Building approvals fall to hit NSW jobs

NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally has pledged to lower levies and charges on
infrastructure projects after a report showed Sydney stands to lose almost 90,000
jobs due to a drop in building approvals.
In the three months to September, the value of approved urban development in Sydney
fell 27 per cent to $2.2 billion, from $3 billion, the Urban Taskforce said after
undertaking an analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
If this drop continues over a full year, Sydney stands to lose 87,000 construction
jobs, said Taskforce CEO Aaron Gadiel, who described as "startling" the impact on
jobs revealed by the analysis.
Mr Gadiel says the government should have done more to stimulate building
development in last week's mini-budget by waiving state infrastructure levies and
forcing a reduction in local council levies.
The government's planned 25 per cent increase in land tax - which will increase
costs for anyone holding a portfolio of land for development in NSW - has angered
business.
"A tax increase on a job-creating industry seems crazy when we're at risk of a
severe recession," Mr Gadiel said.
But Ms Keneally says a review of infrastructure charges and levies is a priority.
"We're going to review the whole system," she told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
"We're going to do this quite quickly.
"A lot of the work had been done in the lead-up to the mini-budget," she added.
"You only need to look at the difference between Victoria and NSW in terms of new
housing stats to know that we need to make the infrastructure charges and levies
more affordable so that we will stimulate more housing development in this state."
NSW building work had decreased by 15 per cent since 2003-04, while in the same
period it had increased by eight per cent in Victoria and 21 per cent in Queensland,
the Taskforce data showed.
Residential development in the state had been particularly slow.
In the last financial year, work was started on just 16,000 houses in NSW, almost
half the 31,000 in Victoria and the 30,000 in Queensland, said Mr Gadiel.
NSW Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell described the mini-budget's failure to
kick-start the property sector as "the biggest indication of (Premier) Nathan Rees
and his government's incompetence".
"The property sector is incredibly important to the state's economy," he told
reporters in Sydney on Sunday.
"When it goes well its economy goes well.
"The fact that levies and charges are adding up to $150,000 to the cost of a land
and house package is one of the issues the state government could have addressed,"
he added.
"We all know the taxes and charges on property need to be dropped if we are going to
kick-start the sector."