Page 843 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 April 2014
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We will need it ultimately. Canberra stadium will not last forever. It does need replacing in the fullness of time. We believe the appropriate time frame for that is at the end of this decade, moving into the 2020s.
Housing—homelessness
MS PORTER: My question is to the Minister for Housing. Minister, the federal government recently announced that the national partnership agreement on homelessness funding would be extended for a further 12 months from July this year. What does this announcement mean for ACT’s homelessness service providers?
MR RATTENBURY: I am very pleased that the federal government recently announced a 12 month extension of the national partnership agreement on homelessness. This was something that had been causing the homelessness sector in Australia great concern. Unfortunately, 12 months before we had only seen a one-year agreement and there was a lack of clarity as to whether the new government would commit to that.
But a partnership has now been agreed. That is very important because it is a viable source of funding for homelessness services in the ACT. It is a transitional agreement and I am certainly keen that the federal government work with the states and territories to ensure that beyond this we get a longer-term three to five-year agreement.
I can say that this is very important money. I am pleased that the ACT government has already committed to matching the funding. The $1.52 million from the commonwealth will be matched by the ACT government for the coming financial year to ensure that we get that commonwealth funding. That will go to the provision of important homelessness services here in the territory.
What this announcement means is that the providers in the sector can now get on with planning their services and stop having to worry about whether the money will actually be coming this year. The feedback I have had from the sector is that they are very pleased that that is now the case.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, what types of services are currently funded by this partnership agreement?
MR RATTENBURY: The services that have been funded under the national partnership agreement since it was implemented include FirstPoint, street to home, the Supportive Tenancy Service, and our place, or the foyer-like services. They are delivering good outcomes for clients. These services have provided a specific service response to address gaps, including increasing supports at the prevention end of the continuum, which I think is particularly important. In particular, the Supportive Tenancy Service is about assisting people who perhaps have an existing tenancy but
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