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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 7 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 1795 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

The Bill goes on to mention other changes that are consequential to being part of this new agreement. If you look at proposed new section 11A, it sets out how the Minister can sign the agreement, because we agree that it is a good thing; but there is the problem that he is not going to come back and show the Assembly what the new agreement is. I understand that this agreement is going to be for only 12 months at this point, in order to give the new Commonwealth Government time to work further on their policies. This could be a positive thing for the ACT as well because it could give this Government time to think about how they want to continue to provide housing here in the ACT. But it would be useful if the Minister felt that he had to confer more with his Assembly colleagues as to what the terms of this new agreement will be, if only to be able to present it so that we can look at it in detail and also be part of this process.

Moving on, section 15 of the principal Act talks about how rent is charged. This Bill maintains the general framework that is used, rather than spelling it out in any detail. Again, because this is an area which is so contentious at times, it would have been useful to have more understanding of the principles upon which this was based. I am informed that there has been no change in how rent is going to be worked out in terms of market rents. I also understand that "market rent" is not a term that is used within housing at this time, and it would have been useful if the current terminology was included in these amendments.

Part of the consequential arrangements that relate to the Financial Management Act is the changes to section 18 in relation to the financial arrangements. Obviously, it is important that this Bill is consistent with the Acts that are now in place, and the Financial Management Bill became an Act after the last sitting, and housing provision has some relationship with that. But, by having accounts as per the Financial Management Act - a positive part - we get rid of the commitment and the showing at this point of the different sorts of programs that are available; in other words, the provision for rental assistance and the provision for home purchase, which are two very important subprograms of housing provision. I think it would have been useful to show some commitment to this. It is good that we make it align with the Financial Management Act, but it would have been useful to have more detail about it.

The other interesting part about that is the bit that is tacked on and becomes new section 17A relating to children under 18. That section looks at financial management and how the accounts are kept within the Department of Housing. It is strange that we then tack on a little piece that deals with the commissioner's relationship with children under 18. I was assured that it was all right; it had to be there somewhere. I would have thought there would have been the possibility of putting that in a separate place so that you actually highlighted it more; that this was an important matter that needed to be arranged to ensure that the Commissioner for Housing can make an arrangement with children under 18. There is no need to change it at this point, because it is important that children under the age of 18 do have access to housing. Without a doubt, this is one of the very contentious issues within the housing field. It has never been worked out

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