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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 4102 ..

MS REILLY: Minister, you proudly stated during the Estimates Committee hearings that ACT Housing had reduced rental arrears, and I quote the following from the Estimates Committee Hansard of Wednesday, 22 October:

As at 30 June 1997 $1.418m was owed. As at 30 June 1996, the year before, it was $2.058m.

That is at page 737. There has been a total reduction in arrears of $1.162m. You also stated, Minister, in a press release dated 12 August 1997 and headed "Public Rent Arrears and Debt Decline":

The biggest reductions were in community housing and in the Woden and City regions, followed by Tuggeranong.

You also said that this was "a considerable and welcome improvement". However, Minister, the information you have provided to me in letters shows that in past financial years ACT Housing has written off $1.387m in vacated rental debt. Minister, can you tell me how much of the $1.162m of reduced rental arrears you told us about in the Estimates Committee, which you described as "a considerable and welcome improvement", was, in fact, debt that had been written off?

MR STEFANIAK: I think you might have asked me that question on notice, Ms Reilly; and I provided you with an answer. I will get the exact answer for you. But, certainly, as you should be well aware, total housing debt in the last couple of years has come down from a little over $7m to $5m; and tenant rent arrears have come down, as you have correctly stated there. It is a significant drop. Also in terms of any debt that is written off, if tenants are later located that debt can be reactivated. Wards debt agency, in fact, do that on occasions when a tenant who has vacated premises then turns up at a later stage and wants to be rehoused. We often reactivate a lot of that debt. There is one figure there which I think I have provided you with and which I will actually get for you; but I do not actually have that with me now.

MS REILLY: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Minister, what you are telling me is that you are not quite sure how much debt has been written off in the last few years. You also mentioned that Wards collection agency chases the debt defaulters. You told me in a letter of 11 November that you are writing off all vacated rental debt after 12 months. Does that mean that Wards collection agency stop chasing defaulting tenants after 12 months?

MR STEFANIAK: No, Ms Reilly. What it means, as I said earlier, is that, whilst some debt is actually written off, it is also actually reactivated if tenants are located. You mentioned two figures earlier in relation to tenant arrears, which have come down from a bit over $2m to $1.4m. I understand none of that includes any debt that has actually been written off. That is actually current tenant debt and is a significant drop. That shows that our debt recovery practices are succeeding greatly, as does the total overall figure of a $2m improvement.

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