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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Thursday, 4 March 2004) . . Page.. 756 ..

Community services facilities management strategy

Paper and statement by minister

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Minister for Arts and Heritage) (3.29): For the information of members I present the following paper:

Community Services Facilities Management Strategy, dated March 2004, prepared by the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services

I seek leave to make a statement.

Leave granted.

MR WOOD: In response to the report of the Select Committee on Estimates inquiry into the budget 2003-04 in June 2003, the government committed to preparing an asset management strategy to provide a framework for the ongoing management of community assets within the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services. The government’s social plan reflects our strong commitment to people and to communities. It is underpinned by the social priorities of improving health and wellbeing and promoting safe, strong, and cohesive communities.

A key element in achieving these priorities is the effective provision of community services and appropriate physical accommodation for those services. The first and most significant step in this process was the creation of the department. In so doing, the important task of integrating the development of policy and the delivery of a range of quality services to the community commenced. An important component of this integration has been the union of the management of the provision of community services and accommodation for community organisations throughout the territory.

The facilities management strategy is an integral part of this process and the right of the community organisations that have a lease to manage those facilities and deliver services is a central feature. The whole-of-government approach to property asset management is under development by the property branch of DUS. This will provide a framework in which all government owned buildings, including community accommodation and community facility buildings, will be managed in a consistent and transparent way across the territory.

Other ACT government property owners, including the department of Education, Youth and Family Services, ACT Health and the disability department, are actively involved in the development of this initiative. Community organisations will be consulted in developing a strategy.

The management strategy tabled today is the first step in our government’s commitment to better coordinating and managing the facilities that we own and operate on behalf of the community. This initiative aims to align assets with departmental service delivery priorities; develop common policies and principles for the management of assets; develop common performance management measures for those assets; set a framework

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