Economic growth is the centrepiece of the Property Council’s federal pre-budget submission, which focuses on seven policy themes and a strong commitment to partnership.
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Three key takeaways:
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Last year the federal government’s measures, notably HomeBuilder, gave the property industry a “a shot in the arm” that stimulated housing construction, kept hundreds of thousands of people in work and prevented a jobs disaster, says Morrison.
“Thanks to the swift and decisive action of the Australian Government and National Cabinet, we have avoided many of the worst impacts of COVID-19.
“While Australia’s economic recovery is advancing well ahead of earlier projections, the economic road ahead remains very challenging. Australia will face many ongoing effects from the pandemic for some time to come.”
The Property Council’s submission urges the Australian Government to “shift gears” to measures that drive economic growth. The submission outlines several recommendations under seven key policy themes:
- Restarting population growth
- Productivity focused reform
- Attracting international business
- Harnessing capital flows
- Investing for our future
- Boosting home ownership
- Working towards a climate resilient and net zero emission future.
“The property industry has worked in partnership with the federal government throughout the pandemic, and did a lot of heavy lifting,” Morrison says.
“Commercial and residential sites operated safely, supporting economic activity and jobs during the worst shutdowns. Retirement villages protected hundreds of thousands of elderly residents without additional funding.
“Australia’s office, shopping centre and industrial property landlords demonstrated COVID-safe leadership and kept businesses afloat with some $15 billion of rental income foregone.
“Property confidence has surged back to pre-pandemic levels. Now it’s time shift gears and focus on growth which means we will need safe population growth sooner rather than later,” Morrison concludes.