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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (24 May) . . Page.. 1666 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

Minister, these are people's homes you are proposing to dispose of so abruptly. Is it not the case that the bottom line is that Red Hill flats and Mawson Gardens both occupy prime real estate sites which, in the words of Mr Smyth, are both "under-utilised". Minister, does not this unexpected harsh and unfeeling action against Canberra residents reveal your words about social capital to be completely devoid of meaning?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I would like to answer that on behalf of the government because it is-

Mr Wood: He is the Treasurer.

MR SMYTH: No, I am the minister responsible-

Mr Wood: No. I am talking about social capital. It is not a housing matter. It is an example of-

MR SPEAKER: The minister may transfer-

Mr Wood: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: the question is about social capital and what is meant by social capital. I gave that example by way of explaining my question. I want Mr Humphries to justify what he has done.

Mr Humphries: I am not the minister for social capital. All of us are ministers for social capital.

MR SMYTH: Mr Wood says that I said something about them being valuable real estate sites and that they should be redeveloped. What Mr Wood fails to recognise or acknowledge is that a review of all the large ACT Housing flats was undertaken by Ecumenical Housing from Melbourne. This is a church group that gave us advice on how best to look after our tenants. It was their advice that certain flats should be kept, certain ones should be upgraded, certain ones should be redeveloped, and certain ones should be sold because they do not meet the needs of tenants. If we are committed, if we are dedicated, to building up the quality of life of ACT residents, then we have an obligation to make sure the public housing that we provide to them meets their needs. This plan will do so.

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I have about a dozen supplementaries. I will stick to one. Rental accommodation, minister-I guess this will be Mr Smyth since Mr Humphries cannot answer-in the ACT private sector is virtually unavailable at present and there are long waiting lists for ACT Housing properties. What is going to happen to these waiting lists with an influx of tenants from Mawson Gardens and Red Hill who need to be housed? What about the potential tenants, those already on the waiting list, whose time on the list will now be stretched because of this new demand?

MR SMYTH

: Our waiting lists are probably a third of what we inherited from the Labor Party. Their waiting lists were much longer. We have addressed this matter, firstly through Bill Stefaniak and now through me, and across this government. We have been looking at the needs of tenants and making sure that we meet their needs. This is the

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