Page 3059 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
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MS LEE: Minister, what is the delivery date for your pre-election promise of a home for all?
MS VASSAROTTI: Thank you, Ms Lee, for the question. As we have talked about many times in this chamber, since I came to the role, we have not put a date on delivering that promise. We never did. We were very clear that it was actually talking about an aspiration, in that we want every person to have a decent home. I hope that it would be an aspiration of members opposite as well, because I actually believe that all members in this chamber care deeply about ensuring that all members of our community have access to a safe and affordable home.
As we have talked about before, and as I know that we will talk about this afternoon, the ACT government does not have all of the levers. Certainly, in terms of the levers that we have, we are working hard and putting record investment into ensuring that everyone does have a decent home, and particularly focusing on those at the lower end of the market.
Employment—hospitality
MS ORR: My question is to the Minister for Business and Better Regulation. Minister, what is the ACT government doing to remove barriers to employment in the hospitality sector?
MS CHEYNE: I thank Ms Orr for the question. The ACT government has invested, and will continue to invest, in a range of initiatives to support economic recovery and to assist in rebuilding our growing tourism and hospitality sector. As our economic recovery progresses, the government continues to look for opportunities to make it easier for businesses to open, to grow and to support workers in those businesses as well.
One recent example of this is that last month we amended the regulatory processes for responsible service of alcohol certification and training, making it easier for interstate hospitality workers to be employed in the ACT. Interstate RSA certificate holders can now complete the ACT refresher course, instead of the ACT full course, when their interstate certificate expires. Now that an interstate worker only has to do the refresher course, it will cost them less and take fewer hours to complete, making our hospitality industry a more attractive place to work.
MS ORR: Minister, what does this mean for small hospitality businesses in Canberra?
MS CHEYNE: I thank Ms Orr for the supplementary. What it means is that an individual who has already completed approved RSA training will no longer have to complete the full course in the ACT on the expiry of their home state RSA certificate. By streamlining the time that businesses, and particularly our small businesses, and potential employees spend on government administration, we hope to make it easier to do business and to work here in the ACT.
We hope and expect that this simple reform will have a positive impact on hospitality businesses by making it easier to hire and retain staff, as they continue to work
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