Page 1632 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 June 2021
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crisis in the ACT, which is in big part due to decisions made by this government in the land release, the taxation and the residential tenancies policy space. It beggars belief that a Labor-Greens government could create such a dire problem for so many people and then not create funding certainty for an organisation like Canberra Community Law, which provides these services to such vulnerable people at a time of crisis.
In regard to the amendment from Mr Rattenbury, this is the ACT Legislative Assembly. This is not the federal parliament. This is not the United Nations. We seem to have a grasp of that on this side but I am not sure that there is a grasp of it on the other side. We are keen to debate things that are within the control of this Assembly.
I often wonder how on earth we fill in the time here. When did we wrap up for lunch this morning? Was it quarter past 11 or 11 o’clock or something? I wonder how we would fill in the time here if indeed, by some progressive miracle, Mr Albanese found himself Prime Minister at some stage. What on earth are you going to talk about? What are you going to fill the space up in here with? If you cannot have a crack at Morrison every day, what is it that you are going to talk about? We would very much sooner be speaking about things that are within our control.
When it comes to this motion, let us walk you through this. We have a Liberal leader who has brought a motion to this chamber which calls on the ACT government to provide funding certainty for Canberra Community Law within the next seven days. That has come from a Liberal, and a Greens member has amended the motion and removed that. What is going on in here? What is going on in this place?
In closing, I quote from the Canberra Community Law Executive Director and Principal Solicitor, Genevieve Bolton, who is reported in the City News today as saying:
“There’s also a housing crisis in the ACT at the moment in terms of public housing stock and crisis accommodation …
“It’s almost impossible to access crisis accommodation and there’s very limited public housing stock at present which has generated a lot of work for us in terms of people contacting us seeking our advocacy for them to get onto the most urgent list.”
That is from Genevieve Bolton. As the shadow minister for housing, I can back up her claim, because the same people who are contacting Canberra Community Law are contacting my office as well. They are contacting my office in a state of despair. For the most part, they report that their calls for help are left unanswered by either one of the housing ministers. If we cannot do this job with two housing ministers, maybe go with three. I do not know. But I digress. These vulnerable Canberrans are in crisis. Please do not leave them behind.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Manager of Government Business, Minister for Corrections, Minister for Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety, Minister for Planning and Land Management and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.19): I rise today to say a few words in support of Canberra Community Law and
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