CORONAVIRUS — WA RECOVERY PLAN — REGIONAL
LAND BOOSTER PACKAGE
982. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the
Minister for Lands:
I refer to the Auditor General's
report of 20 October titled Roll-out of state COVID-19 stimulus initiatives:
July 2020–March 2021, which identified a miserly 13 per cent uptake
of the $166.3 million allocated to affordable regional
land packages, and citing that there was very limited consumer demand from
purchasers due to the location of the land packages.
(1) Will the
minister please list the specific regional locations of the regional land
packages and the number of blocks offered to purchasers at each of those
locations under the stimulus initiative?
(2) What was the
criteria for selecting the location of these regional land packages, and who
had the final determination of the land packages to be offered?
(3) Are the land
packages at these locations still being offered to purchasers; and, if not,
what is the status of these packages?
(4) Will the
minister now commit to releasing affordable regional land packages in regional
WA that have pre-determined consumer demand; and, if not, why not?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The Minister for Lands has provided the following information.
(1) The list is comprehensive and
will be provided by Thursday, 18 November 2021.
(2) All regional locations with titled lots for sale or
forecast development works by DevelopmentWA at July 2020 were included
in the package that was approved by government.
(3) Yes. As at 5 November 2021, 375 lots had been
contracted for sale across 52 regional towns—244 residential lots; 55 light industrial, commercial or tourism
lots; and 76 general industrial lots—with Karratha, Broome and
Kalgoorlie having the most significant sales numbers. This is a fivefold
increase above forecast sales before the Regional Land Booster initiative.
(4) The
government continues to support the development of land in response to market
demand in regional communities through DevelopmentWA's activities.