The Council of Australian Governments today tasked Treasurers with accelerating and expanding on work underway through COAG, making housing a priority for microeconomic reform for 2010.
Premiers and Chief Ministers agreed that Treasurers would develop a reform agenda to tackle housing supply and affordability issues that build on important policies already in place. States and Territories also agreed to have capital city strategic plans by 2012, which will be independently assessed by the COAG Reform Council.
Every jurisdiction recognised that addressing housing supply is central to the challenge of ensuring housing remains affordable into the future.
Ensuring an adequate supply of housing as our population expands in coming decades is also a key economic challenge, impacting on the mobility of our labour force and our capacity for sustainable growth.
Key issues addressed by first ministers and Treasurers included:
* utilising the land audits recently undertaken by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments to progress the release of surplus land;
* implementing more efficient approaches to Development Assessment processes; and
* developing a timetable for housing policy reform for consideration at the first COAG meeting in 2010.
The policy development process will build on a number of measures already in train aimed at increasing the housing supply:
* the COAG Cities Infrastructure and Planning Taskforce has developed a national objective and criteria for capital city strategic planning systems;
* Planning Ministers have developed national planning principles and code-based development approvals processes and intend to work with Housing Ministers to progress reforms; and
* the Henry Tax Review is examining tax issues as they relate to housing.
This work is consistent with COAG's agreement to national criteria for planning transport, housing, urban development and sustainability.
Today's announcement will ensure that the Federal, State and Territory Treasurers are working with Housing and Planning Ministers to ensure we are doing all we can to address housing supply and affordability issues in the interests of Australians wherever they live.