Australian Greens Additional Comments
Energy
efficiency and environmental building standards
The
Community Affairs Committee heard evidence from representatives of the housing
sector that stressed the need for public housing to be affordable in the long term.
The Greens believe that all new buildings funded through the package, including
homes and school buildings, should showcase best practice for energy and water
efficiency, location and access to public transport and services.
For
example, new houses should achieve a 7 star rating under the Nationwide House
Energy Rating Scheme. The current requirement, administered by State
Governments, is just 5 stars. This standard lags well behind building standards
in comparable nations such as the United States.
It
is not acceptable for the Government to fall back on the industry's assertions
that there are 'diminishing marginal returns' for developers when going from a
five star accreditation to six, because people on low incomes will be left with
higher energy and water bills in perpetuity.
In
setting a business as usual five star standard, the Commonwealth has missed an
important opportunity to drive a large-scale improvement in the quality of
public housing. Raising the standard would also improve the skills-base and
expertise of the Australian building industry and improve its environmental
performance relative to other nations.
The
HIA represents developers who have a clear incentive to build homes for the
cheapest possible up-front cost. The incentive and responsibility for the
government is different. It is in the government's long term interest to build
energy efficient homes which cost less for tenants in the longer term and won't
require immediate retrofitting following the introduction of scientifically
defensible greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Charitable
tax status
The
Community Housing Federation of Australia (CHFA) gave evidence that the two
year window protecting the charitable tax status of community housing
organisations was insufficient to provide the confidence that the sector needs,
and that a long-term solution is required. This issue generated great
uncertainty at the time of the passage of the National Rental Affordability
Scheme (NRAS), which was only temporarily abated. The Australian Greens urge
the Government to extend the protection of charitable organisations providing
affordable housing permanently, so that these organisations can get on with the
job.
Reporting
and governance
In
paragraph 1.41 the committee notes that 'the plan does contain significant
monitoring and compliance mechanisms'. The Australian Greens contend that the
plan would benefit from a substantial strengthening of these mechanisms, which
are vague and poorly defined. When questioned on the reporting requirements and
benchmarks for access of the new housing to public transport, employment and
services, Departmental officials were unsure on what basis the applications
from States and Territories would be reported, how they would be benchmarked,
or whether the information would be made public.
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| Senator Rachel Siewert |
Senator Scott Ludlam |
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