The announcement follows the Property Council’s ACT Industrial Land Summit held today, which brought together industry leaders, planners, investors and government representatives to examine the growing challenges facing industrial land supply across the region.
Property Council ACT Executive Director Ashlee Berry said the Minister’s commitment was an important step towards addressing one of the most significant long-term economic challenges facing Canberra.
“We welcome the Minister’s decision to convene an Industrial Roundtable and his recognition of the importance of this issue,” Ms Berry said.
“Today’s summit highlighted the growing concern across industry that Canberra’s future economic growth depends on maintaining a pipeline of industrial and employment land capable of supporting jobs, investment and housing delivery.
“Industrial land may not receive the same attention as housing, but it underpins everything from construction and logistics to advanced manufacturing, data centres, defence industries and local services.
“The Property Council’s analysis shows the ACT currently has around 909 hectares of industrial land and no new industrial land releases identified in the ACT’s Housing Supply and Land Release Program over the next five years. These are issues that require long-term planning and coordination across government and industry.”
Ms Berry said the Roundtable would be an important opportunity to build consensus around future employment land needs and identify practical actions to support investment and business growth.
“Today’s conversations demonstrated there is strong interest across industry, local government and the broader region in working collaboratively on solutions.
“Canberra and the surrounding NSW region increasingly operate as a single economic market. Securing future industrial land supply is not simply a planning issue, it’s an economic development, productivity and jobs issue.
“We look forward to participating in the Roundtable and working constructively with the ACT Government and industry stakeholders to help develop a long-term strategy for industrial and employment land across the region.”
