Labor will address the difficulty of getting developments off the ground by removing barriers related to water, sewerage and power infrastructure.
Today we met with Rebecca Ellston Executive Director of the Property Council and past President Peter Scott to discuss our plans.
At present we have a situation in Tasmania where a number of developers own land they want developed at a particular site, but under the current rules the first mover will be required to pay the entire cost of the new sewerage, water and electricity infrastructure required.
In some cases, the first mover would have to pay several million dollars up front.
At a time when we need to be building as many houses as possible, this is holding up the construction of hundreds of new homes across Tasmania.
A Labor government will work with TasWater and TasNetworks to make sure these developments go ahead without the first mover bearing responsibility for the entire cost of the sewerage, water and electricity infrastructure.
We will underwrite some of the cost where we need to.
It is unacceptable that the government has allowed this to go on unresolved for so long – and it’s a sign they’ve run out of puff.
Labor’s determination to remove this barrier to new housing comes on top of our plan to stimulate construction of 1,000 new rental properties, by halving land tax for medium density long term rental accommodation.
Rebecca White MP
Tasmanian Labor Leader
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Minister for Housing
