Page 1897 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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Mr Cornwell made it perfectly clear in the opening sentence he uttered in support of this motion last week when he said:
... the purpose of this motion for disallowance is to seek an improved means of dealing with the provision of the supported accommodation assistance program housing in the community in consultation with the local neighbourhood.
We were not trying to destroy SAAP.
Mr Berry: Yes, you were.
MR HUMPHRIES: We were not trying to undermine social justice in the Territory. Get real. We are on record in the very opening sentence as saying that we want to improve that program, and that is still what we are about. There are concerns in this community about the way it operates, and that is what we are trying to get to the heart of. I quote from the letter Mr Cornwell quoted in his speech on the previous occasion:
The purpose for which the community facilities have been provided has been defeated.
So wrote the correspondent who wrote to Mrs Carnell. She continued:
The facility has not been blended into its residential surrounds either by its appearance or by social acceptance.
The current practices have resulted in active discrimination against the people required to accept the facilities as good neighbours, destroyed the trust necessary for goodwill to be established and prejudiced their most important asset.
We all know what that would be. She went on:
There needs to be a careful assessment of the current practice of the confidentiality and privacy requirements to ensure both financial and social accountability is more evident.
That is what we are talking about. I think Ms Ellis displayed the biggest misconception about the way this is all proceeding. She cited the example of when they did consult with the local community about a SAAP - - -
Ms Ellis: And NIMBYism reared its ugly head.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, NIMBYism did rear its ugly head. Let us be frank about this. NIMBYism can be a problem. People can certainly take a selfish attitude when they are faced with these sorts of situations, and that needs to be discouraged, not by jackboot repression but rather by consultation, by talking to those people, by doing exactly what Ms Ellis said occurred on that occasion - talking to them and bringing them around.
Ms Ellis: I didn't. They did.
MR HUMPHRIES: You did? Then why do you not do it on every occasion?
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