HomeBuilder Program

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:27): Has the government sought an extension from the three-month period to six months, as the industry is requesting?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:27): The answer to the question is we have sought to extend the three-month period. The federal government has indicated that it was prepared to concede some ground, which I have acknowledged previously either in this chamber or publicly and which we were grateful to see. They have said that in unforeseen circumstances or unforeseen events, the state department, which has to manage this, can extend the three-month period, but it has to be within the criterion that the commonwealth lays down, which is that it has to be an unforeseen event.

There have been arguments in relation to potential planning delays. There have been arguments in relation to potential housing construction delays. There have been arguments in relation to organising bank finance delays. For those reasons, there is some modest degree of flexibility that state government officers will have if it can come within the criterion of an unforeseen event, but in terms of the context of extending or hardwiring the extension of three months to some longer period, the federal government has said no.

It wants to see immediate stimulus to the industry, and it therefore wants this scheme to be time limited to six months maximum, because they believe that is the time period within which the stimulus is required.