Page 3581 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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and inconsistency in the product once it is installed. And that is not to mention the ongoing maintenance requirements. With a busy lifestyle, people want less maintenance, fewer headaches and less worry about their buildings. That is why we have seen people favouring concrete-based products—bricks, precast concrete and cement-based cladding products—or aluminium in recent times.
For the government to go down this road and develop sustainability guidelines under the Building Act, it must balance any impact that this will have on increasing housing affordability in the ACT, the jurisdiction which currently has some significant problems when it comes to building low cost housing.
The opposition will not be supporting Mr Rattenbury’s amendment, but we will be allowing the original motion to pass in its amended form. We look forward to seeing what further work the government does in this space. It needs to not just balance the skills and the expertise that exist within our local construction industry but also make sure that it does not have a detrimental effect on people seeking to purchase a home in the territory.
Amendment negatived.
Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.
Rental affordability
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (4.38): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
(a) after years of ACT Labor, thousands of Canberrans are priced out of the housing market;
(b) according to Domain’s June 2019 State of the Market report, the median rent in Canberra was $550;
(c) annual rent of more than $28 000 is out of reach for many of Canberra’s “working poor”;
(d) ACT Government rates and levies disproportionately impact poorer households; and
(e) the Government’s land supply, planning system and tax regime has stifled the supply of new rental properties; and
(2) calls on the Government to bring down the cost of renting in Canberra by:
(a) stopping the unfair increases to rates and taxes;
(b) bringing clarity and confidence to the planning system;
(c) delivering certainty to the land supply; and
(d) ensuring that the rate of construction of townhouses and free standing homes keeps pace with demand.
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