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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 1867 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

That is not a good picture. I do not think there is anything new in this circumstance in ACT Housing. The Commonwealth over many years tended to let the condition of its stock run down. We certainly inherited that position. But it is alarming to be advised that the condition is going to get worse in future years. ACT Housing undertook a housing maintenance census some three years ago and that was commendable. Certainly it would give Housing a clearer picture of the condition of its property. It identified a backlog of maintenance and repairs worth $65m. Early this year Housing found that 1,948 properties were classified as being below standard due to a variety of circumstances - perhaps the condition of the bathroom, kitchen or paintwork, inside or out.

A very large number of properties need attention, and they are just not going to get it. Mr Smyth put out a media statement, and it makes great reading, stating that the residents at Allawah and, I think, Bega complexes were going to be delighted with the considerable amount of upgrade that was going to be done there. That is good news. Congratulations, Mr Smyth. But I have not seen a media statement that says that residents in other places remain bitterly disappointed because there is little prospect of upgrades where they are needed in those places. I want it acknowledged that there is a problem.

We do not get high rents for our housing properties. I am one that stands up and argues the case that we have to consider the income of the tenants. Even the increased rental of 25 per cent which was flagged in this budget will be an imposition on a lot of people. A great problem is presented to us when we see the data that has been given. It seems to me that there is an element of cannibalism being conducted here, and that is not desirable. It is inevitable when there are not funds to do what we want.

By "cannibalism", I describe - and I think others do - the situation that applies in some Third World countries where they may have a fleet of buses and they cannot afford to maintain them, so two or three buses that are off the road already are cannibalised, pulled apart, and those parts are used to keep other buses going; and then two or three more off the road are used later on to keep other buses running. It means that you are knocking down current stock, in this case houses, to keep other stock going. It is not a good practice.

Arising out of this data, the community, and especially those who rely on ACT Housing property, need to hear a clear statement from the Government about the long term. We have facts and figures in this budget about the next year or two and upgrades, improvements, new properties and the like, but I do not have data about the long term, about our policies into the future, how we will both maintain a high level of public ownership of housing, which is desirable, and perform the difficult task of keeping it in good condition while attending to the needs of low-income families at the same time. Minister, I do not want to say that is an easy thing to do, but there is a very clear and significant problem. At some stage in the not too distant future - I do not expect it to be today - we need some clear indication of how we are going to take this over into the next century.

There are a number of other issues that I would raise and one of them is related to this matter. I refer to insulation in ACT housing. My memory tells me that in an answer the Minister gave to one of my questions, since 1977 the Government automatically has been putting insulation into its new properties, but there is still a very, very large backlog

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