Build it, don’t bank it: Will one brick be laid at Ginninderra by 2030?

Canberra Liberals Leader Mark Parton and Liberal Senate candidate Nick Tyrrell have welcomed the long-awaited sale of the CSIRO Ginninderra site, but say Canberra is getting barely a third of the homes the land was assessed to deliver, and are challenging the Government to say if one single home will be built on the site by 2030.

Mr Parton said the outcome fell well short of what Canberrans had been led to expect.

“The ACT Labor Government’s own 2021 scoping study found the full Ginninderra site could deliver around 8,000 homes. What we are actually getting is fewer than 3,000, on the Suburban Land Agency’s own numbers. That is barely a third of the site’s potential,” Mr Parton said.

“We started this conversation talking about a new town. We have ended up with one suburb. In these Labor Government’s hands, the plan shrank faster than its housing supply.”

Mr Parton said his real concern was what happened next, with the land passing to a Barr Labor Government with a poor record on releasing it.

“The Housing Industry Association has said it plainly: when the Government holds all the land and prices it beyond what people can pay, the market cannot function. This is a Government with a history of sitting on land to keep supply tight, prices high and its own balance sheet healthy. Canberrans are right to worry this site could be banked, not built.”

“Canberrans also deserve to know what kind of homes these will be. There is strong demand for freestanding homes in the ACT that land supply and price have never kept up with. Will CSIRO Ginninderra deliver the houses families actually want?”

Mr Parton said the Government had made this site central to its own housing promise, and now had to be held to it.

“This Government says the CSIRO Ginninderra site is key to its target of 30,000 homes by 2030. That is four years away. So the question is simple: will even one family have the keys to a new home on this site by 2030, 15 years after the discussions started? If they cannot, Canberrans will know this land is being banked, not built on.”

Mr Tyrrell said the long road to a deal made the delivery timeframe all the more important.

“The Commonwealth first flagged selling this land back in 2015. A child born when these talks began is now ten years old, and not a single brick has been laid. By the Government’s own 2030 deadline, it will be fifteen years since this started,” Mr Tyrrell said.

“I called on Finance Minister Katy Gallagher to step in and finalise this deal last November, and I am glad it has finally happened. But finally is not the same as fast. The test now is whether these homes get built, or whether this becomes another patch of Canberra land propping up a balance sheet while young families are locked out of the market for the type of home they want.”

“Build it, don’t bank it. That is what Canberra needs. Both governments should tell us today how many homes will be standing at the CSIRO Ginninderra site by 2030.”