Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2213 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Mr Stefaniak, the previous housing Minister, started the big flat strategy. We have a number of complexes that are just totally inadequate to meet the need. I am very pleased that, in the course of this term, we will change the very nature of Macpherson Court and we will have sold Lachlan Court and used the proceeds thereof to renew Burnie Court. I think that will be an amazing achievement in meeting the needs of people where they live.

You have to understand that the fundamental problem we have is that what the Commonwealth gave us in 1989 was a stock of public service housing. It was housing that met the needs of public servants who were moved here. It was housing that was offered as inducements, as incentives to move in the 1960s and the 1970s when all the big departments were shifted to Canberra. I think the term "three-bedroom ex-guvvie" is something that only Canberrans really understand and know about because so many of us lived in them, had friends that lived in them, visited them or bought them. I suspect that just about everybody in this place is in one of those categories.

We are attempting to meet the needs of tenants where they are. The current stock is located heavily in the inner city - in old Canberra, in north Canberra and south Canberra. Some of our longest waiting lists are for places in Tuggeranong. Half the stock is three-bedroom houses and yet our overwhelming need is for one-bedroom accommodation and two-bedroom accommodation. We have to make sure that, over the quickest period of time that we can, we change the housing stock to meet the needs of the tenants, not only where they are but also where they want to be, and this Government will do that. It will not be easy and it will take some time, but we will have made a significant start to meeting the needs of tenants.

Let me dispel some of the furphies. Even though we have started moving people out of Macpherson Court and the majority of them have now found other suitable accommodation and, because of some fires at Lachlan Court, we have had to move people out of there, the number of people on the waiting list has not gone up. The list has declined by some 3 per cent in the last year because we are managing better and we are meeting the needs of tenants better. At the same time we have put in a new computer system. That new computer system will overcome some of the failings of the current system whereby it is very awkward or almost impossible on occasions to get the appropriate data that you need to manage your stock. The new system, hopefully, will overcome all of those problems.

Mr Speaker, the initiatives undertaken are budget related. To achieve the $1m estimated for this year we have to start warning tenants now so that we can implement changes on 1 January. In a full year that will bring $2m to the ACT housing budget. So, let us just dispel the little myth, let us get rid of the furphy, that it is not budget related. It is most certainly related to the budget that we will spend on providing the homes that those opposite want us to provide. That $2m will go a long way towards providing each year more new homes, upgrading homes and providing better accommodation for those most in need in the ACT.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .