State government talks up strata reform, Metronet

The state government is negotiating with the Liberal and National parties to facilitate the upper house passing its proposed strata reform legislation, Planning Minister Rita Saffioti has told a Committee for Economic Development of Australia conference.

The Bill was passed by the lower house last month and is currently progressing through the Legislative Council. Both houses are sitting three days this week and three days next week.

Drawn up by Landgate, the proposed reforms aim to make strata better and provide more flexible and sustainable housing options.

“I’m not sure how it will go in the upper house, we are debating and negotiating with other parties,” Ms Saffioti said.

“Hopefully they can see the need to update our strata system to really create those vibrant mixed-use precincts of the future.

“Strata reform is all about creating new opportunities and the ability to deliver more diverse housing choice and that is something again we are very keen to see – community titles and leasehold schemes. It is something that has been discussed and debated in the community I think for over five years.”

Ms Saffioti also provided an update on the government’s flagship Metronet project.

Multiple state government departments and agencies have been working together, and in unison with local governments and industry, to develop precinct plans for areas affected by Metronet such as Bayswater, Redcliffe, Alkimos, Forrestfield and Subiaco.

“It’s about planning our transport infrastructure together with our land use, and to make sure that when we lay new track and build new stations we are creating new communities,” Ms Saffioti said.

“We are working together to make sure that when we plan new precincts we are looking at how we use that land and how we have that diverse housing choice that we all want in our community.”

Housing Minister Peter Tinley said Metronet was more than simple infrastructure development.

“It is the single opportunity in our generation that we can make a substantial and tangible contribution to what it is to be somebody who lives, works and plays in Perth,” Mr Tinley said.

“The Metronet taskforce itself is a very good example of how to get some of these multi-disciplinary teams together to create the outcomes a government agenda demands.

“Our emphasis is on people first to ensure the state government’s investment in infrastructure and planning for precincts is focused on the communities we create and service.”

Mr Tinley said he had tasked the managers of the state’s successful Keystart Home Loans scheme, established in 1989 to provide low-deposit home loans to people unable to meet the deposit requirements from mainstream lenders, to investigate developing Metronet specific products that met the classification of the building and demographic of buyers the government thought were suited to different precincts.