Original article written by Ken Morrison, Chief Executive at Property Council of Australia, on Thursday 11 April 2019. To view the original article, please click here.
It’s official. Australians will go to the polls on 18 May after the Prime Minister took the customary drive out to Government House in Canberra earlier today and asked the Governor-General to prorogue the 45thParliament.
The unofficial campaign has been underway for some weeks now in any case, and was stepped up following last week’s Budget and the Opposition Leader’s budget reply. Now, the Government formally goes into caretaker mode and the candidates hit the hustings for a five week campaign.
The Coalition goes into the campaign notionally holding 73 seats and Labor with 72 seats in the House of Representatives following electorate redistributions. 76 seats are required to form a majority government. There’ll be a lot of attention on the independents in this campaign who may prove influential in deciding the outcome.
The federal election comes at a critical time for the property industry. Confidence levels across the industry are declining, driven by the residential downturn, as reflected in the latest ANZ Property Council Survey for the June 2019 quarter which was released today.
We’re urging policy-makers to keep a sharp focus on our industry – Australia’s biggest employer and one of our economy’s big engines – and be prepared to step up with a contingency plan for the industry and jobs if that’s what the economy needs.
Our five point plan for prosperity, jobs and strong communities is our platform for the election and sets out the big picture policy settings and practical steps we need for a strong and growing property industry.
We’ll be keeping a vigilant watch on the campaign, the policy announcements and the issues that matter most for our industry and the communities we support. You can stay up to date on the key issues at our special campaign site and through future issues of our Election Connection newsletter.
Original article written by Ken Morrison, Chief Executive at Property Council of Australia, on Thursday 11 April 2019. To view the original article, please click here.