Page 285 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 December 2004
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• of multiculturalism in the ACT, by affirming shared rights and responsibilities while recognising and celebrating our differences;
• establish a multicultural heritage program to identify significant historical achievements by migrants to Canberra, to be recognised by plaques, in print or on a specifically designed website;
• establish a refugee settlement service program that coordinates these activities across government agencies and with community groups; and
• develop an ACT languages program that welcomes the development of language skills to the business and community life of the ACT.
The government will continue its program of strong support for public and community housing. In our first term, we:
• secured an additional $33.2 million for public, indigenous and community housing stock, of which $20 million has been spent on the purchase of an additional 61 public housing properties, with a further $1 million committed;
• gained continued funding for the community linkages program, which focuses on connecting public housing tenants to their communities, as well as supporting the preventing eviction program;
• constructed and opened two boarding houses, one for young people and another for older women;
• introduced a new energy concession, to include a rebate on electricity and gas costs for low income earners; and
• in 2003-04, delivered a capital works program of some $90 million, compared to previous years where the spend was approximately $55 million.
The challenge over the next four years is to grow and improve the sector. This will be achieved through an extra $30 million over three years to boost public housing stock numbers; further joint ventures; reviewing Housing ACT’s status as a public trading enterprise; and reviewing the home loans portfolio biannually to assess the availability of equity funds for housing.
The government is committed to ensuring that public housing is as energy efficient as possible. We will spend $4 million on upgrading public housing to make properties more energy efficient and develop a window coverings pilot program for residents in multiunit complexes at a cost of $150,000.
The Stanhope government is committed to the welfare of our public housing tenants and their full participation in the community. We undertake to implement the recommendations of the tenant participation project, improve client service and support networks, achieve improvement in maintenance, based strongly on the asset management strategy, and recognise tenants’ skills by training tenants to work with social housing landlords, as well as assisting them to drive their own programs.
The government will continue to advance initiatives developed in its first term, including expanding the community housing sector and further developing the community linkages program supported by the provision of $2 million over four years. It will also further
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