Page 2337 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 5 June 2013
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increase of 3.2 per cent. Over the period from budget to budget, as shown in the cost of living statement, we have seen the Reserve Bank decrease the cash rate four times, from 3.75 per cent to 2.75 per cent, and this has certainly improved the cost of living for those with a mortgage. We experience in Canberra the highest standard of public services, and that is, I think, demonstrated on page 45 of budget paper 3 in the cost of living statement outlining the government’s expenditure across those range of directorates and areas of service provision.
I think the most interesting chart in the cost of living statement is chart 2.4.1 on page 45 that outlines the ACT government’s spending per capita on the different age groups within the city. And what it shows is that in 2013-14, for almost every age group, but for a small period when people are in their early 20s, the ACT government expends more than $10,000 per capita in services to individuals.
Obviously when students are at school from the age of five to 16 or 17, that expenditure rises to over $20,000 per year, and you particularly see the cost of health services rising significantly as people approach 85 years and beyond. And there is a significant amount of money expended in providing services to every individual in our community but particularly those who are young and going through our school system and those who are older and who require access to our health system.
We have in this budget a series of targeted assistance and concession programs to help offset cost of living pressures for some households, particularly those on low incomes. These programs apply differently to households, depending on their circumstances, and are reviewed and adjusted on a regular basis to make sure they remain targeted and appropriate.
As we have discussed at some length this afternoon, the ACT government provides concessions and rebates to help with housing costs. The most significant of those is the first home owner grant, which has been increased to $12,500. This can be applied to any new property of a total value of $750,000 or less. Eligible purchasers also have access to the home buyer concession scheme, which assists people purchasing residential land or a home by charging stamp duty at a concessional rate. And for eligible households, this stamp duty can be reduced to as low as $20.
The home buyer concession scheme has been extended in the 2013-14 budget. The eligibility criteria have increased in terms of household income to $160,000, and the property threshold for which the full concession is available increases from the 25th percentile of the housing market to the 40th percentile. So this provides a full duty concession for a property valued up to $425,000, with a partial concession available for a property valued up to $525,000 or the 65th percentile. Eligible purchasers can also defer the duty on their property through the duty deferral scheme.
The ACT government also assists low income households in the rental market through the provision of affordable housing programs. This is in addition to the provision of public housing for people who have difficulty obtaining housing in the private rental market or who have special needs. The total rent rebate provided by government for public housing concessions—that is, the gap between the market rent of the portfolio versus the amount collected in rebated rents from tenants—was in the order of
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