Treasurer and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Tim Nicholls
Time’s up on Labor’s half-baked Building Boost fizzer
THE botched $10,000 Building Boost scheme was another example of a poorly targeted program from the former Labor Government that provided no real boost to the struggling housing and construction sector, Treasurer Tim Nicholls said today.
Mr Nicholls said the scheme, which ended yesterday, had failed to make an impact on the state’s housing sector with roughly only half of the expected 14,000 grants taken up.
“The fact that only half of the $140 million originally allocated has been paid out, is a clear indication it was a poorly targeted and designed scheme from the start.
“This scheme was typical of Labor governments – throwing huge amounts of money at a problem for a short term political fix.
“Over $1.5 million was spent on advertising the scheme which included $230,000 for a direct mail out across Queensland and the Greater Melbourne and Sydney areas.
“The direct mail piece distributed across tens of thousands of households in Sydney and Melbourne resulted in fewer than 350 approved applicants from those areas.
Mr Nicholls said the LNP Government had a clear plan to boost activity in the housing market by delivering on its election commitment to reintroduce transfer (stamp duty) concessions on the family home from 1 July 2012.
“Our commitment will provide real and significant cuts to cost of living pressures for home buyers and encourage activity within the housing sector.
“Legislation will be introduced in the first few weeks of the new Parliament to amend the current transfer duty legislation. The measure will save families up to $7,000 on the price of a family home.
“This initiative, together with our commitments to freeze electricity tariffs and car registration costs will deliver a real confidence boost to Queenslanders and we know it was confidence that took a hit under the former long-term Labor government.”
Mr Nicholls also said today’s RBA decision to sla sh the cash rate by .5% will provide a boost to the struggling housing market and cost of living relief to people paying off a mortgage, and urged the banks to pass on the cuts to help struggling Queensland families.
