Page 1847 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 1 May 1991
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winter in Canberra and those opposite want to close the doors on those in need. And the Minister is always telling you how much he cares. It is words, precious words. They do not mean a thing. As my mother used to say, it is actions that count, not words.
We all know that Ainslie Village has the capacity to handle 300 beds; but, instead, the Minister in his wisdom has chosen to reduce the numbers. As my colleague Mr Berry recently said:
The Liberal/Residents Rally Government has no perception of social justice. Once again it is those on hard times who have been hit.
Mr Speaker, this is disgraceful. This is a disgrace which will not endear the Alliance Government to the Canberra community, as we move closer and closer to the next Assembly election. More importantly, it quite simply validates our criticism of the Alliance Government being nothing more than a Liberal Government. And we all know what the Liberals would like to do with public housing and the disadvantaged - sell them off and move them out; in other words, let the law of the jungle decide.
Mr Speaker, I think that I can already anticipate the Alliance Government's response to this very serious matter of public importance. I can see Mr Collaery and possibly the rest of the Government over there attacking the Federal Government and washing their hands of any responsibility - the Pontius Pilates of the ACT. Those opposite will claim purity when, in fact, they should be re-examining their attitudes to housing and, subsequently, their housing policies. If those opposite were to look afresh at their housing policies they might find themselves approaching the philosophical outlook which has been adopted by the Federal Government.
Mr Speaker, I think it is well worth discussing the recent publications released by the National Housing Strategy. For those present, the National Housing Strategy has been requested by Brian Howe, the Federal Minister for Community Services and Health, to review housing policy in Australia for the first time in nearly 50 years. It is headed by Dr Meredith Edwards, and the National Housing Strategy's background and issues papers have, to date, been quite brilliant and impressive documents.
I think they should all be made to read this. The paper, Framework for Reform, sets out the challenges and proposed processes for developing housing policies suitable for the 1990s and beyond. Those policies will involve Federal, State and local governments working out their respective roles and policies to complement each other. This is why I have listed quite a number of questions on notice to the Housing Minister, to see whether he has already started any form of dialogue with the National Housing Strategy. To date I have had no response from the Minister on these
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