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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 946 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Stanhope for that question. I have not received the report. Inquiries of my office about when it would be expected have not produced any anticipated arrival time for the report. As to the reason that it has been delayed, I can only assume that the Auditor-General is consumed with other matters.

MR STANHOPE: I ask a supplementary question. We await both reports with interest. Can the Attorney confirm that the Government has briefed counsel to defend an unfair dismissal claim lodged by the officer whose contract was terminated?

MR HUMPHRIES: Yes.

MR HIRD: Mr Speaker, my question is to Mr Smyth as Minister for Urban Services. Minister, over the last 12 months much has been said about the size of the waiting list for public housing, especially in light of the Government's big-flat strategy. How has the waiting list moved over the last 12 months, and how does this list compare with other levels?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, over the last few years the Government has attempted to put in place quite a number of reforms in the provision of public housing in the ACT. We see it as a very important part of our social agenda. This Government, in its promises to the electorate, is not simply about balancing the books but about delivering the services the people of Canberra expect and want delivered. We have always tried to target our programs to help those in need. We have tried to move away from forms of housing that are no longer appropriate and we have tried to match our stock much better with the needs of our tenants. Over this period others have responded in the only way that they know how. They have opposed the reforms of this Government.

Mr Speaker, with the implementation of our big-flat strategy, Mr Wood issued a press release stating that the bulldozers were waiting. He implied that all that was needed at Burnie Court and Lachlan Court was some minor maintenance and that a lick of paint would solve all the problems of tenants there. We have been criticised every step of the way as we have been attempting to help tenants through the provision of better housing.

Mr Wood predicted on radio that huge rises in public waiting lists were sure to occur. He said that the Government could not close these big flats without the world falling over and the streets being flooded with erstwhile housing tenants searching for the stray flat that might be found around the city. Unless he has hidden it, Mr Wood has certainly not built his own ark to save them, and the blowout of waiting lists has not occurred.

In June last year the waiting list stood at 3,064 and currently it is 2,966. But you have to put this in perspective. Who has been better at looking after those most in need? Who has been better in looking after those who were on the waiting list? In 1985 the waiting list was 2,889. By 1990, some five years later, the waiting list stood at 3,034. That was an increase of 145 over five years. The list then is comparable with the current waiting list.

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