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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2970 ..

that we were always closing facilities and selling off the stock. But we were trying to generate a set of stock that matched the needs of the tenants. That is not happening.

I am sure that shortly Mrs Burke will have a few words to say about this issue. But the important thing is, first, that we have appropriate stock; second, that it is in appropriate locations; and, third, that we are using it appropriately. The area that springs to mind is Northbourne Avenue. For the most part, the Northbourne flats on Northbourne Avenue look pretty much abandoned. There have been a number of issues in regard to that but no answer forthcoming from the minister as to why these flats are, in the main, vacant.

In my term as housing minister, we removed some of the worst blocks. Macpherson Court at Lyneham is now the City Edge. That is a fabulous redevelopment. It is fabulous because it destroyed the concentration of public housing that, for reasons unknown, had become a place where there was a very high concentration of public housing tenants with a mental illness. That is inappropriate. In any other area it would be called a ghetto. I am pleased that we did not get to calling it that.

In terms of renewing it, we had some very high-quality outcomes. A large proportion was for private housing. Some of it was public housing, some of it was aged housing and some was for those with a disability. That is a very good model. We worked with groups such as Community Housing to ensure that we were getting the balance and the mix right. You then have a process of rejuvenation that provides the whole housing stock and makes it usable for all of the people most of the time.

We started to work on the big-flat strategy. Mr Stefaniak, to his credit, started it. He had identified 19 complexes of a certain size that needed a number of things done. Since we have left office, I am not aware of any work being done with the big-flat strategy to announce where it is all going. It would be important to hear from the minister for housing—if he were here—what he is doing. But he is not here, so we will not hear that unless he has briefed the Treasurer. We look forward to the Treasurer’s erudite notions on issues such as housing need and housing demand.

The area of most concern to me, and the area I get most complaint about when out doorknocking around the shopping centres, is the provision of aged-care units. Given that we all know we have a problem—the aged population; that is, those over 65 will double in the next 10 years—the question is: what is the government doing about it? From all I can see, the answer is nothing. We seem to have very little happening in terms of the provision of aged housing.

We had several programs and we delivered several hundred aged-persons units during the number of years we were in office. They were welcome not just by the tenants that moved into them but also by the surrounding regions and the local shops. We primarily built them next to shopping centres to reinforce the local shopping centres. It will be interesting to hear from the Treasurer what it is that they are doing.

I also raise the issue of the $10 million that was given for the Treasurer’s Advance almost two years ago for urgent fire upgrade. I am sure Mrs Burke will give an update of where that money is. Two years later a lot of that money for urgent fire upgrade still has not been spent. The problem with this government is its glacial approach. We go off with a bang and end with a whimper: “We need $10 million; we’ve got legal advice; we’ve

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