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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 6 Hansard (16 May) . . Page.. 1741 ..

MR SPEAKER: You have two options. Having drawn it to our attention, you can sit down now, or you can draw attention to the state of the house and I will ring the bells and get all members here. It is over to you.

Mr Cornwell: I will sit down on that point.

MR STEFANIAK: Rather than dragging everyone out of their rooms, even though this is an important debate, I note Mr Cornwell's point that no members of the government are present. I would have thought at least the minister could stay. I hope that is not indicative of a lack of interest in public housing.

Mrs Cross: It could be perceived as that .

MR STEFANIAK: It could indeed be perceived as that, Mrs Cross. Mr Wood is now returning.

Mr Wood: I have been here all the time.

MR STEFANIAK: You have.

Mr Wood: I have been paying close attention.

MR STEFANIAK: No-one else is, Bill. That is a problem.

The point was to ensure that people who were able to move out of emergency housing or public housing into suitable accommodation did so. That is desirable. That is very important. We are feeling the pinch in public housing, even though we have more stock, albeit old stock, than other states or territories except the Northern Territory and perhaps South Australia, which have been rather close to us in recent years. It is important that people who are over a problem and can move out into their own home do so. I will be interested to see what comes from that point in the minister's statement. No-one is suggesting that people who need public housing should not be able to have it. That is what security of tenure is all about. But it should not be for life.

Emergency housing is a real problem. I am quite worried about the number of people ringing my office, and no doubt ringing the minister's office, who are desperate for housing and have nowhere to go. Families are sleeping in cars. I have recently had a spate of calls from men with children who have nowhere to go and are sleeping in cars. In the past there may have been occasional problems. Sometimes we would hear of people having to stay with friends. No doubt that still occurs, but in the past I do not think I have seen so many people who have nowhere to go, who cannot be housed with friends, for whatever reasons, and who are sleeping in cars. That is sad enough if it is a single person, but if it is a family it is even more of a problem.

One pleasing point in the minister's statement relates to Ainslie Village. M block has 13 rooms. One room has four beds in it and the other rooms are single rooms. They could accommodate more than one person if need be. The bottom line is that 16 people could be accommodated in that block, or it could be used as emergency housing for 26 of 28 people, if they are compatible. That block was set aside for a rehabilitation unit which

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