Page 4846 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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(b) further consult on the draft Housing Strategy prior to finalisation;
(c) implement announcements made at the Summit such as the innovation fund, an item in the Parliamentary Agreement in cooperation with housing and homelessness experts and community members;
(d) implement opportunities for innovative and collaborative partnerships in the housing sector that deliver wider benefits to the community, as identified at the Summit and preceding workshops;
(e) ensure new initiatives to improve housing affordability, consider existing policies around housing supply, planning and tax reform, including facilitating planning innovation coming from the Housing Inquiry and the demonstration housing project in the future; and
(f) continue to advocate for national policy change to improve housing affordability and make homelessness funding more secure, such as:
(i) National Housing and Homelessness Agreement funding levels;
(ii) changes to capital gains tax concessions;
(iii) reform of negative gearing; and
(iv) assessing impacts of Centrelink treatments and their links to housing.”.
My amendments are not major but they speak to the need for greater transparency in the process to develop the housing strategy and call for the report on the collated feedback to be provided to the participants in the consultation process as well as to the Assembly. The Greens believe it is really important to close the feedback loop and ensure that citizens who engage in consultative processes feel they have been heard and can see that their ideas have been considered and, hopefully, in many cases, implemented. That is why I have asked for more consultation on the draft housing strategy before it is finalised.
I must echo the comments of Ms Orr—I think the consultation to date on this has been one of the ACT government’s better consultation exercises. I was pleased and privileged to attend the whole day of the housing summit. I have to say that it was really interesting and one of the reasons why I am so keen that everyone who was there gets to see the output of our collective work for the day. It was hard work. The coming together of ideas and a range of stakeholders from different domains was a positive sign that the people of Canberra care and are concerned about affordable housing and ensuring support for those who are homeless.
While this summit was, as Ms Orr mentioned, an item in the parliamentary agreement between ACT Labor and ACT Greens, both of us specifically agreed that improving housing affordability and accessibility is essential to ensuring secure accommodation for all Canberrans. As we all know, without a roof over your head it is really difficult to get on with your life. The ACT Greens believe all people should have housing that
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