Page 1216 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 24 June 1992
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corporate citizen. The telephone is an essential service, particularly for the housebound, chronically ill or elderly. For those people, the telephone service provides a primary method of communication and a lifeline to emergency services in times of crisis.
In summary, at a time when the number of low income, unemployed and struggling people in our community is increasing daily, when single parents and those caring for others in their homes on meagre resources are already fighting against all odds, this Government must demonstrate that it cares for these people, especially over the bitter winter months, by ensuring that essential services remain available to them. The power to withdraw the supply of an essential service to a household in the ACT should be tempered in cases where substantial hardship would result. That does not mean to say that people should not be pursued in other ways for their debt, and that is the issue that Mr Westende raised more than anything else. What it does mean is that the technique of pursuing that debt ought not to be withdrawal of a basic essential service.
I fully support the move that allows a person suffering substantial hardship to apply to an Essential Services Review Committee which has the power to halt disconnection action, to make arrangements for the payment of the debt or to waive part or all of the debt. I promised a continuity of supply to the Government in this Assembly. I am pleased that they, in turn, with my assistance, promise continuity of supply to the needy in the ACT.
MS ELLIS (5.08): Madam Speaker, over the last few weeks, winter has well and truly set in. As we sit in the safety and the comfort of our homes and this heated building, it may be hard at times to come to terms with the misery facing other Canberrans. There is no joy in living in a house with no power. No power means no lighting, no heating, no washing machine, no refrigerator, no television, no radio. Threatened or actual disconnection of an essential service is often the trigger for a disastrous worsening of an individual's living conditions. Disconnection of an essential service can be a cruel penalty of poverty. The costs of heating and electricity, particularly in winter, impact heavily on those who are financially disadvantaged. Families in financial difficulty sometimes find that they simply cannot afford to pay power bills. Disconnection of essential services causes great hardship.
The interstate media paint a picture of a pampered Canberra. People who should know better pretend that there is no poverty in the nation's capital. But in 1990-91 ACTEW listed 2,156 domestic customers for disconnection and disconnected 1,489 of them. In 1990 the Natural Gas Co. made 838 collector calls to non-paying customers, which resulted in 223 disconnections. This year is looking like it will be worse. People seeking emergency assistance strain the budgets of welfare agencies. The Salvation Army in the ACT estimates that it disbursed $12,000 worth of assistance to those households that had an essential service withdrawn last financial year. In May this year the Smith Family recorded the highest ever number of applications for assistance. The Smith Family are close to exceeding their June budget. This augurs very badly for the July to September period, which in the past has been a time of greatest pain for the community.
When the ACT Community Law Reform Committee looked at these issues in its report on essential services, it had to consider a number of questions. Should a monopoly providing electricity, gas or telephone services disconnect a service if a household cannot afford to pay a bill? Is disconnection just a necessary part of
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