Amid a $841 million surplus fuelled by mining royalties, there are changes to land, petrol and payroll taxes, billions spent on new infrastructure, schools and hospitals, and new programs to tackle the cost of living.
Lord Mayors called on both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition to commit to urgent action, especially funding, to respond to rough sleeping on city streets and the creation of a national housing plan, working in collaboration with local and state governments.
A domestic violence order is broken three times each hour on average in Queensland, police statistics show. A total of 27,499 domestic violence protection orders (DVO) were breached in 2018, or an average of 75 a day, or three each hour. It was more than triple the 2001 figure.
Q Shelter spokesperson, Scott McGregor, said that supply wasn’t the only answer, pointing to new units and new homes being built on the Gold and Sunshine coasts. “What we actually need is housing supply that is targeted towards people with low incomes, or do have those entry-level jobs in those areas of the Gold and Sunshine coasts.”
The “good old days” are over for developers who buy Commonwealth land for a song and build no social or affordable housing, as the government will exert greater control on what is planned and developed on the sites, housing minister Michael Sukkar said.
Labor’s proposal to halve the 30 per cent withholding tax rate on managed investment trusts for rental housing – in other words, the build-to-rent industry – will send a strong signal to international investors that there is support for the emergence of the nascent sector in this country.
Australia needs to build more than 1 million social and affordable homes by 2036 to arrest the shortfall caused by a lack of investment across decades and anaemic wage growth.
Big business will be hit with hundreds of millions of dollars in extra taxes and royalties as the Palaszczuk Government seeks to deliver payroll tax relief to small and medium-sized businesses in the hope of boosting jobs, particularly in regional Queensland.
Keystart has issued more than 100,000 low-deposit loans over its 30-year life – It boasts a low loan default rate, despite its interest rates being higher than the banks – But WA’s depressed housing market has locked many borrowers into high-interest loans
After years of living on the streets, recovering ice addict Robert Drew is using his talent to help others doing it tough, as Brisbane experiences one of the highest spikes of homelessness in the country.