Independent Member for Kurrajong Thomas Emerson MLA has welcomed the housing, community services and child safety commitments contained in the 2026-27 ACT Budget, while expressing concern at the ongoing fiscal challenges faced by the Territory.

Headline announcements include the abolition of stamp duty for all first-home buyers and for owner-occupiers purchasing a new unit-titled dwelling, a temporary 50 per cent discount on lease variation charges (LVC) for missing middle housing developments, and a $641 million package for public and community housing.

Mr Emerson said he was pleased to see the ACT Government following through on a commitment in his supply-and-confidence agreement with the Chief Minister to increase the proportion of public and community housing in the ACT, which has been going backward since self-government.

“The private housing market is completely out of reach for an increasing number of Canberrans. We need to see substantial ongoing investment in public and community housing to ensure everyone in our community has a safe place to call home,” said Mr Emerson.

The housing package includes $364 million for 450 new public housing dwellings, a $183 million funding uplift for public housing maintenance and repairs, and a loan guarantee scheme to help community housing providers deliver more than 1,000 affordable homes through Round 3 of the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF). It comes on the back of a recent report from the ACT Ombudsman finding that the ACT Government had failed its legal obligations to provide timely repairs and maintenance to public housing tenants, and follows questions Mr Emerson asked in the Assembly revealing there were over 500 vacant public housing properties in the ACT, many of which need significant repairs to be made tenantable.

Mr Emerson said the Budget’s $60 million in new community services funding and $44 million for family, domestic and sexual violence initiatives were long overdue.

“It’s hard to understand why community service providers have to fight so hard every budget cycle for funding to deliver critical programs that support the most vulnerable members of our community,” Mr Emerson said.

“If this was a fair society, we’d always prioritise supporting those who most need our help. The shameful reality is that this hasn’t been happening in the ACT for a long time, so it’s good to see funding in this budget to start correcting that injustice.”

Mr Emerson welcomed measures in the Budget related to children’s safety, including a review of the ACT’s Working With Vulnerable People (WWVP) scheme and $11.4 million to strengthen the regulation of the ACT early childhood education and care sector by increasing the capacity of the regulator, Children’s Education and Care Assurance (CECA), to undertake assessments, ratings, audits and investigations.

This follows Mr Emerson’s sustained push for improved child safety measures earlier this year.

“This funding follows significant advocacy from parents, carers, educators, experts and concerned Canberrans who’ve seen the consequences of poor regulation in the early childhood sector,” Mr Emerson said.

“A more than 50 per cent increase in the regulator’s staffing levels over the forward estimates is very welcome news.”

But Mr Emerson expressed disappointment that the Budget provided no additional support for small businesses in Civic impacted by the ongoing light rail construction works.

“This is a missed opportunity to back local small businesses that are doing it tough. While many affected business owners support the infrastructure work happening in Civic, they’re struggling to see how they’ll make it to the other side without meaningful assistance,” said Mr Emerson.

“When we don’t get behind local businesses, the Canberrans who run them suffer, our community suffers, and ultimately the Budget suffers, which is evident in the lower-than-expected payroll tax revenue in this year’s budget papers.”

The Budget also lacks funding for a Night-Time Economy Coordinator or any other specific night-time economy support measures. The Strata Commissioner recommended by a recent Assembly Committee inquiry and additional park rangers promised in Mr Emerson’s supply-and-confidence agreement are not funded either.

“It’s disappointing to see no new investment in these areas. I’ll keep making the case to the Government that these are pressing priorities for our community that deserve sufficient funding,” Mr Emerson said.

Mr Emerson expressed concerns at the ongoing fiscal challenge faced by the ACT and the impact on both service delivery and Canberra’s infrastructure pipeline, with annual interest repayments set to reach over $1 billion in 2028-29.

“We need to start spending smarter. We’ve got to stop burning money on reports, plans and strategies that never get implemented.

“The $750,000 allocated to a new aquatic strategy in this Budget is welcome, but the strategy it’s replacing never got implemented and was supposed to run until 2033.”

Mr Emerson also reflected on the need to prioritise funding for preventative services in order to prevent further costs downstream. 

“We’re not investing anywhere near enough in prevention and early intervention, which means we’re paying a fortune on acute services in our health system and justice system. Last year we spent just four per cent of our health budget on prevention, and I can’t see any evidence of that having changed in this year’s Budget.”

You can read Mr Emerson’s full breakdown of the 2026-27 ACT Budget here.