Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (20 November) . . Page.. 4402 ..

MRS BURKE (continuing):

I think we need to question why. I am sure that the minister is quite aware, as I am, of why some of these things are happening. People feel that a minority of people around them should be in other types of accommodation, not necessarily in the middle of housing complexes with small children or young adults. I know the minister is aware of that, and I am not going to major on that.

When we see a third of tenants appearing to be inappropriately housed, we have a challenge on our hands. Again, that may be down to this transfers and allocations issue. Many people who have called my office have tried to effect a transfer, with varying success. There are many people who occupy houses they no longer need but who, sadly, in some cases have all but given up trying to effect a change or a move, simply because of paperwork being lost. It is disappointing if that has happened.

I always encourage people to reapply. Some people-the minority; I will give you that-have said they can't be bothered. Maybe it is time we did a full audit of who we have in what houses. How many people are living in dwellings that are too big? That may be something the minister would like to take on board, if it is not currently being done. It is a very timely exercise and should be carried out forthwith.

As I have said, tenancy turnover has a lot to do with people who have a dual diagnosis-people with a mental health problem and drug issues-being housed in inappropriate places. I will talk about that later, and we have talked about that on this side of the house. My idea for that would be the step-down facility. I have had a conversation with the minister about that, and I would love to talk to him more about how we can best give these people an integrated approach to living in a community as well as the opportunity to be rehabilitated fully and to live lives that are compatible with the majority of our community.

On page 12, there is mention of threats to long-term viability. Minister, we have had this little discussion before. You mention again the decline in Commonwealth-state housing funding. Well, you know very well that this is the first time ever that this agreement has been index linked, so I will leave that one there. There is more to say about the GST later.

Looking at the statement made on the last paragraph of page 12 of the report, I am a little confused about where the minister actually stands in regard to community housing. Maybe it is semantics; maybe I misunderstand the interpretation of that statement. But I would like to talk to him about that or hear your comments on that.

Further on in the report we see multiunit sites. The government needs to give a clear strategy for the future of such sites, given its comments on page 13, where it says that several complexes are in high-value locations. Is this foreshadowing change, Minister? This report was written in June 2003. Currong Apartments is mentioned in this report. We then have the debacle on our hands with uncertainty for the tenants. Let's not have a situation where that happens again.

The tenants of Currong Apartments were left wondering. There were rumours in the community. Are we going to be knocked down? Are we going to be rehoused? Are we

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .