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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 4362 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I do not want to talk at length here because we have another debate coming up on affordable housing more generally. I would just note that there is much the government could do. Privately provided rental housing can be affordable, but it is less reliable as a supply than is public housing or community housing, which has that social mix as an explicit rationale. Nonetheless, it is important to consider as many means as possible to encourage and support affordable private rental, such as through the mechanisms that Ms Dundas has proposed, and I am very happy to give the Greens' support.

The second point in Ms Dundas's motion should remind the government of its commitments at various times to work with landlords on water efficiency and energy efficiency measures. Again, I have to remind members of the Water Wise scheme and suggest that useful consideration could be given to implementing this scheme and to tailoring it to make it attractive to landlords.

If we are to meet our greenhouse targets, as we must, then providing the incentives, making the changes easy and, if need be, actually paying for the changes really will be a benefit to the whole community in the end. Targeting the scheme to ensure similar changes in rental properties would, as Ms Dundas said, give another much-needed break to low-income tenants who, it is true, often struggle to cover the gas or electricity bill as well as things like food and telephone.

Public housing should not be excluded from this analysis. Just an aside and to illustrate this point, I have recently been talking to an older man living on an old age pension who described how difficult the increase in the public rental income cap from 20 to 25 per cent made things for him and for other pensioners. What may appear to be a small amount of money for some people in the ACT was the difference between possible and not possible for this person. It is really very difficult to live on the low incomes that pensioners have to live on.

In conclusion, I will just say that I do not want to speak at length on this point because we are going to have a much fuller debate on the whole issue of affordable housing, but I support this motion.

MRS BURKE (5.49), by leave: I move:

Mr Quinlan: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order-I don't know whether it should be at this stage. The motion itself relates to financial assistance, and all of a sudden it is now about reporting on the affordable housing task force. I do think it is a quantum leap in extending the motion, which members should understand creates a whole lot of work-for others of course-and I really think that this particular amendment should be ruled out of order.

MR SPEAKER: Mrs Burke has leave to move an amendment, so I will let her move it, and then, if you want to raise your point of order again, we can deal with it.

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