Page 1135 - Week 03 - Thursday, 18 March 2010
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MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Ms Porter. It is interesting to hear the Liberal Party’s cries in relation to this issue and the philosophical issue that underpins them. What the reports have revealed this week is just how successful the ACT government’s policies in relation to affordability and land release have been over the last three to four years. That is reflected, again, in the outcome of the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in relation to new home starts and loans in the last quarter report, which was the December quarter. They rose in the ACT by 33.7 per cent in that quarter against a national growth rate of 15 per cent—in other words, double the national rate here in the ACT.
For the 12 months—it was not just a quarterly aberration—new home starts in the ACT grew by 26.1 per cent, and the number of loans issued to first-home buyers in that time increased by the same number—26 per cent. That has been the reported and recorded effect of policies and programs initiated by the ACT government in relation to housing affordability and our ramped up and very concentrated attention on land supply and planning in order to meet the needs of this market. This is a reflection of that.
This is a reflection of all the work that has gone into land supply, land release, infrastructure supporting land release and reform of the planning system to ensure that these sorts of numbers, these sorts of figures, these national results, these results in relation to both affordability and in relation to housing finance, housing starts and construction activity, lead the nation by a country mile. It is a reflection of the work that this government has done. It is reflected in the numbers of greenfield sites that fit within definitions of “affordability”. We see the 15 per cent policy that has produced—(Time expired.)
MS LE COUTEUR: A supplementary, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Ms Le Couteur.
MS LE COUTEUR: Mr Stanhope, is the reason that the ACT has such good housing affordability our high average incomes and, if so, what does this mean for lower paid workers?
MR STANHOPE: It certainly is a significant aspect of it but it is the truest measure of affordability in Australia. And on that measure, against the rest of Australia, we are the most affordable jurisdiction in the nation. But what it means, Ms Le Couteur, is that the government has been able to concentrate on what is regarded by every other jurisdiction—and I meet with them in relation to these issues—as the most far-reaching, the most progressive and, indeed, the most expansive and successful housing affordability program in Australia.
What it has meant for people on lower incomes, Ms Le Couteur, is that we have pursued innovative programs like the land rent scheme, that we have engaged Community Housing in Canberra in a massive construction program in relation to providing affordable accommodation. And we see, and we are seeing, the fruits of that. We are seeing it in the fact that 222 blocks have now been taken up under the land
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