June 29, 2025 • 18 mins
What does the ACT's fiscal future look like under new Treasurer Chris Steel, MLA? The answer shapes everything from housing affordability to business growth across Canberra.
This illuminating conversation tackles the hard questions Chamber members are asking about development approvals, property rates, and business taxation in the ACT. Mr. Steel addresses concerns about approval processes moving at "snail's pace," revealing that 85% of development approvals currently proceed on time while detailing specific reforms to streamline decision-making across government directorates.
Whether you're a local business owner navigating Canberra's economic landscape or simply interested in understanding how budget decisions shape a community's future, this episode offers valuable insights into the territory's financial priorities and challenges. Follow the Canberra Business Podcast for more conversations that matter to our region's economic vitality.
This episode is supported by CareSuper.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford, your hostfrom the Canberra Business
Chamber, and this week we'retalking about the ACT Budget.
It was the first budget for newTreasurer, chris Steele, and we
had lots of questions frommembers about what was in the
budget.
I put some of these live to theTreasurer.
Let's see what he had to say.
All right well, thank you.
We might turn to some of thequestions now that are coming in
(00:39):
for our audience on the floor.
A question about audience onthe floor.
Question about approvals fordevelopment.
The suggestion is that theyoperate at a snail's pace here,
with disparate organisationswithin government that don't
talk to each other very well.
How are you proposing to fixthis, through the budget or
otherwise?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, the last figure I saw from the previous month
was, I think, 85% of developmentapprovals were going through on
time.
But there's further work to doand further work to do around
building approvals not justdevelopment and applications as
well.
So that is the major focus ofthe work that we're doing
through the productivity agendaand where we've asked business
(01:19):
working in the constructionsector to bring forward their
proposals about what thespecific barrier is and then the
solution that would actuallyremove that barrier and address
the problem to allow development, and particularly of new
housing, to occur.
I've been overwhelmed by theresponse, which has been really
(01:39):
thoughtful and some of theissues are very specific around
standardising the piling depthfor deck columns and those sorts
of things, which is an issuethat they've come up against
with Icon Water, which is one ofthose referral agencies that
(02:01):
developers have to deal with.
So bringing some of thosereferral agencies together in
one directorate in governmentwill help so that there's not
that back and forth constantlybetween each one and when there
are design changes you have togo back through and consult with
the others again.
So we're trying to streamlinethat process and that's not
(02:22):
regulatory, it's simply aregulatory barrier.
It's simply about developing anew ethos that is supporting
development to go through.
We want to get high-qualityoutcomes through development.
We're very clear about that.
It's one of the reasons why wehave put in place the Property
Developer Licensing Scheme,which will have a delayed
(02:43):
implementation over the nextyear or so.
But we also need to supportdevelopment in the Territory and
if there are practical barriersthat are stopping that, our
government is prepared to workwith industry to address them.
But there's also anotherbarrier to that happening and
that is the Legislative Assembly.
We're a minority government andwe have already seen,
(03:03):
unfortunately, some proposalssort of blocked in the assembly
around trying to remove some ofthe third party appeal
exemptions for getting thepublic and community housing
program through, which isdisappointing.
But we'll continue to work withthe industry to try and put
that advocacy forward to theother parties so that once we've
got a proposal, particularlyaround some of these development
(03:26):
and assessment reforms, it'ssomething that we know as
government that industry backsand that hopefully will convince
the other parties to get onboard as well.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Alright, thank you.
We're going to stick withproperty for our next question.
The question we've got is thatresidential rates for owner
occupiers are the highest inAustralia by a factor of two to
three times.
So I guess, do you have a viewon that?
Is that correct?
Do you benchmark against otherjurisdictions and is that fair?
And if it is the case, whywouldn't you be moving to New
(03:58):
South Wales with that incentive?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Because people here have the highest median incomes
in Australia.
We have great jobs.
It's a great place to live Bestquality of life in Australia.
It's a great place to dobusiness and that's why we're
seeing business growth here andwe want that to continue.
(04:22):
And one of the reasons why wehave the highest quality of life
in the world is because wedeliver a high level of services
, and those services areexpensive to deliver and they
need to be funded.
And the most efficient way tofund those is through is through
land taxation, particularlythrough rates, which does
account, of course, for thevariable component of rates for
(04:44):
the unimproved land value, whichdiffers markedly across the
territory.
But in 25-26 average generalrates are going up by 3.75%.
Now we have seen in other localgovernments around the country
which don't deliver any publichospital services that their
rates have gone up much, muchhigher than that.
They are rebasing at the momentbecause they are facing some of
(05:06):
the same costs for deliveringother municipal services and the
like that we are facing.
And so, yes, we have seen costsgo up elsewhere, including
across the border, in Queanbeyan, pallering and some of the
other surrounding councils aswell.
But small jurisdictions face aparticular issue in this country
, tassie, and us in particular,and the Northern Territory, and
(05:29):
so we are looking for theCommonwealth to recognise that,
particularly in health andhospitals where the cost of
service delivery is higherbecause of the nature of our
jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You talk about the ACT being a great place to do
business, and it's certainlytrue if you look at the numbers
of new businesses being formedhere, that we have the highest
rate in the country, but oftenthose are very small businesses
that don't grow, or they grow toa certain size and then they
stop.
What is the government's growthand innovation agenda for
business more generally, andwhat are you doing to reduce red
(06:03):
tape?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
more generally, and what are you doing to reduce red
tape?
It's been a long-term ambitionof the Chief Minister to
diversify the economy and wewant to continue that
diversification, whether it's inour university sector, whether
it's in our cybersecurity sector, the whole range of different
parts of the business communitythat are growing, many of which
(06:24):
are linked to Canberra being thehome of the federal government
or have leveraged off that fact,and we want to support that and
the export economy in the ACT.
The investment, I think, in thebudget in the National
Convention Centre is importantfor that.
It leverages the fact that weare the nation's capital.
(06:47):
People want to come here toundertake their conventions.
Those delegates will stay inhotels around the territory,
contribute to our hospitalityindustry.
It is something that we think isa priority before a stadium
because of the week in, week outbenefits that that will provide
(07:09):
for the ACT.
So I think that is quite asignificant one in this budget.
But we're continuing to investin the business strategy, which
we'll, of course, be workingclosely with the Chamber on, and
a range of other initiatives.
Construction, of course, of keysector for us.
We want to grow, grow that todeliver more homes and I think
(07:32):
that is going to be a continuedsource of economic growth for
the territory.
It has been a strength as oneof the largest sectors
contributing to the economyalready, but we think that that
will grow over time as well allright, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
There's a question about payroll tax and rates and
taxes on commercial property.
We've got the highest payrolltax in Australia and the
suggestion here is that ratesand taxes on commercial
properties are more than doublethose in New South Wales and
Victoria.
Are we an anti-businessjurisdiction?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
We don't charge rates for, sorry, we don't charge
land tax for commercialproperties.
It's in our rates bill, and therates that we charge reflect the
high level of services thatCanberrans expect, and we are
asking for a contribution frombusiness to that task.
Look, it's something that we'llcontinue to work on and monitor.
(08:26):
We do want to make sure thatthe business settings, the
business environment, makes theACT a good place to do business,
but we also need to continue todeliver the services that
Canberrans expect as well.
So we can't be the only theCommonwealth can't be the only
(08:47):
government in the country thathas the sole ability to raise
taxation.
In this country, the statesneed a source of revenue to be
able to fund those services.
So I think the business voiceand the national taxation
discussion will be important.
Obviously, the Commonwealthcharges the business rate of tax
, and we also have to chargebusiness to be able to deliver
(09:12):
the services that Canberransexpect as well.
But it needs to be fair, and soif there are issues on the way
through with the implementationof some of the changes, then
we're alive to those and we willtry to address them.
Of some of the changes, thenwe're alive to those and we will
try to address them.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
What is the one biggest, perhaps scary,
conversation that you thinkneeds to happen between
government and the businesssector here in the ACT?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Thank you, I think it is about the broader
sustainability of verticalfiscal imbalance in the country
and the ability for particularlythe small jurisdictions in this
country to be able to raiseenough revenue to deliver
services.
So it's always been a problem,I think.
(09:57):
The Commonwealth levies 28major taxes and we only have a
handful in the ACT, so we'regoing to have to something is
going to have to change, I thinkto continue to address this
unless the Commonwealth steps inand provides further funding in
terms of the federal financialarrangements.
(10:17):
Now they may may do that onhealth, and that might provide
us with a bit more room to movein the coming years.
Some of the tax measures thatwe've taken in the budget are
temporary, so the health levy inparticular.
It's going over four years, butit's temporary, and it will
nowhere near, though, offset themassive increase of $717
(10:40):
million in addressing growth anddemand in the healthcare system
.
It will raise it just over $200million.
So we have stopped at a pointwhere we think it's unreasonable
to go further in taxing bothbusiness and the broader
community and households, and so, beyond that point, the
Commonwealth is going to have toplay a greater role, but we're
(11:02):
also going to have to be moreefficient in the services that
we provide, and we absolutelyrecognise that that is going to
have to be the case.
Minister Stephen Smith isworking on health sustainability
reforms.
There's funding in the budgetfor a task force to bring expert
advice together to make surethat Canberra Health Services is
delivering efficiently, andwithout that work, the
(11:27):
investment and cost ofdelivering health care would
have been higher than even whatwas presented in the budget
yesterday.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
One of the most popular questions that's been
coming through relates to one ofthe biggest election promises
that was made when will theBirdman rally be coming back?
What is the date that this isgoing to happen?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Probably not the highest priority for me, and so
it's not a feature of the budget.
It was a commitment that wasmade last year and I'll have to
get back to you once I consultwith the Chief Minister on that
one.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Alright.
Well, on the subject of otherforms of transport, how
important do you see micromobility, like e-scooters and
e-bikes, being?
You've allocated $38 milliontowards active travel.
Is that a focus?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, look, I think it's city continues to grow,
providing further opportunitiesfor active travel.
More sustainable modes oftravel is going to be important,
just to move more people moreefficiently around the city.
We embrace micro-mobility withthe shared e-scooter scheme.
I think there's a tenderpotentially going out very soon
for replacing the secondprovider of the shared scheme.
(12:40):
We're seeing more people adoptelectric bikes without the need
to provide incentives like othercities have.
We need to continue the priorityinvestment in the safe cycle
infrastructure.
We're starting to see some ofthat built into as a default
into the major infrastructureprograms road investments.
It's currently happening at themoment part of Light Rail,
(13:00):
stage 2 and Raising LondonCircuit, so the safe, protected
cycle lanes are being builtthere that you'll see being
completed in the next few monthsand a few years and I think
that will support more people toget around.
But also further work is neededin improving the bus system and
there's investment in thebudget in both more active
(13:21):
travel routes, new paths andupgraded paths, but also
renewing some of the ageinginfrastructure around the
territory and David Marshallwon't get the opportunity to ask
me about the street signs onNorthbourne Avenue, probably,
but there is money in the budget$600,000.
That's continuing from aprevious decision to do some of
that work around renewing someof the older infrastructure
(13:43):
around the territory, which Ithink will be welcome.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
All right Now, treasurer, I'm told you've got
just a couple of minutes leftwith us, so I gather there's
some roadworks that might get inthe way of you getting back to
the Assembly for question time.
So I've just got two morequestions that have come through
really from the floor here.
When you talk about enabling30,000 new homes by 2030, does
that mean built, approved, zonedor dreamed?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Mine means providing the opportunity for the
construction industry to be ableto build those homes.
So through land release, we'regoing to release as much land as
we can, a lot of it's high-riskland.
It involves more capitalinvestment to get the land out
to market, which is the SLA isconfronting in their program.
(14:32):
But we also know that over time, leased land is going to
deliver the homes in theTerritory as the opportunities
and for public land release, dryup land is becoming more scarce
in this territory, hence theneed for more planning reform to
enable more to happen.
And for many, many years,medium density homes were
(14:52):
effectively prohibited in on 70%of blocks in the territory.
We're now changing.
It's a big change for theTerritory and we are going to
have to build more homes in theexisting urban footprint,
existing zoned residential areas, but keeping green spaces and
what we love about Canberra atthe same time.
And we need to also work withindustry on a range of other
(15:16):
reforms to deliver that target.
It is ambitious and ultimatelywill be.
Market capacity constraints,industry on a range of other
reforms to to deliver thattarget.
It is am, it is ambitious andum, ultimately will be.
You know, market capacityconstraints, private investment
that will.
That will come up against.
I did note uh my my counterpartin new south wales's
announcement yesterday around umproviding some uh investment
and uncertainty for housing umfor new housing builds.
(15:39):
So we're interested in whatother jurisdictions are doing to
tackle this task and I thinkwe've got a pretty comprehensive
programme.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
All right, treasurer.
Finally there's one ACT publicservant, apparently, for every
15 Canberrans.
Yet we've got a high level ofcomplaints, at least anecdotally
, about performance.
What productivity andcapability measures are being
taken by government to deliverbetter for the Territory?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, I think the measure that we've taken around
reducing growth, while it's sortof blunt and high level, it
will involve, I think, quite adeep conversation between
ministers and CFOs anddirectorates about how we
deliver services in theTerritory better and more
efficiently, and so it will bethose issues around productivity
(16:31):
, I think, will come up betterways of doing things, not doing
things that don't contribute tobetter service delivery, so
stopping doing low value tasks,and so we will.
We'll be looking at all of thosethings and if there are any
contributions around some ofthose things, I'm happy to hear
it.
We're hearing it in theconstruction sector in that
(16:51):
productivity discussion thatwe've been having, so we'll also
be.
We'll be looking at this acrossmultiple sectors and if
business has some of those ideas, we're happy to hear them.
We know ICT systems can lead tosome of those improvements, but
they're also costly to investin and are high risk.
So there's a range of thingsthat we can do in that task.
(17:13):
But yeah, the budget decisionyesterday was sort of the first
point.
Now we've got the hard work todo to actually achieve that
efficiency.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Will you consider outsourcing to other states and
territories if they can dothings more efficiently?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
We've had really good conversations with Service NSW
representatives about how we canuse their thinking.
They're not competing with uson a lot of this stuff, so if
they have a particular you knowICT system or methodology that
we can adopt, then we can dothat.
Sometimes it will need to becustomised for the OCT settings.
(17:50):
But yeah, we're open.
We're absolutely open to thatconversation and whether it's
adopting the same ICT systems orshared approaches to different
challenges, I hope you enjoyedunpacking some of the budget
with the Treasurer, chris Steele.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Just a reminder that this episode of the Canberra
Business Podcast has beenbrought to you by the Canberra
Business Chamber with thesupport of CareSuper, an
industry super fund withcompetitive fees and returns,
exceptional service and a focuson real care.
You can learn more atcaresupercomau and don't forget
to follow us on your favoritepodcast platform for future
episodes of the CanberraBusiness Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford.
We'll catch you next time.
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford, your hostfrom the Canberra Business
Chamber, and this week we'retalking about the ACT Budget.
It was the first budget for newTreasurer, chris Steele, and we
had lots of questions frommembers about what was in the
budget.
I put some of these live to theTreasurer.
Let's see what he had to say.
All right well, thank you.
We might turn to some of thequestions now that are coming in
(00:39):
for our audience on the floor.
A question about audience onthe floor.
Question about approvals fordevelopment.
The suggestion is that theyoperate at a snail's pace here,
with disparate organisationswithin government that don't
talk to each other very well.
How are you proposing to fixthis, through the budget or
otherwise?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, the last figure I saw from the previous month
was, I think, 85% of developmentapprovals were going through on
time.
But there's further work to doand further work to do around
building approvals not justdevelopment and applications as
well.
So that is the major focus ofthe work that we're doing
through the productivity agendaand where we've asked business
(01:19):
working in the constructionsector to bring forward their
proposals about what thespecific barrier is and then the
solution that would actuallyremove that barrier and address
the problem to allow development, and particularly of new
housing, to occur.
I've been overwhelmed by theresponse, which has been really
(01:39):
thoughtful and some of theissues are very specific around
standardising the piling depthfor deck columns and those sorts
of things, which is an issuethat they've come up against
with Icon Water, which is one ofthose referral agencies that
(02:01):
developers have to deal with.
So bringing some of thosereferral agencies together in
one directorate in governmentwill help so that there's not
that back and forth constantlybetween each one and when there
are design changes you have togo back through and consult with
the others again.
So we're trying to streamlinethat process and that's not
(02:22):
regulatory, it's simply aregulatory barrier.
It's simply about developing anew ethos that is supporting
development to go through.
We want to get high-qualityoutcomes through development.
We're very clear about that.
It's one of the reasons why wehave put in place the Property
Developer Licensing Scheme,which will have a delayed
(02:43):
implementation over the nextyear or so.
But we also need to supportdevelopment in the Territory and
if there are practical barriersthat are stopping that, our
government is prepared to workwith industry to address them.
But there's also anotherbarrier to that happening and
that is the Legislative Assembly.
We're a minority government andwe have already seen,
(03:03):
unfortunately, some proposalssort of blocked in the assembly
around trying to remove some ofthe third party appeal
exemptions for getting thepublic and community housing
program through, which isdisappointing.
But we'll continue to work withthe industry to try and put
that advocacy forward to theother parties so that once we've
got a proposal, particularlyaround some of these development
(03:26):
and assessment reforms, it'ssomething that we know as
government that industry backsand that hopefully will convince
the other parties to get onboard as well.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Alright, thank you.
We're going to stick withproperty for our next question.
The question we've got is thatresidential rates for owner
occupiers are the highest inAustralia by a factor of two to
three times.
So I guess, do you have a viewon that?
Is that correct?
Do you benchmark against otherjurisdictions and is that fair?
And if it is the case, whywouldn't you be moving to New
(03:58):
South Wales with that incentive?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Because people here have the highest median incomes
in Australia.
We have great jobs.
It's a great place to live Bestquality of life in Australia.
It's a great place to dobusiness and that's why we're
seeing business growth here andwe want that to continue.
(04:22):
And one of the reasons why wehave the highest quality of life
in the world is because wedeliver a high level of services
, and those services areexpensive to deliver and they
need to be funded.
And the most efficient way tofund those is through is through
land taxation, particularlythrough rates, which does
account, of course, for thevariable component of rates for
(04:44):
the unimproved land value, whichdiffers markedly across the
territory.
But in 25-26 average generalrates are going up by 3.75%.
Now we have seen in other localgovernments around the country
which don't deliver any publichospital services that their
rates have gone up much, muchhigher than that.
They are rebasing at the momentbecause they are facing some of
(05:06):
the same costs for deliveringother municipal services and the
like that we are facing.
And so, yes, we have seen costsgo up elsewhere, including
across the border, in Queanbeyan, pallering and some of the
other surrounding councils aswell.
But small jurisdictions face aparticular issue in this country
, tassie, and us in particular,and the Northern Territory, and
(05:29):
so we are looking for theCommonwealth to recognise that,
particularly in health andhospitals where the cost of
service delivery is higherbecause of the nature of our
jurisdiction.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
You talk about the ACT being a great place to do
business, and it's certainlytrue if you look at the numbers
of new businesses being formedhere, that we have the highest
rate in the country, but oftenthose are very small businesses
that don't grow, or they grow toa certain size and then they
stop.
What is the government's growthand innovation agenda for
business more generally, andwhat are you doing to reduce red
(06:03):
tape?
Speaker 2 (06:04):
more generally, and what are you doing to reduce red
tape?
It's been a long-term ambitionof the Chief Minister to
diversify the economy and wewant to continue that
diversification, whether it's inour university sector, whether
it's in our cybersecurity sector, the whole range of different
parts of the business communitythat are growing, many of which
(06:24):
are linked to Canberra being thehome of the federal government
or have leveraged off that fact,and we want to support that and
the export economy in the ACT.
The investment, I think, in thebudget in the National
Convention Centre is importantfor that.
It leverages the fact that weare the nation's capital.
(06:47):
People want to come here toundertake their conventions.
Those delegates will stay inhotels around the territory,
contribute to our hospitalityindustry.
It is something that we think isa priority before a stadium
because of the week in, week outbenefits that that will provide
(07:09):
for the ACT.
So I think that is quite asignificant one in this budget.
But we're continuing to investin the business strategy, which
we'll, of course, be workingclosely with the Chamber on, and
a range of other initiatives.
Construction, of course, of keysector for us.
We want to grow, grow that todeliver more homes and I think
(07:32):
that is going to be a continuedsource of economic growth for
the territory.
It has been a strength as oneof the largest sectors
contributing to the economyalready, but we think that that
will grow over time as well allright, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
There's a question about payroll tax and rates and
taxes on commercial property.
We've got the highest payrolltax in Australia and the
suggestion here is that ratesand taxes on commercial
properties are more than doublethose in New South Wales and
Victoria.
Are we an anti-businessjurisdiction?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
We don't charge rates for, sorry, we don't charge
land tax for commercialproperties.
It's in our rates bill, and therates that we charge reflect the
high level of services thatCanberrans expect, and we are
asking for a contribution frombusiness to that task.
Look, it's something that we'llcontinue to work on and monitor.
(08:26):
We do want to make sure thatthe business settings, the
business environment, makes theACT a good place to do business,
but we also need to continue todeliver the services that
Canberrans expect as well.
So we can't be the only theCommonwealth can't be the only
(08:47):
government in the country thathas the sole ability to raise
taxation.
In this country, the statesneed a source of revenue to be
able to fund those services.
So I think the business voiceand the national taxation
discussion will be important.
Obviously, the Commonwealthcharges the business rate of tax
, and we also have to chargebusiness to be able to deliver
(09:12):
the services that Canberransexpect as well.
But it needs to be fair, and soif there are issues on the way
through with the implementationof some of the changes, then
we're alive to those and we willtry to address them.
Of some of the changes, thenwe're alive to those and we will
try to address them.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
What is the one biggest, perhaps scary,
conversation that you thinkneeds to happen between
government and the businesssector here in the ACT?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Thank you, I think it is about the broader
sustainability of verticalfiscal imbalance in the country
and the ability for particularlythe small jurisdictions in this
country to be able to raiseenough revenue to deliver
services.
So it's always been a problem,I think.
(09:57):
The Commonwealth levies 28major taxes and we only have a
handful in the ACT, so we'regoing to have to something is
going to have to change, I thinkto continue to address this
unless the Commonwealth steps inand provides further funding in
terms of the federal financialarrangements.
(10:17):
Now they may may do that onhealth, and that might provide
us with a bit more room to movein the coming years.
Some of the tax measures thatwe've taken in the budget are
temporary, so the health levy inparticular.
It's going over four years, butit's temporary, and it will
nowhere near, though, offset themassive increase of $717
(10:40):
million in addressing growth anddemand in the healthcare system
.
It will raise it just over $200million.
So we have stopped at a pointwhere we think it's unreasonable
to go further in taxing bothbusiness and the broader
community and households, and so, beyond that point, the
Commonwealth is going to have toplay a greater role, but we're
(11:02):
also going to have to be moreefficient in the services that
we provide, and we absolutelyrecognise that that is going to
have to be the case.
Minister Stephen Smith isworking on health sustainability
reforms.
There's funding in the budgetfor a task force to bring expert
advice together to make surethat Canberra Health Services is
delivering efficiently, andwithout that work, the
(11:27):
investment and cost ofdelivering health care would
have been higher than even whatwas presented in the budget
yesterday.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
One of the most popular questions that's been
coming through relates to one ofthe biggest election promises
that was made when will theBirdman rally be coming back?
What is the date that this isgoing to happen?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Probably not the highest priority for me, and so
it's not a feature of the budget.
It was a commitment that wasmade last year and I'll have to
get back to you once I consultwith the Chief Minister on that
one.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Alright.
Well, on the subject of otherforms of transport, how
important do you see micromobility, like e-scooters and
e-bikes, being?
You've allocated $38 milliontowards active travel.
Is that a focus?
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Yeah, look, I think it's city continues to grow,
providing further opportunitiesfor active travel.
More sustainable modes oftravel is going to be important,
just to move more people moreefficiently around the city.
We embrace micro-mobility withthe shared e-scooter scheme.
I think there's a tenderpotentially going out very soon
for replacing the secondprovider of the shared scheme.
(12:40):
We're seeing more people adoptelectric bikes without the need
to provide incentives like othercities have.
We need to continue the priorityinvestment in the safe cycle
infrastructure.
We're starting to see some ofthat built into as a default
into the major infrastructureprograms road investments.
It's currently happening at themoment part of Light Rail,
(13:00):
stage 2 and Raising LondonCircuit, so the safe, protected
cycle lanes are being builtthere that you'll see being
completed in the next few monthsand a few years and I think
that will support more people toget around.
But also further work is neededin improving the bus system and
there's investment in thebudget in both more active
(13:21):
travel routes, new paths andupgraded paths, but also
renewing some of the ageinginfrastructure around the
territory and David Marshallwon't get the opportunity to ask
me about the street signs onNorthbourne Avenue, probably,
but there is money in the budget$600,000.
That's continuing from aprevious decision to do some of
that work around renewing someof the older infrastructure
(13:43):
around the territory, which Ithink will be welcome.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
All right Now, treasurer, I'm told you've got
just a couple of minutes leftwith us, so I gather there's
some roadworks that might get inthe way of you getting back to
the Assembly for question time.
So I've just got two morequestions that have come through
really from the floor here.
When you talk about enabling30,000 new homes by 2030, does
that mean built, approved, zonedor dreamed?
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Mine means providing the opportunity for the
construction industry to be ableto build those homes.
So through land release, we'regoing to release as much land as
we can, a lot of it's high-riskland.
It involves more capitalinvestment to get the land out
to market, which is the SLA isconfronting in their program.
(14:32):
But we also know that over time, leased land is going to
deliver the homes in theTerritory as the opportunities
and for public land release, dryup land is becoming more scarce
in this territory, hence theneed for more planning reform to
enable more to happen.
And for many, many years,medium density homes were
(14:52):
effectively prohibited in on 70%of blocks in the territory.
We're now changing.
It's a big change for theTerritory and we are going to
have to build more homes in theexisting urban footprint,
existing zoned residential areas, but keeping green spaces and
what we love about Canberra atthe same time.
And we need to also work withindustry on a range of other
(15:16):
reforms to deliver that target.
It is ambitious and ultimatelywill be.
Market capacity constraints,industry on a range of other
reforms to to deliver thattarget.
It is am, it is ambitious andum, ultimately will be.
You know, market capacityconstraints, private investment
that will.
That will come up against.
I did note uh my my counterpartin new south wales's
announcement yesterday around umproviding some uh investment
and uncertainty for housing umfor new housing builds.
(15:39):
So we're interested in whatother jurisdictions are doing to
tackle this task and I thinkwe've got a pretty comprehensive
programme.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
All right, treasurer.
Finally there's one ACT publicservant, apparently, for every
15 Canberrans.
Yet we've got a high level ofcomplaints, at least anecdotally
, about performance.
What productivity andcapability measures are being
taken by government to deliverbetter for the Territory?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, I think the measure that we've taken around
reducing growth, while it's sortof blunt and high level, it
will involve, I think, quite adeep conversation between
ministers and CFOs anddirectorates about how we
deliver services in theTerritory better and more
efficiently, and so it will bethose issues around productivity
(16:31):
, I think, will come up betterways of doing things, not doing
things that don't contribute tobetter service delivery, so
stopping doing low value tasks,and so we will.
We'll be looking at all of thosethings and if there are any
contributions around some ofthose things, I'm happy to hear
it.
We're hearing it in theconstruction sector in that
(16:51):
productivity discussion thatwe've been having, so we'll also
be.
We'll be looking at this acrossmultiple sectors and if
business has some of those ideas, we're happy to hear them.
We know ICT systems can lead tosome of those improvements, but
they're also costly to investin and are high risk.
So there's a range of thingsthat we can do in that task.
(17:13):
But yeah, the budget decisionyesterday was sort of the first
point.
Now we've got the hard work todo to actually achieve that
efficiency.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Will you consider outsourcing to other states and
territories if they can dothings more efficiently?
Speaker 2 (17:28):
We've had really good conversations with Service NSW
representatives about how we canuse their thinking.
They're not competing with uson a lot of this stuff, so if
they have a particular you knowICT system or methodology that
we can adopt, then we can dothat.
Sometimes it will need to becustomised for the OCT settings.
(17:50):
But yeah, we're open.
We're absolutely open to thatconversation and whether it's
adopting the same ICT systems orshared approaches to different
challenges, I hope you enjoyedunpacking some of the budget
with the Treasurer, chris Steele.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Just a reminder that this episode of the Canberra
Business Podcast has beenbrought to you by the Canberra
Business Chamber with thesupport of CareSuper, an
industry super fund withcompetitive fees and returns,
exceptional service and a focuson real care.
You can learn more atcaresupercomau and don't forget
to follow us on your favoritepodcast platform for future
episodes of the CanberraBusiness Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford.
We'll catch you next time.
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