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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Tuesday, 29 June 2004) . . Page.. 2971 ..

got this urgent fire upgrade.” And what has happened? Absolutely nothing. Very little of the money has been spent. It is about time that the government was honest with housing tenants about what it is doing to make their properties safe from fire.

With those few thoughts in regard to the housing section of the budget, it is appropriate that the government gets organised and delivers more on housing, because in the last three years it has let public housing down.

MS DUNDAS (10.45): I was very glad to see that in this budget line item for disability, housing and community services there was a big injection of funds to try to clear the waiting list for assessment of children with suspected autism spectrum disorder. I now hope that there will be some innovative ways to attract the workforce we need to make this a reality so that we can keep our assessments and therapy waiting lists down. We can then provide support for those who need it. That means taking some new approaches such as bonded scholarships and making the ACT an attractive place for professionals to come and live.

There is some more money in this budget for initiatives to fight homelessness but still not enough to seriously tackle the problems. The ACT homeless strategy put forward that there are 1,200 homeless people in the ACT at any one time, with more than 100 people sleeping like this each night. As we get into colder months, the situation becomes more dire.

Emergency accommodation services are full and they have been for at least 12 months, because I remember having this discussion in relation to the last budget. Services are turning people away. The shortage of public housing places means emergency housing providers cannot find anywhere to transfer their residents. It is unfortunate that crisis housing ends up functioning as medium-term housing and people on the street are left with nowhere to go. I hope that the community is becoming aware of the need to prioritise funds in this area and the benefit that it has for everyone.

If we are serious about tackling poverty and creating a socially sustainable territory, we need to commit to providing affordable housing. We need to commit to supporting homeless people. Nine new public housing properties is all we are getting out of this increased expenditure in housing and for homelessness. It will not go far enough. More work needs to be done.

I note that the government is doing ongoing work, but this needs to be stepped up. We need to look at specific support for young people, as they are the huge bulk of those who are homeless in the ACT. The government did not take up the idea of a youth night shelter in this budget, as was requested by this Assembly, but I understand that the consultation in relation to that is still ongoing. Hopefully, we will see some action soon—before people freeze in the streets at night because they have nowhere else to go.

The other issue I raise under this point is also in relation to support for children and young people with disabilities. I will say it here and I will say it again when we come to education: I hope that Therapy ACT and the department of education are able to work together to ensure that young people with a disability in our schools and in learning programs are getting the full spectrum of support they need. I also hope that that support continues when they finish school. They are changes that underpin the move by Therapy

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