Federal Budget Shows Fiscal Restraint

Federal budget shows fiscal restraint

The Residential Development Council (RDC) acknowledged the Federal Government's budget which showed "fiscal restraint" while holding firm on funding for the public housing component of the stimulus package.

RDC executive director Caryn Kakas said a spending free-for-all would have had
significant impacts on home owners and recent purchasers with regard to their
home repayments.

"The stimulus package has provided for the much-needed replenishment and
expansion of public housing stock which has long been undersupplied," said Ms
Kakas.

However, Ms Kakas said inadequate supply continues to stymie the Australian housing sector and needs to be addressed, particularly in the wake of the global financial crisis.

"There is no doubt the fallout from the global financial crisis has yet to finish playing out its damage on the housing sector," Ms Kakas said. "It is imperative, now more than ever, that the barriers to supply are addressed."

Ms Kakas said that, moving forward, the government needs to focus future spending on targeting housing delivery as identified by Council of Australian Governments, the findings of the Henry Review and the reports of the National Housing Supply Council.

"Future funding should focus on improving planning processes and ensuring we are reaching housing targets to meet the needs of current and future Australian families," Ms Kakas said.

"This should include more money for the Housing Affordability Fund (HAF) which deals with both the front-end loading of infrastructure costs on new communities, and targets improvements to the planning and development assessment process benefiting the whole community.

"It is only through the delivery of significant planning reform and long-term agreement on land use and planning that we will be able to meet the needs of a growing Australia."

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Media Contacts:
Caryn Kakas,
Executive Director,
Residential Development Council on 0404 257 540 or [email protected]; or
Kate Ellis Welsh,
PR & Communications Manager,
Residential Development Council
on 0438 760 206 or [email protected]


SOURCE: Residential Development Council