Page 1890 - Week 09 - Thursday, 19 October 1989
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Currong Flats
MR MOORE: I would like to address my question to Mrs Grassby as Minister for Housing and Urban Services. During the Estimates Committee hearings Mrs Grassby referred to the Currong Flats and the residents of Currong Flats. I will read from the transcript. She said, "No, we only formed the committee and I had them in to morning tea - we had a chat - and I asked them were they happy with this and they said yes, they were all happy. There were one or two tenants who were not happy, but the majority of the tenants were happy with the idea". Last Saturday I attended a meeting of the Currong Flats tenants and was then sent a letter from the chairman of that committee, who pointed out that there were actually 41 tenants present. I did not count them myself but it was in that order, and it appears to me that they are not happy. Can the Minister please explain to the house how we can be sure that the tenants in Currong Flats - there are about 200 tenants in Currong Flats, so I am referring to about a quarter of them - are going to be given the information that they claim they have not been given about renovations to their heating systems, and how are you proposing to take their opinions into account?
MRS GRASSBY: We did form a committee. I went to a meeting of 200 and we asked them to form a committee. The committee came to see me and we explained the problem with the sort of heating they had. The heating they had has broken down. It was central heating with hot water, and they paid between $14 and $17 extra a fortnight on their rent. To replace that sort of heating as they would like, I am afraid, is impossible in terms of costs. What we intend to do is to put in electrical heating, and tenants will have their own meters. Let me read from the report that was done on the flats:
Zig-zag building designs with large unprotected living room areas create alternative hot and cold spots, with the results that the tenants complain about some flats being too hot while some are too cold. In the consequence, energy is wasted and some tenants are frequently disgruntled. A further problem identified is the old substandard electrical wire in the individual units of the complex. Over the next five to 10 years this will have to be progressively replaced. It has been recommended that if any work is undertaken within the units themselves it would be prudent to replace the wiring at the same time.
So in the long run not only will we be putting the heating into each flat but we will be replacing the wiring, which will not have to be done again, so that the tenants will have it all done in one go. As for gas, I would like to table a letter that the gas company wrote to the editor of the Canberra Chronicle denying that it said that it could do the job that the tenants said the company could do. I
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