Is ‘unleashing’ retirement villages ‘flogging a dead horse’? We must be in the ACT

The Property Council of Australia and its agency, the Retirement Living Council, want the ACT government to alter its developer licensing scheme, which passed the Legislative Assembly last week. 

Daniel Gannon, RLC Executive Director (pictured left), said the ACT's "unnecessary layers of homewrecking red tape" were "frankly bizarre".  

 "At a time when the number of Canberrans aged over 75 is set to increase by 75% between now and 2040, government needs to be doubling down to plan and prepare for these significant socio-economic changes rather than turning a mole hill into a mountain," he said. 

"Given these communities are keeping people away from the GP, out of hospital beds and delaying entry into aged care facilities, governments should be doing everything they can to unleash more of them - not less." 

 
ACT Building Minister Rebecca Vassarotti accused the council of scaremongering and deflection.  

"With the Developer Licensing Bill passed unanimously in the ACT Legislative Assembly last week, I would love for the Property Council to move on and stop flogging a dead horse," she said, adding the government had engaged heavily with industry over the past four years. 

She also declared any developer who was not prepared to fix defects in their buildings was not welcome in the ACT. 

Gino Luglietti, the Council's interim ACT Executive Director (pictured right), said exemptions for community housing operators should be extended to assets built, owned and operated by developers, stating it would strangle investment in retirement village development unless changed.  

"The legislation as passed sends a clear message to national and international investors that their capital is not welcome in the ACT," Gino said.