There is much more to do with this silver-medal budget. There is a solid investment in housing and better planning of our cities. However, the scale of the housing challenge and the need to better unlock land for all property asset classes including industrial requires a doubling of this investment going forward. We will continue to champion better investment settings and greater investment in our cities.
While the Budget recognises the important role of purpose-built student accommodation, it fails to recognise the need to appropriately and affordably house and care for older Australians in retirement villages.
We will be closely watching the Opposition’s Budget-in-Reply on Thursday evening. This week’s announcements from both major parties will shape the early election framework. Our strong priorities will remain:
Demanding strong leadership in delivering against the national housing target, including strong governance structures and accountability within and across governments
A continued focus more on skilled and unskilled migration to build the homes we need
Ensuring that retirement living’s high-community benefit is recognised (not least through the inclusion of retirement living towards the National Housing Accord targets)
An appreciation of all asset classes beyond residential, although using the topical area of housing as the trojan horse for these city-building conversations
Acknowledgement that investment settings must be greatly improved at both federal and state level.