Page 4375 - Week 10 - Thursday, 22 September 2011
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Through the budget, the ACT government will deliver more than $111 million over the four-year period of budget estimates for a range of projects to increase the supply of housing in the territory. This includes the release of 18½ thousand dwelling sites, of which 2,400 will be dedicated to affordable homes.
The government is mindful of the pressures faced by those in our community who are finding it hard to keep up with general cost of living increases. The government recognises that higher cost of living is more deeply felt by those on low incomes. And in response, the government has a range of concessions available. These include a maximum annual rebate of over $214 for electricity bills; 68 per cent per quarter off water and another 68 per cent off sewerage bills; a general rates, fire and emergency services levy rebate; for those buying their first home, the homebuyer concession schemes; for those downsizing, the pensioner duty concession schemes; and a range of motor vehicle and drivers licence concessions. In recognising that the rising costs of energy and water are placing pressure on low income households, the budget boosted the utility concession by $131, raising it to $346 per year.
As Ms Bresnan indicated, the government has provided a range of assistance, including $4.4 million for practical help for low income households to reduce costs by increasing their energy and water efficiency. We are also providing $8 million for the retrofitting of older public housing properties to improve their energy efficiency. And this will, in turn, assist in reducing tenants’ utility costs.
We offer these concessions as part of a coherent, affordable housing strategy because we realise that the cost of housing and the cost of living are issues that undoubtedly intersect and, as such, it is worth consulting longstanding independent reports asking agencies to consider the ACT’s performance.
The latest available Real Estate Institute of Australia data shows that the ACT continues to be the most affordable jurisdiction in Australia. It finds that the proportion of family income required to meet a home loan repayment in the ACT is 18.6 per cent. This is the second lowest level in Australia outside Tasmania and is significantly lower than the national average of 34.2 per cent. While the proportion of family income required to meet rent payments in the ACT is 16.8 per cent, again this is significantly lower than the national average of 25.1 per cent.
Recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows living costs in the ACT are around one per cent below the national average. According to the ABS, Canberra is the third cheapest Australian capital in which to live, with annual consumer price inflation growth around 0.3 of one per cent below the national average. The ABS finds that a range of prices have increased less in Canberra than elsewhere, including electricity prices, public transport and property rates. The latest ABS household expenditure survey found households in the ACT spent more on goods and services compared to other jurisdictions.
What was interesting in the commentary on that was that there was no real discussion on the other aspects of the report that show clearly Canberrans are doing better than their counterparts across Australia when it comes to the cost of living. The ABS found
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