Page 3583 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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Because of that, we are not getting much by way of supply of new rental properties either. There are no winners other than the ACT Labor-Greens government, who are raking in the cash as a result of their rates, taxes, fees and charges.
For a pretty average house with rates of about $2½ thousand, it would then have a land tax of maybe $3½ thousand—a $6,000 bill before you get to the risk of owning that property, before you get to maintenance, before you get to the property management fee and before you get to the finance and the opportunity cost. That is why investors are deserting the ACT. That is why we have so few rental properties in Canberra. That is why rent is going up. It is quite straightforward.
Where it is particularly acute is in the freestanding housing market and in the townhouse market. There probably is a reasonable supply of apartments in certain parts of Canberra, but if you are trying to get a townhouse, a single-level townhouse or a freestanding home with a backyard, you are pretty hard-pressed in the ACT. They are the ones where you have dozens of people turning up for the open home and making applications.
There are some very practical things that the government can and should do. First of all, they should be abandoning their unfair, punitive rates and tax regime. The land tax and rates that this government imposes are driving so many people out of this market. At the very least this government should be freezing rates and taking the pressure off Canberra households.
Secondly, there needs to be some confidence in the planning system. There needs to be a regular supply of land so that the good builders of Canberra can build the housing stock that we desperately need. At the moment we do not have a territory plan. We just have a point-in-time description that is up for negotiation. Everything is negotiable about our Territory Plan. There is no certainty whatsoever with our Territory Plan. It is not a territory plan; it is a territory current land use description that gives no confidence about the future of this city in five, 10 or 20 years time.
We need to make sure that there is a steady land supply program, not one that goes in fits and bursts according to treasury demand for cash but one that actually meets the demands of a growing city. What is more, it is a predictably growing city. This government will talk about a surge in population; population growth in the ACT, at least since 2007, has been pretty constant. This government seems to be surprised by the population growth. They are not surprised when they get the money from stamp duty; they are not surprised when they get the money from rates, yet they seem to be surprised by the population growth. All of the figures seem to suggest that population growth as a trend has been pretty consistent.
Finally, we need to make sure that we are supporting the good builders of Canberra to bring online the housing stock that we desperately need. We do need more townhouses; we do need more units. We particularly need single-level units for an ageing population, and we need freestanding homes.
We on this side have no problems whatsoever with suburbia. We have no problem whatsoever with people striving to own a house on a block of land in the ACT. We do
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