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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (2 April) . . Page.. 1261 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

I know what it is like to live in public housing in an outer suburb. I described that recently when I talked about what I was going to say in this speech. The street I lived in, Lindrum Crescent, was almost entirely public housing. We got a reputation for being a government housing street. I wore that as a badge of pride, but some other people did not. For that reason, I welcome the government's policy of spot purchasing and spreading public housing throughout Canberra.

Contrary to feeling that I had been pushed out to the urban fringe, I welcomed the chance to establish my young family in the company of others in a like situation. I saw a chance to shape and develop my own living environment. Later I needed to move closer to the centre of Canberra for work reasons. In 1984 I moved to Tuggeranong, where I found the same atmosphere as I had found in Belconnen in 1972, an atmosphere which I understand from my family members who live in Gungahlin exists in Gungahlin now-a sense of newness, freshness and adventure.

It is imperative that public housing provide an opportunity for those who have waited patiently on the list. It is also imperative that the government respond to the demographics of age, family connection, family history and, in a sense, personal choice. This means a blend of homes in a variety of suburbs across Canberra. It means providing for young families, older people, single-parent families, large families and people with disabilities. What a challenge that is.

We also need to be careful that we do not stick a stack of public housing in Gungahlin. That is what happened in Tuggeranong, Belconnen, Ainslie and so on. We need to make sure that people do not care whether they live in public housing or private rental housing. In this instance the government is merely a real estate agent.

I know that Tuggeranong is a popular area of choice for people seeking public housing. This is principally because they have grown up in the valley or have essential family and societal support mechanisms there. One only has to speak to the public housing tenants who suffered in the bushfires to appreciate the sense of community that they have, the bond which provides such strength in times of adversity.

I spoke to many public housing tenants in the places which feed into Colquhoun Street in Kambah. Many of them went into despair over the loss of their homes. They were concerned not only about the loss of their goods and chattels that they so dearly loved. They had pride in the premises they were renting from the government. They took personal pride in their gardens and in the fabric of the inside of their homes. They took particular care. The loss of their homes was as acute as the loss of their treasured possessions.

We need to be a little bit cautious about being too Gungahlin-centric, too Civic-centric, or too Tuggeranong-centric. I do not care if we get a bit over the top, but I caution against it being anything "centric". We are part of the ACT. If we are going to treat our public housing tenants with dignity, we need to provide premises across Canberra. JJ Maher built the G3 house I moved into in 1972. The developer provided houses to the government of the day. We can get a stack of ground in Gungahlin and stick houses on it, but that is not the best way to go about it. If we spot purchase or take a house out and put

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