Alan Cadman (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House acknowledges that:

(1)

the cost of housing in Australia is often more than double what it should be;

(2)

the high cost is mainly due to the huge increase in the price of land and, as a result, land affordability is a problem in Australia, and especially in Sydney;

(3)

Sydney is the most penalised city in the country, with affordability being worse than in London or New York;

(4)

the main causes are State and local government planning restrictions and taxes; and

(5)

State and local governments must play their part to reduce the cost of housing so the great Australian dream remains a reality, especially for future generations.

Over the last few days we have had three authorities speak about the affordability of housing in Australia: the Institute of Public Affairs, the Productivity Commission and the Governor of the Reserve Bank. Each authority has said that the affordability of housing is becoming less and that the house-and-land package is becoming more difficult to buy. The Housing Industry Association indicates that if some impediments to the affordability of housing were removed a further 50,000 homes could be built in Australia. Homeownership is important because it provides family and social stability. For people buying their own home, it is an investment in their future, which can be turned into a retirement program as they come to a time when they do not need the space of a large home. Every study supports the significance of homeownership and the value that it provides for the Australian community.

Any assumptions that make the reverse proposition need to be challenged. In New South Wales, the New South Wales government taxes homes. When the federal Labor Party were in government here they taxed superannuation. And so the two extremes of needs of the Australian community, whether it is the elderly or family formation, have been the target of attack by the Australian Labor Party, both federal and state.

According to a study initiated by the Institute of Public Affairs, 30 years ago one-third of the total land-house package went to the paying of the cost of land. Now the same body estimates that one half of the total house-land package goes to the cost of land. In Sydney it is said—on figures that I have from the institute—that 80 per cent of the price of a house-land package is attributable to the land itself. It is more expensive and less affordable to live in Sydney than it is to live in New York or London. The figures of the Wendell Cox consultancy from St Louis indicate that the affordability of housing in New York and London is better than in Sydney, Australia.

And today we have the announcement from the New South Wales government that local government will be allowed to impose a levy of one per cent on all renovations; an additional cost to the cost of housing and provision of accommodation. Planning restrictions and taxes are the key. I think that the planning restrictions on the size of blocks in New South Wales have reduced the size of new outer suburb blocks to the size of inner city blocks. The prices, however, are North Shore prices. If you examine in detail the reason for that, you see that over 30 years the cost of the house and the house-land package has not increased. But if you look at the cost of the land, which has been changing in that period, you see that it has increased seven-fold over the same period of time—30 years—producing an environment for minimised exercise, minimised security and minimised quality of life for people living in the suburbs.

The anti-sprawl dogma, which seems to be believed by the Australian Labor Party, can best be illustrated by comparing the cost of land in Atlanta. There the cost of government charges is $6,500; in Sydney it is $150,000. The first home buyers are paying for the water pipes, the footpath, half the road, the curb and now the freeways. Out in the western suburbs of Sydney, they are going to pay for the railway line as well. The cost on the average home of a block of land in Rouse Hill is going up by 30 per cent to cover the railway line the New South Wales Labor Party says that it will build some time in the future. The government of New South Wales does nothing for the homeowner and charges them the lot. I think it is time that homeowners had the opportunity to live in the type of home— (Time expired)

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