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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1244 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Also, the amount provided for concessional expenditures, Mr Speaker, to people who need support with electricity, water, et cetera, charges has gone up by some $898,000. In the housing budget, we have capital works of $34m, $5.4m of which is dedicated to housing people with limited mobility, such as the aged and the disabled, especially for housing them close to amenities such as shops. Not only will that help a number of disadvantaged people in our community; it will also, hopefully, help a number of shopping centres as well. The maintenance budget, Mr Speaker, is up by $5.53m. Depending on what Ms Reilly does this afternoon with my amendments, if she allows them to pass, we will actually be able to spend all that money. There is a considerable increase there. We do have a very old and ageing stock and, in some cases, an inappropriate stock. It is always a battle to make sure that is adequately maintained. That is a significant improvement in, again, what is a difficult financial year for the Government.

Ms McRae mentioned Charnwood. In terms of housing, Mr Speaker, stage one of the revitalisation of Charnwood will be going ahead this financial year.

Ms McRae: But no-one lives there anymore. Have you seen how many empty houses there are there?

MR STEFANIAK: Yes, they do, Ms McRae. That will start this year, and that will be in two areas of Charnwood. I understand the residents are very happy, naturally enough, with the improvements that will be made to their amenity, and that will help the suburb considerably. Also, Mr Speaker, in the housing budget, 200 dwellings will be transferred to community-based management in the course of the year to provide more options for our tenants. That is another exciting development. Anyone who has any knowledge of community-based housing, especially in some of the other States where it is quite well advanced, like South Australia, would know that it can be a very attractive option for tenants.

Ms McRae mentions the sport budget. Contrary to what Ms McRae might think - and I can appreciate that she would be clutching at straws here because this Government has done a hell of a lot for all sports - this budget has very much a focus on participation, not just supporting the elite; although, of course, we do that. The results have borne excellent fruit in terms of our success at the Atlanta Games, with some five ACT athletes winning medals; and even greater success at the Paralympic Games held after that, with some 19 of our academy athletes actually going to the Olympics.

But, at the grassroots level, we are finally starting to overcome some of the horrible problems caused by the dereliction of duty of the previous Labor Government. It really affected participation by people when it made 27 ovals low maintenance. That was a horrible legacy for this Government. I would love to have brought them all back to full maintenance, but finances are impossible. However, what we have done is come up with an extra $350,000 for the watering of our sportsgrounds, to ensure that those ovals that we do have are properly maintained. That was done after a considerable amount of effort to work out the optimum amount needed by our sportsgrounds. That takes a long-term view. It is terribly important for participation; it is terribly important for all kinds of junior sports; it is terribly important for recreation. It is addressing a very real problem.

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