Property Council launches it s election priorities

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Property Council launches its election priorities

The Property Council has launched its election priority list to help power up the Tasmanian economy as Tasmanians get set to go to the polls.

Property Council of Australia’s Tasmanian Division Executive Director, Rebecca Ellston said that Tasmania’s property industry accounts for $3 billion in economic activity and directly supports more than 24,100 jobs.

“Our election priorities are a common sense approach and will help Tasmania reach its full potential over the coming years.

“We stand ready and willing to help the government build back better and stronger with a strategic vision for Tasmania’s growth.

“The best thing the incoming government can do to help unleash the property industry is by extending and increasing the existing first home buyers grant. 

“Increasing the grant from $20,000 to $30,000 would give more Tasmanians the incentive they need to build their dream home and extending the deadline would give our builders the time to build it. 

“It is absolutely vital that we increase our housing stock and this should be at the top of the incoming Premier’s ‘to do’ list.

“The incoming government must urgently finalise the statewide planning scheme. 

“The new scheme can not come soon enough and would fix a number of problems in the patchwork of existing planning rules. 

“We are also calling for a new ‘one strike’ policy where councils can only request further information on applications once.  This would avoid the current practice where it appears some councils use requests for further information to stall developments.

“At a broader level, we need the next government to conduct an urgent, thorough review of Tasmania’s tax system.  There is absolutely no doubt that the patchwork of state taxes is out-of-date, not fit-for-purpose and is actually hurting the state’s economy. 

“It’s counter-productive and it must be fixed.

“We are also calling on the next government to invest more in public transport and expand the state-wide network. 

“By doing so, we can unlock better housing solutions, currently, the public transport system seems to be an after-thought rather than the key economic driver that it should be.”

Ms Ellston said the complete priorities document is available on the Property Council website.

Media Contact: Rebecca Ellston | E [email protected]