Page 2609 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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it was resolved very quickly afterwards, and we are very thankful for having some support.
MS CASTLEY: A supplementary. Isn’t this failure to adequately communicate with your federal counterpart just another example of your government being woefully unprepared to deal with a COVID outbreak in the ACT?
MS DAVIDSON: Actually, there has been a remarkable level of communication between my office and the federal minister. We have called each other; we have texted each other; we have emailed each other, and we have written letters. As a result of that, we have had some level of assistance from the NDIA that we might not have had, had we not been able to have those conversations, and I am very thankful for that.
Housing ACT—COVID-19
MR BRADDOCK: My question is for the minister for housing services. Some of the residents in public and social housing are the most vulnerable in our community, with complex and overlapping vulnerabilities. What measures are being taken to support this cohort specifically during the outbreak of COVID in public housing in the ACT?
MS VASSAROTTI: I thank Mr Braddock for the question.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Members! Mrs Jones, that’s enough.
Opposition members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, it is the last question of question time. Can we just get on with it.
MS VASSAROTTI: The safety and wellbeing of staff, tenants and the community is a really key priority. We want to assure everyone that Housing ACT is still open online and over the phone and continues to provide essential services and support. There still are face-to-face services for clients, but people need to make a call to make an appointment.
While we are rescheduling formal client visits during the lockdown, in urgent situations or for people who need intensive support, visits can be triaged and undertaken using social distancing protocols. In our 20 multi-unit property sites we continue to have housing managers conduct walkthroughs and maintain a safe presence on site. At the beginning of the pandemic, we did welfare calls on a number of tenants who required support.
As we have already talked about, a key issue will be ensuring that these vulnerable Canberrans will be vaccinated. We have already provided quite significant information regarding some elements of the vaccination work that has been done.
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