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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2969 ..

Mrs Cross: Did he say that?

MR PRATT: He did, according to the Canberra Times. But we do not necessarily believe everything the media says. I hope that is not a portent of things to come, in terms of the impact of planning in Brindabella. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Was I taking it out of context?

MR HARGREAVES (10.37): I have not spoken in this debate. I will be very brief. Mr Pratt, you did not. But I have to say that you were not listening the other day when the Planning Minister and I were talking in this place about his changing the planning paradigm. Mr Pratt had to read my comments in the Canberra Times because he did not pay Tuggeranong business the courtesy of turning up and talking to them. If Mr Pratt wants to make a career out of checking my progress through the Canberra Times, all power to him.

MR QUINLAN (Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism, Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming, and Acting Minister for Planning) (10.38): Very briefly, Mr Speaker: I live in a townhouse block. It could look a little like Coronation Street from a couple of angles, but I love it. So to each his own.

Mrs Dunne: I suggest you take a trip to Harrison, Mr Acting Planning Minister.

MR QUINLAN: Okay. I will have to go and have a bit of a look around.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Proposed expenditure—Part 1.14—ACT Forests, $74,000 (net cost of outputs), totalling $74,000—agreed to.

Proposed expenditure—Part 1.15—Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, $79,278,000 (net cost of outputs), $4,800,000 (capital injection) and $23,434,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $107,512,000.

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (10.40): I wish to raise concerns about the housing element of the budget and the government’s commitment to housing. It was quite interesting that there was a conference on affordable housing at Parliament House yesterday and today. It started with a dinner on Sunday evening to look at the whole issue of housing and where housing stress is.

There was a plea by many of the speakers to ensure that public housing was not overlooked. The conclusions of some speakers were that those in public housing tended to suffer less from housing stress—as it is called—that is, the ability to pay and the impact of paying your rent or mortgage. There was a large amount of evidence that jurisdictions around the country were not—in the opinion of some of the speakers—pulling their weight, particularly in public housing.

I comment on the number of properties in the ACT that are lying idle, unused or are under capacity. One of the criticisms of those opposite of us when we were in office was

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