The Commonwealth should free up some of its land in the ACT to deliver housing for key workers needed to address skill shortages, Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Barr said the COVID period had shown migration was not the cause of rapid house price growth but there was still a need to provide more housing so skilled workers could be brought in to address shortages.
"There's still a fundamental supply and demand equation that needs to be addressed and the Commonwealth has some programs. So what that means locally ... in relation to the stadium discussion ... is the potential for the Commonwealth to bring some land to the table," Mr Barr told The Canberra Times on the sideline of the jobs and skills summit.
Mr Barr pointed to land at the former CSIRO Ginninderra experiment station and the Australian Institute of Sport precinct, which has come into renewed focus this week as the government's attention for renewing the territory's stadium shifted from the city to Bruce.
The area around Canberra Stadium could support housing, shops, restaurants and accommodation, Mr Barr suggested earlier this week.
The Chief Minister said the advice to the ACT from the Commonwealth was the territory would experience peak skills demand over the next year.
"As interest rates rise, that will take some of the demand out of the economy and that skills imbalance will start to adjust down," he said.
Mr Barr wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before the two-day jobs and skills summit calling for an agreement to expand the scope of Commonwealth infrastructure funding for projects delivered by states and territories needed to support a growing population.
MORE A.C.T. POLITICS NEWS:
The ACT said it would seek agreement to "develop a joint Commonwealth-state approach to addressing housing affordability issues including those facing key workers and skilled migrants".
"A growing population requires new and expanded infrastructure delivered by state and territory governments, which in turn supports productivity growth. Commonwealth funding support to the states is currently restricted to transport infrastructure, leaving the States to fund infrastructure required to meet the service needs of a growing population," Mr Barr wrote.
"I consider that the Commonwealth Government needs to partner more broadly with the States on infrastructure projects to support productivity and workforce growth."
Australia's ceiling for migration will be temporarily lifted to nearly 200,000 places, the federal government announced on Friday, in an effort to address skills shortages.
The federal government will also employ a further 500 staff members to deal with a backlog of visa applications, at a cost of $36.1 million.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.