Page 3122 - Week 08 - Thursday, 16 August 2018
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Madam Deputy Speaker, the treasury portfolio is rarely at the top of the list when Canberrans are looking for exciting new budget initiatives. I will acknowledge that. Treasury’s main role, of course, is in putting together the budget itself, working with other directorates to prepare and analyse proposals; developing forecasts and projections of underlying drivers like population and economic growth; and making all the numbers of spending and revenue add up in the back end. The government is very grateful to the team within treasury who do all of that work to ensure that we can actually deliver the budget each year.
I am pleased to say that the 2018-19 budget includes a number of important new initiatives within the treasury portfolio that will help tackle some of the big challenges that this city faces, like housing affordability and how we best protect Canberrans on our roads.
One of the signature initiatives in this year’s budget is the abolition of stamp duty for eligible first homebuyers. We understand that buying a home is a huge challenge for many, particularly young people and those on low incomes. Stamp duty can put another hurdle in front of these Canberrans by adding tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a home. From 1 July 2019, first homebuyers with a household income below $160,000 will pay no stamp duty, whether they are buying an established property or a newly built home.
At the same time, we will abolish the payment of first home owner grants. There are plenty of experts and analyses out there that have found that the grants have not been effective in helping first home buyers enter the housing market. In fact, they can actually make housing less affordable by inflating people’s borrowing power and channelling too much demand into one small segment of the market. Together, these changes will help more Canberrans buy their first home, and help them buy it sooner. I have written to all of my state and territory counterparts to get their formal agreement to this policy switch, following discussions previously through the Board of Treasurers, and we will be bringing legislation forward shortly to implement this change.
Another important new initiative delivered through the budget in the treasury portfolio is the implementation of compulsory third-party insurance reform. CTP insurance matters to every Canberra driver because it protects us when we are on the road but under the current scheme a significant number of Canberra drivers are excluded from proper treatment and support simply because of the circumstances of their accident.
Canberra’s first citizens jury examined the issues around CTP at considerable length and recommended a clear way forward to better protect all road users. We have commenced work on legislation that will give effect to the jury’s recommendations, and plan to table an exposure draft of that bill with the Assembly in the September sitting period.
The development of a new scheme is also a good opportunity to update our systems and renew how the CTP regulator works to support the smooth operation of the scheme. The funding provided through this year’s budget will support that work as part of delivering a reformed no-fault CTP scheme in the second half of 2019.
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