Page 3330 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 September 1990
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release of a number of old sketch drawings in the hope that this will muzzle the people of Tuggeranong. I can assure the Minister that this is not the case.
The Minister has refused to give any time frame in which Decoin has to commit funds to the proposed swimming facility and has refused to give us a deadline for the commencement of construction activity. This is surprising in light of his comment today that the pool will be completed by Christmas 1991. He knows when the pool will be completed but not when the work will start. Given the recent Shelleys fiasco, one would have to wonder what type of financial audit the Government has carried out on Decoin before agreeing that they could proceed with its proposal.
I ask the Minister: who is going to take over this project if Decoin runs into financial difficulties or is not able to raise the $12m required? Will he make a commitment now to build a public pool if Decoin is not able to proceed? Or is he not concerned because this is simply a snow job to try to get the question of the Tuggeranong pool out of the too hard basket?
Mr Deputy Speaker, let me now turn to the area of public housing. Despite my best efforts, it has gone unreported in the media that public housing in the ACT is among the big losers in the Alliance Government's first budget. The allocations of $35.9m for construction and refurbishing of public housing in 1991 represents a decrease of 32 per cent over the allocation in the Follett Labor Government budget last year.
Last year the Labor Government undertook a program to increase the public housing stock by 280 dwellings per annum, plus an additional 92 dwellings to house the people relocated by the Melba Flats redevelopment. A total of 375 dwellings were to be added to the public housing stock. Mr Collaery has reduced this total to 275, which includes replacement housing for Melba Flats residents - a decrease of 100 dwellings. Mr Collaery continues to talk about his commitment to social justice but his actions belie his words. This number of houses is not even sufficient to keep up with the growth in demand. It can only result in increased waiting times for people with urgent housing needs.
Since Mr Collaery came to power he has made many statements about social justice, but of course he has failed to deliver. He stood by while the youth employment outreach program was abolished. He attacked Brian Burdekin for bringing the position of homeless youth to his attention. He promised human rights legislation; but of course nothing was done until the Labor Party introduced its own human rights legislation. He promised a rental bond trust; but, once again, it was up to the people on this side of the Assembly to put the proposal into action.
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