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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 03 Hansard (Tuesday, 9 March 2004) . . Page.. 917 ..

working with the Belconnen Community Council to help to identify sites of land in the Belconnen area that potentially could be used for aged care accommodation.

It is interesting that one of the sites that the Belconnen Community Council has identified as potentially aged persons accommodation is now being sold off by the government as commercial land. That is the block of land close to the Belconnen markets. Members of the Belconnen Community Council put it to me that, as soon as they started to talk about it for aged care, it suddenly went on the list for the auctions. I hope that that is not the case. I would hope that, rather than trying to find means of stymieing the community, this government would work with the community.

I really would like to dwell on my own electorate of Belconnen. We have the fiasco of the Little Company of Mary. I also have a constant cry from people who work in the aged care industry about what is happening with people who are inappropriately housed in ward 5W at Calvary Hospital because there is nowhere else for them to go. It is a crying shame and a shameful indictment of this government that—

Mr Cornwell: And an expensive one too.

MS DUNNE: And it is a very expensive indictment of this government—quite right, Mr Cornwell—a very expensive indictment. People are not getting the right sort of care and are being shunted around hospitals because there is nowhere else for them to go. The government talks about putting together its whole holistic plan and about how you need to have good public transport. Recently, in November, the Chief Minister said:

Low-density, urban design, the hallmark of Canberra suburbs, isn’t necessarily particularly age friendly. It assumes that everyone can drive and do everything. Transport options are sometimes patchy, and housing patterns make in-home service delivery difficult and costly.

I would like to address some of the issues of transport because some of my constituents are extremely unhappy at the way in which they are being constrained by the transport initiatives of this government. I draw the attention of members to pay parking and its implications for the Belconnen Senior Citizens Club. Before the introduction of pay parking, there was three-hour time-limited parking outside the Belconnen Senior Citizens Club. Now it is one-hour voucher parking, so all the people who go to the Belconnen Senior Citizens Club—and we know how many people go there and receive great benefit from it—now cannot sit down and have a rubber of bridge without worrying about whether their parking meter is going to expire. It means that people are going to be less inclined to avail themselves of the services that keep them active, keep them well, keep them in the community and keep them from feeling lonely, which is the great killer. This government is running down the services for people across the community and it is making it harder for otherwise active people to get to community functions because it is making them pay to park.

MRS BURKE (4.27): Many points have been covered but I think it is worth repeating some of the things that have been said. I am increasingly alarmed day by day to find many elderly residents placed in a situation that they should not be in. I talk mainly about people in public housing who, although in great and good houses, are being placed in untenable situations in terms of their wellbeing and social need. I believe the minister

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