Priorities for prosperity.
Housing and land tax.
Everyone needs a home. It will look different for each of us. But fundamentally, the great Australian dream is a shared vision that we all have a safe place to go to sleep and wake up in. A place we can call our own.
Currently, NSW is sleepwalking into an unsustainable reality of higher house prices, limited supply, an increasing number of renters and a collapse in construction capabilities.
And the vacancy rate of dwellings sits somewhere between 1% and 10% (that is, up to around 350,000 dwellings), with causes ranging from land banking to foreign investment.
These factors add up to a pretty grim picture for the people of NSW.
The NSW Government has signed up to a federal target of building 377,000 homes in this state the next five years. That sound good. The bad news is that the Premier didn’t even consult with his planning minister before signing up to the target to understand if building 75,400 new homes a year was even possible.
According to ASIC, construction companies are collapsing at the highest rate since 2015. Who will build our homes?
And with the federal government expecting 500,000 more people coming to Australia (that’s about 180,000 to NSW this year alone). Where will people live?
Because of cumulative years of low housing completions, we’re already facing a housing shortfall in NSW, particularly in affordable housing. The squeeze is well and truly on.
It will take at least five years to get construction up to a level that meets demand. What happens in the next 12 months? Purchase and rental prices will rise further as demands surges post-covid.
We must find vacant dwellings, available right now, in addition to building more, quickly.
Outside of zoning changes to allow greater density (and increase in mid-rise development is critical), taxation (or duties, levies and contributions) is the primary policy lever available to make the planning and housing system clearer, fairer and more sustainable for all generations over time.
Long-term regulatory certainty will lead to greater investment. Commercial confidence will stem from clear and cogent policies.
Yes, we need short-term solutions, but it’s like drinking from a fire hose. The problem will become truly overwhelming if we don’t find a better way to price land for its efficient use and affordability. That is where broad base land tax reform takes the stage.
Innovation and the economy.
The world is full of ideas. It’s the people who have the chutzpah to make those ideas real who change our world.
Innovation is creativity. A challenge. It is seeing the world in a way that brings skills and possibilities together to create something new. Innovators see a better world and find a way to get there.
Australia’s innovators are responsible for solar panel technology, for spray-on skin, for the Hills Hoist. For boomerangs and wi-fi.
An entrepreneur is someone who wants to create value for others. A person who wants to be their own boss. Entrepreneurship stems from an enterprising spirit and a solid work ethic. It results in the distribution of created value, from the good or service offered to employment opportunities as growth is pursued.
Creating an environment in which innovation and entrepreneurship can combine and flourish will lead to prosperity. We need to be coming up with better ways to work and live if we want to improve our lifestyles.
Over 2,900 startups have been founded or are HQ’d in NSW.
If NSW loses out to Victoria and Queensland, let alone other countries, on innovation and entrepreneurship, we lose talented people and the opportunity to make amazing ideas real right here in NSW.
So, what is a government’s role?
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To provide certainty about priorities
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To support the speed and scale of quality innovation
And government should definitely not be an impediment to success.
Since they were elected, the NSW Labor Government has failed to provide certainty to founders, with grant policies cut and changed every few months to an elusive ‘innovation blueprint’ to apparently be delivered AFTER the next budget.
Each week I’m told of world-changing startups moving to other states because of more generous financial supports and better prospects for business growth.
I am deeply concerned that by taking our foot off the proverbial accelerator, we are, in effect, slamming our foot on the brake. No other jurisdiction is paring back its support for innovation and entrepreneurship, because those governments know there is a serious return that comes from supporting these sectors.
Earlier this year the CSIRO found that every dollar invested in R&D generates $3.50 of value around that dollar, and a 10% average return on investment.
According to Startup Genome, startup valuations and exits in Sydney were worth $78bn between 2020-2022. This is no small fry. As other states get the jump on NSW, there is no doubt we will see a declining share. Melbourne is rapidly rising on the global stage. And if we start slowing down, we don’t just get to catch up in a few years. If this government doesn’t understand the value of this sector, we’re out of the race entirely.
Energy and the environment.
The NSW Liberals have a strong track record of delivering renewable energy policy that will reduce emissions and deliver cheap, reliable power into the future. And with it, we contribute to conserving our wonderous, biodiverse natural environment by limiting global warming.
The Liberal Party is a natural home for conservation. The original conservationists in the United Kingdom were conservatives. Environmental conservatism is at the heart of true conservatism, but, of course, we need something to conserve.
The geographic advantage that NSW boasts – sunny days, windy landscapes and swathes of available land – may exceed even our nation’s geological luck when it comes to energy generation.
Our location means NSW can be a natural, renewable energy source unlike almost anywhere else in the world. And this is important. Because the world’s future currency will be measured by the price of energy.
Generating some of the world’s cheapest electricity gives energy-intensive businesses good reason to set up in NSW, from data centre warehouses to advanced manufacturing production. It will also provide much needed, long-term cost of living relief to households.
The CSIRO continues to find that renewable energy is the cheapest source of energy and has the least volatility in price.
We must capitalise on our natural advantage with speed and scale. The world is moving towards renewables, and if we miss the starting gun, we’ve already lost the race.
Net-zero pledges already cover 92% of global GDP and 88% of emissions worldwide.
The International Energy Agency reports that peak demand for coal, oil and natural gas will occur this decade, with the future global economic clearly powered by renewables.
Supplying neighbouring countries, like Indonesia, the ninth largest emitter of CO2 in the world, with renewable energy represents an exciting new era for Australian energy exports.
This is important because, as a traditional fossil fuel exporter, a global shift to renewables is also presents a risk for our state’s exports, tax revenue and employment.
In NSW, coal to Japan currently represents our single biggest export.
However, our top trading partners, including Japan, South Korea and the United States have all set 2050 net zero targets, and China, by 2060.
This means it is imperative that we not only embrace the shift, but lead it, utilising our state’s natural competitive advantages in solar, wind, hydrogen and hydro.
Australian innovators and entrepreneurs have well-recognised the market opportunities. The 2023 Startup Muster Report found that cleantech is the fastest growing start-up sectors in Australia, have overtaken fintech by a large margin.
With a focus on a renewables industry that is well-connected locally and globally, on continuous investment in research and development and investment in commercialisation of new technology to support efficiency gains.
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