HOUSING —
BUILDING BONUS SCHEME
798. Mr
I.C. BLAYNEY to the Treasurer:
I have a supplementary question.
When could we expect the Treasurer to tweak the building bonus so that the
pipeline of work created can continue, rather than falling off a cliff in 2021,
as predicted by the industry?
Mr B.S. WYATT
replied:
I will make the point that the
industry is good at predicting dire crises, member for Geraldton. The point of
the stimulus was that—a stimulus. It has been successful. There are
some in the property sector who like to demand a stimulus, complain about the
stimulus, and then want the stimulus changed. Nonetheless, the government has
proven itself over the last three years to be receptive to the requests,
demands and complaints of the property sector. I think some $1.6 billion in
extra spend from the consolidated account has flowed through under this
government in support to the property sector. That is generous support by the Western
Australian taxpayer. The member made a correct point that, at some point,
unless we can get back to a more normalised population growth—the
member for Riverton is not here but he made the point last night and he was
correct—we will bring forward a lot of demand, and that has been
successful, but the property sector also needs to understand it needs to bring forward activity. In answer to the member's
question, yes, of course we are proving ourselves always to be receptive
to the ongoing expectations, demands and complaints of the property sector.