It is the final full week of parliamentary sitting in Canberra.
Led by Mirvac’s Stuart Penklis, we spent Monday and Tuesday talking to senior members of Federal Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet.
We also moderated a terrific panel hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of Housing and opened by Senator David Pocock.
Hat tip the terrific senior members and Property Council team who leaned in.
This advocacy push mirrors my first as Chief Executive in the first sitting week of 2023 when we launched our viral national housing report A Stark Reality.
That report set the stage for the realisation of several long-term Property Council ambitions including national housing targets, federal housing incentives and levelling the build-to-rent housing investment playing field.
A Stark Reality also laid the groundwork for a successful national defence against seductive, supply-killing ideas like rent freezes through the clear thinking of the National Cabinet. Thanks to decades of under supply, rent freezes will undoubtedly return as a magic pudding housing answer in 2024.
This week we emphasised the perfect storm affecting investment in property of all types and housing in particular.
We also spotlighted the scale of housing opportunities National Cabinet must embrace if we hope to get to one million homes by 2029.
This included the tremendous Better Housing Better Health report produced by the Retirement Living Council of Australia which reached almost ten million viewers over the last few days with this essential message:
“Retirement villages across Australia are already saving the government a billion dollars a year, by delaying residents’ entry into aged care, and quite simply, we need more of them. People who live in retirement communities are less lonely and less depressed than older Australians who live independently, because retirement communities encourage physical wellbeing and social interaction – which all translates to economic benefits for governments.”
Daniel Gannon, Executive Director, Retirement Living Council
We also raised boosting the skilled migration intake of the property industry to help meet the challenges ahead. Of that more in the new year.
ThinCap
Still in play. More next week.