Page 3594 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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I have always felt that homelessness and housing are like two sides of the same coin. Affordable housing, whether it is purchased or rental, is a big part of that. But there is no doubt that the government of the day—in this case the Labor-Greens government—hold many of the policy levers, and they can influence and control many of the structural elements that are making housing so unaffordable in the ACT.
Mr Coe referred to the fact that the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, has done more for Queanbeyan than many other people. At this point I would like to commend Tim Overall and his colleagues for all that they have done for Queanbeyan, because many people understand that life is more affordable in Queanbeyan, New South Wales.
I noticed today that Mix 106 in Canberra, who do a suburb song every few weeks, have done one about Queanbeyan. It mentions the fact that you move to Queanbeyan because life is so much cheaper there. They say, “Go there and buy a house; you’ll be much better off.” That is not verbatim but that is what this suburb song says about Queanbeyan versus the ACT today. Save money; go to Queanbeyan. Is that what we want? No, of course that is not what we want.
We want people to stay in Canberra. We want a vibrant Canberra where people are paying their taxes, albeit far too much in taxes, fees, rates and charges—far too much. Even if they are paying that amount, or less, they would be spending it here in the ACT, not across the border in Queanbeyan, in New South Wales. This is the message I would like to get across: we are losing those people. We are losing their disposable income that they would be spending in the ACT. These are people, the working poor who obviously can manage in Queanbeyan. They cannot manage in Canberra but they can manage in Queanbeyan. Why is that? It is because the cost of living is less. People in Canberra, who are paying the highest rents in the country—higher than Sydney, higher than Melbourne—are struggling because they have far less income to spend on other things that they need.
They are in housing stress; indeed, in many cases, they are in housing crisis. These are the things that we need to address here in the ACT. The government has control of those levers: land supply, planning and the tax regime, as Mr Coe spelled out in his motion.
Once again I commend Mr Coe for his motion today. I absolutely agree that we are forcing people out of Canberra after years of ACT Labor. Thousands of people in the lower quintile, and even the lower two quintiles, are being forced out of our beautiful city because of the fees, charges, rates and taxes, and the policy decisions of this government, which make housing, whether purchasing, or, in this instance, renting, so unaffordable. I would like to thank Mr Coe for moving this motion today.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (5.24): Once again we have seen another demonstration of the Labor Party and the Greens teaming up to deny reality and to blame the federal Liberal government, because that is how they roll. We hear all the time from Mick Gentleman that everything is Tony Abbott’s fault; everything is Mr Abbott’s fault. Now, of course, after 18 years of Labor, somehow it is Mr Morrison’s fault that we have the housing crisis that we have. It has nothing to do with this government’s land supply, nothing to do with their planning system, nothing
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