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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 2 Hansard (10 March) . . Page.. 508 ..

MR SMYTH

Mr Speaker, we have also moved from having the worst record with tenant arrears, in terms of the percentage of tenants in arrears, to the national average in just one year. I must point out at this stage that this change clearly reflects the hard work and the reform agenda that was put in place by my colleague, the former Minister for Housing, Mr Stefaniak.

So, Mr Speaker, we have the shortest waiting lists, our expenditure on public housing is three times the national average, and we are becoming more and more efficient. You might begin to think that ACT Housing is just about the perfect government agency, based on that. Well, obviously it is not and we have much more to do. Despite having the shortest waiting times in Australia, tenant assessment of their houses is lower than the national average. Tenant satisfaction is also below the national average. The quality of our housing stock is also below the national average. We have less choice in public housing between the government and community sectors than the national average.

Why is that so? The reason fundamentally, Mr Speaker, is that the Territory inherited a stock of poorly maintained and ageing houses from the Commonwealth and has dealt with the consequences ever since. Our housing stock now simply does not meet the needs of either our tenants or the people on our applicant list. Despite all the good news coming out of the Productivity Commission, we still have a lot of work to do. Despite the years that have passed since self-government, we have a long way to go to get our housing stock to an acceptable level to meet our tenants' needs. I refer again to Mr Stefaniak who started a lot of the important changes that will get us to that point and I think the big flat strategy is a major achievement. The challenge now is to deliver the change necessary for public housing in the ACT to continue the good work and address the issues of where we do not perform well.

MR HIRD: I notice that the Opposition is saying nothing because it is a good news story. Mr Speaker, my supplementary question is this: Your departmental officers, Minister, will not be sitting on their hands. They are going to keep up the good work and the positive results that we have already seen from the Productivity Commission. Is that so, sir?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I thank the member for his supplementary question. The Government has a number of strategies in place to address the problems identified in the Productivity Commission's report. The major problem we have to tackle is the mismatch between the stock that we have and the stock that our clients and potential clients need. Much of the older stock is based on what, 30 years ago, was the traditional family of two parents, two children, and many of our clients no longer fit this description. We have to remember that ACT Housing was not established to provide public housing, as such, but was really established to provide housing for public servants moving into the ACT in the 1960s and since, and as an encouragement for Public Service staff to relocate to Canberra.

We will be reducing our stock of housing that no longer meets our clients' needs. Mr Wood has asked questions on this several times. We will need to focus on the areas of emerging need. That means recognising that the needs of families are changing and recognising that the locations where people want to live in the ACT are also changing.

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