeBuilder scheme—particularly SLA land, not Ginninderry?

MS BERRY: That is a good question and it is something that I have been asking the SLA to keep me updated on—people who have purchased land, and whether they have purchased land as a result of the ACT government’s actions around stamp duty or whether that has been as a result of the federal government’s HomeBuilder package.

I do not have the detailed breakdown of that at the moment. As you would understand, people are purchasing and buying blocks and homes every day, so that figure changes. What I can commit to is the number as of today and provide that information to the Assembly. I will break that down to include the number of people who decided to purchase land as a result of the ACT government’s changes to stamp duty.


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