Page 929 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 17 June 1992
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HOUSING ASSISTANCE (AMENDMENT) BILL 1992
MR CORNWELL (11.27): I present the Housing Assistance (Amendment) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CORNWELL: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
May I say at the beginning of this address that I have no personal interest whatsoever in these matters - just for Mr Berry's interest at least.
Madam Speaker, the purpose of this amendment is to require the ACT Housing Trust to sell government houses to tenants who have been in residence for five years and are not in receipt of rental rebate. The sale price is to be at the current market value, which will be determined by independent valuation. The Bill also allows the trust to repurchase the property if it is offered for sale within five years. Again, the repurchase price would be at current market value determined by independent valuation.
The reason for this amendment is to place into legislation what hitherto has been simply an administrative arrangement. Originally houses were sold to tenants. In 1983 this sale arrangement came to an end. In April 1991 a decision was taken to resume the sale of houses to tenants. However, it was decided that there would be a 10-year moratorium upon these sales so that the trust would not - and I understand this to be the case - - -
Mr Connolly: Who decided that? Who was Chief Minister?
MR CORNWELL: Just a moment. I am quite happy to say that this was done by the Kaine Government, Mr Connolly. It was decided that the tenants would need to have been in residence for 10 years. The reason for this, as I understand, was that the trust and the Government were a little concerned, after an eight-year moratorium, that they might have been overwhelmed by people wishing to purchase their house. I think that this view has been reflected by Mr Connolly himself in a media release of 12 June, when he said:
When the sales to tenants program was reintroduced by the Kaine Administration, it was contemplated that the 10-year tenancy criterion was the first stage and that this would be progressively changed as the need arose.
Those are Mr Connolly's words, not mine. I believe that it can now be progressively changed because, I think, the need has arisen. I can understand, as I say, the trust's caution after no sales for eight years; but I believe that the trust has not been overwhelmed, Madam Speaker. Indeed, to June 1991 - admittedly, that was only a few months after sales were resumed - out of 179 applications which had been received, of which 135 properties met the criteria, only 24 offers of sale had actually been made.
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