Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the coalition's proposed shake-up of the National Rental Affordability Scheme and to flag my commitment to changing its structure so it works to better serve the needs of Territorians. I have spoken to stakeholders over the past few years and they tell me that NRAS does not work for residential developers and does not work for people seeking affordable housing in the Territory. Everyone agrees with the concept of providing workers with affordable rental housing. But we need to ensure that special circumstances in regional areas are taken into consideration. Darwin has the highest capital city rental prices in the country—and rents in Palmerston are not far behind.

During the 2007 federal election campaign, the Labor government promised—and they re-announced this in 2010—to deliver more than a thousand dwellings in the Solomon electorate under NRAS. Four years on, only 230 houses have been completed. That 21 per cent take-up rate is by far the nation's lowest, well behind the 53 per cent in the ACT and the 46 per cent in Queensland and South Australia.

I look forward to working with Minister Andrews to ensure that the current one-size-fits-all model, which clearly is not working for Territorians, is changed. I will continue to push for opportunities to provide affordable housing for Territorians.