Page 828 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 6 April 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR MILLIGAN: Minister, with your renewal program, do you think it is fair to wreck peoples’ lives by uprooting them from homes they have had for almost a lifetime?
MS BERRY: This is the second part of a public housing growth and renewal program. We previously went through a renewal program of 1,288 dwellings, where people were assisted to move into new and more sustainable homes that better suit their needs all across the city. They were moved out of old, unsustainable, hard-to-heat, hard-to-cool, expensive homes and were worked with personally in detail to ensure that they had a choice of where in the city they wanted to live.
Some people moved from the inner-city right out into the south or the north of Canberra into the suburbs into new and different homes. Some people decided that they wanted to stay in the city, so they moved into the north and the south of the city area. This has been a really important program to make sure that our homes meet the needs of Housing ACT tenants but also that we can build even more properties that meet the needs of Housing ACT tenants. It is simply unfair for individuals to be living in a home of three or four bedrooms on a massive block when we have larger families or individuals who need homes. We have a significant waiting list. The way that we can address that is by building homes, and that is what this growth and renewal program is all about.
But I want to reassure tenants in the ACT who are being asked to move from their homes that they will be supported. I encourage them to talk with their housing tenant relocation officers—to have that conversation in the first instance, to not be fearful of that, and to understand that they will be supported before, during and after any move from their existing homes. They will be worked with individually on where they will live once they are relocated from their existing homes. This work is being supported by organisations ACT Shelter, Northside Community Service, Woden Community Service, Legal Aid, as well as the ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service.
Alexander Maconochie Centre—detainee rehabilitation
MR BRADDOCK: My question is to the Minister for Corrections. Minister, can you please explain how ACT Corrective Services supports the rehabilitation of every detainee who goes through the AMC?
MR GENTLEMAN: I thank Mr Braddock for the question. Corrective Services have been working hard to improve outcomes for detainees. This work has included some recent improvements to the integrated offender management framework. This has included the commencement of a new criminogenics program, EQUIPS, which works with detainees on aggression, family violence, addiction and general offending. A reintegration assessment tool ensures that all detainees exiting AMC will have their needs assessed and mapped. There is referral to the reintegration team if there is high need, CatholicCare for low needs and Yeddung Mara as culturally determined.
We have seen the introduction of designated pre-release planners to work with detainees seven months prior to their earliest release dates. There is one assigned to
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video