Key Points
A Rebecca White Labor Government will change the planning scheme to encourage the development of more apartments and medium-density developments.
After 10 years of the Liberals, young Tasmanians are shut out of the housing market. They’re paying ridiculously high rents and have given up hope of ever owning their own home. And the Liberals’ promise of a statewide planning scheme has still not been delivered.
By contrast, Labor will do everything we can to make it easier for people to get a foot in the door of their first home.
Labor has a Plan to reset our planning system. To achieve this, we will:
- Set a target of building 2,000 new apartments within the next 4 years
- Finalise an Apartment Code to speed up planning approvals
- Purchase up to 20% of new apartment developments for public housing
- Hold councils accountable for their decisions by creating a Planning Dashboard that compares every council’s performance
- Provide an additional funding pool to help growing council areas invest in infrastructure
- Solve the first-mover disadvantage that holds up development
- Provide a 50% stamp duty concession for new apartments
- Prevent needless holdups by implementing a “Three Strikes Rule” for councils
- Leverage public-private partnerships to encourage housing development
Why we need it
Tasmania used to have the most affordable housing in the country. Now it is one of the most expensive places to live, making the cost of living crisis even worse.
“Labor will do everything we can to make it easier for people to get a foot in the door of their first home.”
If the Liberals haven’t fixed it by now, they never will.
The details
As part of our Plan, Labor will:
- Set an ambitious target of 2,000 new apartments over the next four years with polices to achieve it to show that we are serious about new high-density housing.
- Provide a 50% stamp duty concession for new apartments valued under $750,000, to make apartments more attractive and affordable for buyers.
- Get more apartment developments off the ground by committing to purchase up to 20% of new developments for use as social and government housing. This will provide certainty to apartment builders and help them secure finance for their much-needed projects.
We’ll also remove the Liberals’ cap of one supported development per region over the next four years.
- Get all hands on deck for building new housing by leveraging public-private partnerships. We’ll work with the construction industry to exchange vacant government land for a share of the housing they’re able to build on that land.
And we’ll make sure the housing that’s returned to the government – likely up to a quarter of each development – is set aside for first home buyers participating in our zero deposit GameChanger program, as well as social housing.
- Finalise an Apartment Code to guarantee planning approvals where designs meet agreed standards.
- Implement a “Three Strikes Rule” to prevent councils delaying developments with repeated requests for information.
- Remove the first-mover disadvantage by having TasNetworks and TasWater wear initial costs, fairly spread over subdivisions and other developments.
- Hold councils accountable for their role in approving new apartments and other housing by creating a Planning Dashboard, similar to the existing health and housing dashboards, with mandatory public reporting on the progress of development applications by Councils.
We will reward councils that perform well with additional funding for local infrastructure, and name and shame those who contribute to the housing crisis by blocking new developments.
- Work with TasWater and TasNetworks to make sure developments go ahead without the first mover bearing responsibility for the entire cost of the sewerage, water and electricity infrastructure.