An election promise by Zed Seselja has been championed by Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee, who has raised a motion in the ACT Legislative Assembly this week calling on all MLAs to back the hoped-for release of the CSIRO Ginninderra site.
Mr Seselja’s promise during his federal re-election campaign was criticised by the ACT Government as being “not a ground-breaking” announcement, which the Senator at the time vehemently denied.
This week, Ms Lee called on all parties in the ACT Legislative Assembly to write to their federal counterparts, urging them to support the release of the site to assist in easing Canberra’s housing market.
“Canberrans are doing it tough when it comes to housing and we must be doing everything we can to help relieve the housing crisis. That is why I am calling on all parties in the Assembly to urge their federal counterparts to release the CSIRO site to the market as soon as possible,” Ms Lee said.
“The Labor-Greens Government must also commit to allowing low and medium density housing at the site, in keeping with Canberrans’ housing preferences; and what is clearly currently starkly missing on the market.
“Demand for housing in Canberra, particularly detached housing, is at crisis point, and is not being met by the ACT Labor-Greens Government. Recent land release ballots have seen thousands and thousands of Canberrans apply for a few blocks; with the most recent at Macnamara receiving 1700 entries within hours for just 51 blocks.”
If the Coalition was successful in their federal election bid, Zed Seselja had promised the CSIRO Ginninderra site would have been sold off by the end of the year, providing around 2000 blocks of land. Whether the new Labor Government will agree to release the land for housing in the ACT is still uncertain.
ACT Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Yvette Berry, responded to Ms Lee’s motion in the Assembly but with an amendment, agreeing with the Liberal Leader, but refuting the suggestion the government hasn’t already been pushing for the release.
“The government supports the intent of this motion. Ms Lee is calling on the ACT Government to work with the Commonwealth Government to deliver more land for Canberrans. That’s something that we not only agree with, it’s something we have been doing, and will keep doing,” Ms Berry said.
“When a sale was considered years ago, we thought about how to ensure the best outcomes for Canberrans, not just about the number of blocks. And even before outgoing Senator Seselja campaigned on releasing the site, the ACT Government was already engaged.
“I am personally hopeful that with a renewed Labor Government in Parliament House, we’ll be able to achieve an outcome… We want that land to be brought into the ACT’s planning framework, so that all future steps can be decided following consultation with Canberrans and especially those Canberrans who live nearby.”
Ms Berry said the ACT Government has been engaged in the site for eight years now, and “a number of directorates” have been advising the CSIRO on a range of matters surrounding planning and infrastructure.
“The ACT Government has been working on how the CSIRO site might best fit into Canberra’s future for years, and I welcome Ms Lee’s support for that work,” she said in the Assembly.
“I would like to thank the ACT public servants who have consistently and diligently provided advice and worked on this despite no action from the previous Coalition Government at a national level.
“With these amendments to the motion, I look forward to joining the Chief Minister in sending a letter that seeks support from a new Labor Government for releasing the CSIRO site.”
