Page 944 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 25 February 2009
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the commencement of the scheme to provide any information that they may require in assessing the scheme. We will continue to encourage financial institutions to provide finance to the land rent customers. We are not financiers, we are not a bank, but we are happy to continue to facilitate the conversation, and we will not give up.
We will not do what the Liberal Party have done. We will not give up on those Canberrans who continue to dream of homeownership. The Liberals have abandoned them. The Liberals have given up. The Liberals have determined and decided that young working families are not worthy of their support, that young working families do not deserve their support, that young working families do not deserve a government that is prepared to fight for them, that young working families do not deserve a government that is prepared to be innovative and to go out on a limb to pursue a new product such as the one we are proposing here through the land rent scheme. This is a government that will stand up for them, a government that will stick up for them, a government that recognises their needs and a government that is determined to respond to the needs of battling Canberrans, most particularly battling young Canberra families. We will not abandon them in the way that the Leader of the Opposition, Zed Seselja, is determined to abandon young working Canberra families.
The Assembly needs to be reminded that it is not the role of the ACT government to provide finance, or indeed even to ensure that finance is available. That is not a role of government. The government has put in place a sound scheme. The government’s role, which we have fulfilled, is to put in place a sound scheme that has been positively received by academics within the business. The government adopted a thorough approach to the development of the land rent policy. An important consideration was always whether it would contribute to meeting the housing needs of households under stress in the housing market or of households trying to enter the housing market.
The compatibility of the land rent scheme with the leasehold system and the land development system operating in the ACT was, of course, also considered. Modelling was then undertaken to review the assumptions and to determine appropriate settings for the land rent. Once the system was developed as a detailed policy, independent expert reviews were sought from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and from the University of Canberra. Further changes, generally of a minor nature, were made to the package and the legislation was introduced.
The government has taken a thorough approach to the introduction of land rent, but it cannot, of course, guarantee finance. We are not a financial institution; we are not a bank. It cannot and should not become a bank. It is unfortunate that the policy is being held up by the global financial crisis, but the government is continuing to work to help those households that are not able to get into the housing market in any other way than by using land rent, that who may choose to use land rent as the most appropriate way of obtaining their housing.
It is ultimately up to the financial institutions, the marketplace and the ACT community as to whether the ACT government’s offering of a land rent scheme is taken up. But the government will not turn its back on the scheme. We will not give up. We will continue to work with the financial institutions to keep the land rent scheme alive and running.
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