Page 1973 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 June 2015
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(a) the ACT Government’s pursuit of light rail down the Northbourne corridor;
(b) the ACT Government’s public housing program includes selling all public housing properties along the Northbourne Avenue corridor, which includes the Dickson Flats and connected vacant land, Dickson Garden Flats, Owen Flats, Northbourne Flats in Braddon and Northbourne Flats in Turner;
(c) the ACT Government’s plans to relocate public housing tenants from the Northbourne Avenue corridor to public housing properties that are not yet built;
(d) the ACT Government’s timeframe for relocation has not yet been disclosed to residents, who are living with uncertainty;
(e) that under this Government, these public housing properties have been allowed to seriously deteriorate to the point where they are almost uninhabitable;
(f) the resettlement of public housing tenants may dislocate them from their community and important services;
(g) ACT residents who are public housing tenants deserve safe and secure housing, with access to transport, education and training opportunities, employment and support services; and
(h) public housing tenants who are relocated may experience transport disadvantage and social exclusion; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to guarantee that no public housing tenants who wish to remain close to the city or along the Northbourne corridor will be forcibly resettled to make way for light rail.
I am pleased to move the motion today on public housing along the Northbourne Avenue light rail corridor. We all know that this government is recklessly charging down the path towards light rail. The government is following its ideological pursuit without any regard for the impacts this is having and will have on those people most affected—those who live in public housing properties along Northbourne Avenue.
Canberra has a long and proud history of public housing. Many of our contemporaries have lived in public housing and still do. For some people, public housing is a temporary part of their journey along the housing continuum. For others, it is longer term. Either way, public housing is there to support people who need assistance in the housing market. It is this government’s responsibility to ensure that the public housing system meets that need.
Is this government managing our public housing system so that it meets that need? I do not think so. We all know the government’s light rail project along Northbourne Avenue means there is a public housing renewal program underway where the government will sell off all the public housing properties along Northbourne Avenue,
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