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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (29 March) . . Page.. 1211 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

do. You get your diaries and you get all sorts of things and hopefully there is some outcome but it is not easy.

Music is a problem. You hear complaints of music disturbing the neighbourhood at 3 am. That is well and truly beyond anything that should apply. I am not talking about a 21st birthday party, a one-off event or a once-a-year event in the neighbourhood. Workshops can be a problem also. I am sure all members have had complaints about noise emanating from workshops and home businesses that involve more than a bit of accountancy.

We live in a city. There is going to be noise. There is going to be disruption. You have to live with people. There is no question about that. You cannot live in Canberra or any city and expect that there is not going to be some activity, some noise, cars or whatever in the neighbourhood. I was brought up in Toowoomba in Queensland. I lived over the road from the showgrounds. Everything that happened in that town happened at the showgrounds, from stock cars to football, the show, motorbikes-you name it. I never once in all my young life and through all my teenage years thought there was a problem about it. There is an understanding, certainly on my part, that noise is a part of our society. But it can become excessive.

I want to talk about more than just noise. I want to talk about neighbours-whether they are in private rental, public rental or private ownership-who step beyond the bounds. That is where it becomes very difficult. We saw a case reported on television this week of Belconnen neighbours who finished up in court over a trivial issue of garbage. Sometimes reason flies out the window.

Sometime people are a little bit less tolerant than they ought to be. You have to expect a bit of disruption in the neighbourhood. But in the last six months or so I have come across more unreasonable and unpleasant situations than I have seen in the past. I have seen more distressed people and more distressed neighbourhoods than I have seen in the past. I have seen people whose quiet enjoyment of their environment is not that at all; it is just a constant misery because of neighbours. It is very difficult.

Let me read extracts from a few letters. I know I am not alone in this. One person wrote to me:

The police are constantly called to this address due to endless problems this family is causing. There are broken windows, the front yard is a pigsty and used as a dump and only cleaned up a bit when Housing notifies them of a pending inspection.

That was about an ACT Housing property. This one is not:

Actions include persistent abuse, swearing at extreme levels, general hassle, claims of burning of bushes, Molotov cocktails, missiles, to the extent that the family won't leave the house unattended.

Another one reads:

Can you help? There is a house in my street which is a disgrace. Furnishings are kept outside. The backyard is full of rusting car bodies and the tenants are drug pushers and users, confirmed by the many police raids on the house.

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