Page 1758 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020
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We are calling on the government to bring down the cost of renting in Canberra. We want to stop the unfair increases to rates and taxes, fees and charges. We want to bring clarity and confidence to the planning system. We want to deliver certainty to the land supply so that there is not as much speculation in the market. We want to ensure that the rate of construction and freestanding homes keeps pace with demand.
It is a shame that we have to ask these things. It is a shame that we have to beg in the chamber for these most simple requests. Either the government is incapable of doing them or they do not want to and it is deliberate. One way or another, it is Canberra families that are doing it tough, it is Canberra families that are paying the price.
The Canberra Liberals will continue to do all that we can to draw attention to this issue. We will continue to do all that we can from the opposition, but rest assured that from October we finally will stop the unfair increases to rates and taxes. We will bring clarity and confidence to the planning system. There will be certainty regarding land supply. We will make sure land is released so that we can keep pace with the demand of our city. We owe it to all of Canberra’s families. We owe it to everybody doing it tough to make sure we have affordable housing in the territory.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (3.22): I move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit all text after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes that:
(a) over this term of the Assembly, the ACT Government has implemented a range of measures to support and protect people renting in the ACT, including:
(i) protecting renters from excessive rent increases; and
(ii) making it easier for renters to end leases without incurring punitive costs;
(b) during the Covid-19 pandemic and associated global economic crisis, the Government has implemented a range of further urgent measures to protect residential tenants, including:
(i) commencing a moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent, and rent increases, for Covid-19 affected tenants and occupants;
(ii) funding a mediation service and increasing legal assistance funding for tenants; and
(iii) establishing a process to negotiate rent reductions and providing landlords access to a land tax credit and rates rebate scheme for reductions in rent of at least 25 percent; and
(c) the Real Estate Institute Housing Affordability Index for the 2020 March quarter, released in June 2020, showed the proportion of income in the ACT required to meet the median rent was 19 percent, the second-lowest in the country;
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