6 MAY 2022
ISSUE 340
$1.8M up for grabs in The Coast race day
News
A stop-gap measure, is how administrator Rik Hart described a Central Coast Council plan to help secure heritage grant funding for heritage conservation across the region. See page 3
Out&About The Coast Race Day at Gosford Racetrack is gearing up for a cracking day on and off the track and, with a prize pool of over $1.8 million up for grabs, the local racing fraternity is in for a high stakes treat. See page 13
Albo’s backyard home equity pledge The backyard of an East Gosford home, complete with a traditional hills hoist clothes line, was a fitting setting for Labor leader Anthony Albanese to pitch his federal equity loan scheme to Central Coast residents on May 3. Albanese was joined by Labor’s housing spokesperson Jason Clare, Member for Dobell, Emma McBride and Labor candidate for Robertson in the May 21 election, Dr Gordon Reid, in announcing details of the Help to Buy scheme. The home where the announcement was made is being rented by a young couple,
Candidate for Robertson, Gordon Reid and Labor Leader, Anthony Albanese
struggling to pay the rent and save for home – typical of thousands of thousands of Central Coast couples finding it almost impossible to get into the housing market. Reid said housing prices were skyrocketing on the Central Coast, as well as right across
the nation. “It’s becoming more and more difficult and unattainable for people right across the Coast to get a home,” he said. Help to Buy is designed to help Australians buy a home with a smaller deposit, with
Labor pledging to provide eligible homebuyers with an equity contribution of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new home and up to 30 per cent of the purchase price for an existing home. The homebuyer will need to have a deposit of 2 per cent and qualify for a standard home loan with a participating lender to finance the remainder of the purchase. Albanese said the scheme would help 10,000 people a year as Australians face the “triple whammy” of low wages, rising inflation and rising interest rates. “This will help people get a foot in the door, and then get a
roof over their head,” he said. “It will help 10,000 people a year. “It comes at a cost of $329M, across the forward estimates, but we will recoup $445M from our plan to double foreign investment fees and penalties. “This is a practical plan which is why it’s been supported so strongly by the House Industry Association (and) by the Master Builders (and has) operated effectively in Western Australia for some 30 years. “After nine long years in Government, housing affordability has only got worse under the Liberal-National Government.”
April showers weren’t enough to dampen the spirits of Central Coast locals last weekend as hundreds flocked to the Alive plant-based festival in Kibble Park. See page 14
Business
After years of planning, a $45M upgrade of the Gosford RSL Club will get underway in June.
Continued page 6
See page 21
Puzzles page 18
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