Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (18 April) . . Page.. 1121 ..

Motion (by Mr Humphries) proposed:

That the Assembly do now adjourn.

MR WOOD (4.52): I refer today to a long-running dispute between Mr Len Munday, a Kambah ACT Housing Trust tenant, and various arms of the ACT Government, particularly ACT Housing. I emphasise the point that Mr Munday's complaints go back to the time of the former Government and were not dealt with to his satisfaction at that time. I have a question on the notice paper seeking the cost of this dispute, but my comments now are not related to that question.

The problem arose when Mr Munday was wrongly treated, I believe badly treated, by ACT Housing. Mr Munday had a number of legitimate concerns. Most problematic were claims from within ACT Housing that police had regularly been called to Mr Munday's neighbourhood. That was a quite inaccurate claim that was even made in an affidavit before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Along with this are a number of other injustices and errors which also still need to be dealt with. Being a very determined person - as members know - and a capable one, Mr Munday has fought long and hard to achieve justice, including the need to ensure that all statements in bureaucratic files are accurate.

I believe that both the current Housing Minister and the Chief Minister have met with Mr Munday on the issues and will have received departmental briefs. Mr Munday has made significant ground in redressing the wrongs. He has done that on his own and through agencies such as the AAT and the Ombudsman's Office; but he still has a long way to go, though his successes are considerable. The Chief Minister and Mr Stefaniak should subsequently have been advised that ACT Housing has since apologised to Mr Munday for inaccuracies in the files, and some of the necessary corrections have been made and placed on file.

I wonder whether ACT Housing has advised its Minister of comments in a letter from the Ombudsman - I emphasise that the Ombudsman was seeking comment from ACT Housing - to which ACT Housing is responding. I quote from the Ombudsman's letter:

I remain concerned that ACT Housing may have misled the Chief Minister on a briefing prepared for a talk-back program on 13 April 1995. In the briefing, the Chief Minister was advised, as fact, of a number of allegations which have either not been substantiated or were demonstratively wrong.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .