Page 413 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 2 March 1994
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It is interesting, and Mr Stevenson pointed this out quite succinctly, that over a period of two years the impression appears to have been given to prospective buyers that this suburb, Gordon, will have no public housing. Mr Deputy Speaker, one can only be led to believe that this sort of thing is happening. I do not expect individuals in the community to realise the policies of particular political parties. With the greatest respect to all of us in here, people are not riveted to their chairs waiting for every word we utter in here or outside. If they were, a lot of them would be very bored indeed, notwithstanding which person on any particular side of the house was speaking.
I quote from this ad which appeared in the Canberra Times:
No government homes - unlike other sub-division there are no government developments in this estate therefore protecting your investment for resale.
I think they are particularly important words.
Mr Connolly: Could you read the date of that ad?
MR DE DOMENICO: The date was Saturday, 22 February 1992. So we have a facsimile transmission of December 1990 saying one thing, and we have ads in February 1992, over two years afterwards, saying the same thing, and specifically saying, "protecting your investment for resale". As I said, people out there who genuinely, for whatever reason, want to purchase a house in a suburb which purports to have no public housing have every right to buy in that place.
The second point I want to bring up is perhaps the more important point. Let us forget about the no public housing situation and look at the covenant situation. I am trying to find the covenant now. For example, it suggested that there will be no prefabricated garages or carports. So the situation is that the ads in the Canberra Times and the facsimile message say, first of all, no government housing. Okay, they then realise that that is wrong, that there is going to be government housing. Might I also say that I think I spoke to about 60 or 70 people and not one of them was attempting to say, "Listen, we do not want public housing". So the issue was not one of, "Here am I not wanting public housing". That has to be stressed quite clearly. Let us accept the fact that that is impossible and that there is going to be public housing and then have a look at the covenant. There is the annex to the contract and point 1(a) says:
The Transferee for himself -
or herself, it should say -
and for his ... assigns covenants with the Transferor that he will not ...
(b) Erect any prefabricated carport ...
If members want to go out to Gordon and have a look at what is being erected, across the road 36 Housing Trust properties have prefabricated carports. On the one hand the private purchaser has to comply with a covenant which says that there will be no prefabs at all. I spoke to one family with five children who really could not afford to build that brick garage that they have now; but, in the
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