Page 1846 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 1 May 1991
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going to be so hopeless that it will not hold any water is that the Liberal Party does not want one. We have heard Mr Jansen, who was a Liberal candidate, say how a bond board was not important. Of course, he is a real estate agent. He would know!
Mr Speaker, one important point needs to be remembered when we talk of this Government's progress, or lack of it, with its Rental Bond Board Bill, and that is that we have seen how the Alliance Government can vote as a bloc not to pass the Australian Labor Party's Rental Bond Board Bill which has been in this house for some time and still has no chance of getting through. In other words, we have seen how the government members can act in such a childish manner with significant legislation that directly affects the lives of Canberrans. They have said that, if it is not going to be their legislation, then they will take their bat and ball and go home, so that no-one can get any joy.
Mr Speaker, to further argue my point, I think it is well worth looking at Mr Collaery's new housing idea, which I briefly mentioned before. We have had a proposal announced by Mr Collaery in this place to allow Housing Trust tenants to purchase their homes if they have been in them for at least 10 years. In itself, this is not a bad idea. However, I think it is fair to say that the timing of this initiative could not be worse, given the rental crisis in Canberra at the moment.
As I have mentioned in this place before, the administrative arrangements which underwrite the proposal to sell Housing Trust properties have a major flaw. This is the "lag time" between the sale of current properties and the time that it will take to purchase and/or construct new properties. The lag time, Mr Speaker, basically represents the period when the Housing Trust's rental stock will be reduced, and there will be a lag time in buying new stock or building new stock to put into the market. We will find that the Housing Trust's rental stock is reduced in what is already a tight rental market in Canberra.
Mr Speaker, I have suggested how the Housing Trust may be able to overcome the lag time problem - that is, by employing some sort of rental stock forward estimation system. But the only response from the Minister was to suggest that I was being unnecessarily critical of the Housing Trust. I think we all know that nothing could be further from the truth. The Housing Trust has done a wonderful job, working under conditions of not enough staff and with more and more troubles in the Canberra community and in the housing field. I congratulate the staff for their hard work under these terrible conditions.
Mr Speaker, let us look even further at this uncaring Alliance Government's attitude to emergency housing in the Territory. As an indication of its compassion and humanity, it has now decided to reduce the number of beds at Ainslie Village to 209. Here we are approaching a
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