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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4709 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

Mrs Littlewood's additional comments. An indication of where ACT Housing is coming from appears in the first paragraph on housing in which Mrs Littlewood suggests that the objective of public housing is to provide long-term rental accommodation, which is contrary to what the Minister published in the paper recently. (Extension of time granted) Mrs Littlewood went on to say:

... and therefore may not always be the most suitable form of housing for younger people aged 15 to 24.

What evidence do we have that long-term accommodation is not the goal of younger people? We received no evidence in relation to that. I am curious to know where Mrs Littlewood got that statement from. There was no evidence about younger people not wanting housing. In fact, some evidence put forward by various people was to the contrary.

It appears that ACT Housing is not doing any investigations or reviews in relation to housing for younger people, even though they have a long waiting list of these people. They do not appear to have given them any attention, even though these people contribute to the revenue of the ACT through the payment of rent on ACT Housing properties. Mrs Littlewood's additional comments further state:

... public housing is not always appropriate for meeting the immediate housing needs and mobility requirements of many young people.

There is no evidence for this statement. This is a let-off for the Government not taking responsibility for housing younger people. The Government is abrogating its responsibility to provide housing for younger people.

We received evidence about the suitability of refuge-style accommodation. We need to look at the fact that for people trying to leave refuges there are no exit points. The waiting list for one-bedroom flats in some areas is five years or more. Where do these young people go? Many of them have problems with income support which will be exacerbated with the introduction of the common youth allowance by the Federal Liberal Government. These young people continue to need support, but there is no accommodation for them where they can live in security and safety. As a representative of the Lowana young women's refuge said, if a young child had a car accident and needed hospital treatment, that treatment would be immediately available, but if a young person has problems of abuse or failure at school they are just ignored. No money is allocated to support services for these vulnerable and damaged young people and no thought is given to long-term outcomes for these people so that they have the opportunity to continue to develop in our society.

There is a lack of services all round for adolescents in the ACT. High schools are squeezed for funding and the Government has failed to provide alternative education systems in the ACT. In the mental health report we highlighted the lack of mental health services for young people. It was announced that Mrs Carnell was seeking Federal funding for residential rehabilitation for young people affected by drugs. There is no service like that in the ACT where young people under the age of 18 can go to get assistance with problems of drug abuse. I think that is extremely sad for this community.

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