Barr must be transparent about $50 million boost for ‘accelerated land release’ amidst SLA cash flow shortfall

Canberra Liberals Leader Elizabeth Lee has questioned Andrew Barr’s one-off $50 million announcement for the Suburban Land Agency (SLA) that he claims is to accelerate land release.

Ms Lee said there is no clear explanation for what this money will be used for, and it is not tied to any tangible targets or outcomes.

“What is more troubling is that this amount is almost exactly the same as the shortfall of cashflow for the SLA,” Ms Lee said.

“This so called $50 million announcement appears to be nothing more than Andrew Barr trying to cover up the SLA cashflow shortfall of just over $50 million.

“The audited financial statements for the SLA clearly show a cash flow shortage of slightly over $50 million. And yet, in making this announcement, Andrew Barr has tried to spin as a boost to accelerate land release.

“It is now clear why there are no clear outcomes or targets attached to this money because it will not provide any real boost to land supply. It is there to make up the shortfall in the SLA budget.

Ms Lee said ironically the reason the SLA has a cash flow shortfall is because they received less revenue through land sales than budgeted because they did not release enough land.

“If Andrew Barr is serious about releasing more land, why did the SLA fail to spend $76 million allocated for development costs that are directly attributable to the production of land available for sale?

“Last year alone the ACT Labor-Greens government only released just over 2,400 dwellings, well short of the almost 4,000 dwelling target.

“Andrew Barr needs to be upfront with Canberrans about this one-off payment and provide an explanation as to how this will ‘accelerate’ land release.” Ms Lee concluded.