Chief Minister’s housing announcement unlikely to provide genuine choice for Canberrans

 

Following continued pressure from the Canberra Liberals the ACT Labor-Greens government has finally admitted there is inadequate housing in the ACT.

Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee said while the Chief Minister is finally starting to listen to what the Canberra Liberals have been saying for months about housing in the ACT, many questions remain over the government’s housing announcement yesterday.

“This announcement has been made by a government that is under pressure and wanting to appear as though it is doing something about housing,” Ms Lee said.

“The Canberra Liberals have continually been calling for genuine choice when it comes to housing options but once again it appears as though the Labor-Greens government has missed the mark.

“While the Chief Minister has come out and said with much fanfare the government’s new indicative land release program for 2022-23 will have 3,918 residential sites released to the market up from 3180, realistically this equates to only a couple hundred extra blocks of land a year for stand along housing.

“The Chief Minister has failed to provide information about how many of these blocks will be for standalone housing; where they will be located and what assurances he give that they will actually be delivered. Past performance indicates that Labor and the Greens are big on promise but continually fail when it comes to delivery."

Ms Lee said it is also astounding that only a week ago, the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Housing was scathing in her remarks following the Canberra Liberals call for more land to be released in the upcoming budget.

“It appears this dysfunctional Labor-Greens government has no plan when it comes to housing in the ACT and there is no communication between the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister who is responsible for Housing,” Ms Lee said

“This Labor-Greens government has had 21 years to plan for the sustainable growth of Canberra and it has shirked responsibility and done little to ease the burden for many Canberrans.

“We look forward to prosecuting this matter further at the upcoming estimates hearings once the Chief Minister releases all the information,” Ms Lee concluded.