Page 2510 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
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evident misunderstanding among some home owners, that the time line for offer and acceptance has not changed since the task force released that policy.
The intention when the document was announced was and remains that six months before demolition the task force will commence the process to determine the sale price for the remediated block. This reflects expert advice as to the validity and currency of the valuations. Despite assertions to the contrary by some, it has never been the case that former owners would be given six months to accept a first right refusal offer.
What did occur out of necessity, given the delays caused by those opposite in the finalisation of variation 343 to the territory plan, was that prices could not be set nor could contracts be entered into as intended when the policy was announced. As was canvassed in the Select Committee on Estimates, the task force rightly pressed on with the demolition task, in discussion with affected owners, pending finalisation of that variation. The policy could not have been implemented except by delaying demolition of first right of refusal properties, which would have been a poor outcome for the home owners and the government alike.
On 29 July this year the task force updated the public demolition schedule and reported that it had exceeded its annual target for demolitions for 2016 by mid-July and it is now on track to deliver 350 demolitions in this calendar year. This is good news for former owners wanting to buy their blocks back, for neighbours of the empty houses and for the rest of the Canberra community that is bearing the cost of the scheme. The task force continues to work closely with its head contractors and WorkSafe ACT to ensure that affected properties are demolished safely and efficiently and that blocks are remediated effectively.
Safety for workers undertaking the demolitions and for neighbours and the wider community remains the paramount consideration. It is worth pausing here to reemphasise that every single remediated block sold comes at a significant cost to the territory. The scheme has never been a money-making exercise for government. Indeed, I remind members that the budget papers report that the net cost of the scheme has improved slightly to $366 million.
The net direct cost of the first 28 remediated blocks resold was $7.2 million, or around $258,000 per block. That figure takes into account only the direct costs, including financial assistance to former owners. It excludes stamp duty concessions. I note that a total of more than $14 million in stamp duty concessions has now been provided to 592 former owners.
It also excludes the government’s borrowing costs on the loan to the commonwealth government provided instead of honouring the memorandum of understanding from the original asbestos removal program to pay two-thirds of future remediation work and it also excludes scheme administration costs.
The government has acknowledged from the outset, as indeed does everyone in this place, the gravity of the situation which owners of affected houses found themselves
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