A re-elected Morrison government pledges to put a large portion of CSIRO land in one of Canberra's northern suburbs up for sale by the end of the year to address the ACT's affordable housing shortage.
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Liberal senator Zed Seselja says the Coalition will sell 243 hectares, or a third of the 701-hectare Ginninderra site, to boost available land for housing as he fights off Green and independent challengers in the tight race to retain his Senate seat in the ACT.
Last month the ACT senator said he was lobbying his Liberal ministerial colleagues to decide on the 701 hectares of CSIRO land that has long been part of a stalled joint-venture redevelopment project with the ACT government.
The earmarked land has already been identified as suitable for development without legislative changes, which could mean around 2000 new dwellings or housing for around 4500 people, based on the average block size in Canberra.
"If elected the Morrison government will put this land onto the market before the end of 2022, with the intent that its future use for family housing will best serve the Canberra community," Senator Seselja said.
"Canberrans are facing a housing crisis caused by the ACT Labor-Greens government's deliberate strategy to limit supply of new land for housing and to predominantly favour apartments over family blocks."
The senator said now the commitment to divest the land has been made, it was his intention to see the land sold directly to market to provide "much-need competition" in the ACT, rather than sold to the ACT government for it to "limit the choices given to Canberrans" by deciding on when and how it could be used.
"This land release alone doesn't fully fix the crisis created by the ACT Labor-Greens government, but it will offer relief by significantly increasing immediate supply for Canberra families," he said.
The government recently lifted the price cap on its Home Guarantee Scheme by 50 per cent to $750,000 for properties in the ACT. The scheme is aimed to allowing more single parent households and first-time home buyers to enter the housing market with a smaller deposit.
An ACT debate about addressing the lack of housing choice has seen recent claims that Canberrans are being forced into apartments, as well as counter-claims that too many of Canberra's suburbs are set aside for detached housing.
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ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr once warned that "significant community backlash" would follow from National Capital Authority decisions to rezone land such as the Ginninderra site rapidly with little opportunity for planning and community consultation.
"Not many Canberrans understand what is happening there," the Chief Minister said in 2018 of the urban rezoning the Ginninderra site.
"And I will predict there will be a significant community backlash the second someone tries to build on it, because I don't think people are aware of the change."
Last month Mr Barr rebuked claims that ACT government decisions had a massive impact on housing prices, saying the government's land release program represented less than 2 per cent of the total market.