Page 1254 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 29 March 2017
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(c) that consultation will include face-to-face discussions, online media, community council meetings, mainstream media, flyers and drop-in sessions; and
(3) calls on the Government to:
(a) continue its commitment to ‘salt and peppering’ public housing properties across the ACT;
(b) continue to ensure the designs for all new public housing are sympathetic to the look and feel of the surrounding community;
(c) continue to work closely, through Housing ACT and the Public Housing Renewal Taskforce, to identify the most appropriate replacement housing for each tenant being relocated;
(d) continue to prepare and offer Individual Support Plans to help guide tenant relocation and support individuals in their new communities;
(e) continue to consult with local communities before the DA stage and take into consideration feedback received;
(f) ensure that there is an appropriate level of community land remaining in each suburb where new public housing developments are constructed; and
(g) provide an update on progress under the Public Housing Renewal Program to the ACT Assembly during the May sittings.”.
My amendment seeks to put some balance into a motion that fails to address the significance of the work that the government has already achieved through the public housing renewal program and the careful consideration that has been given to the work currently underway.
The story of public housing renewal in Canberra and its significance to the community today is something we should celebrate and something we should continue to build on. The government established this unprecedented program in the last term—the largest renewal of public housing in the territory’s history. Both Labor and the Greens committed to the continuation of this program in the parliamentary agreement and the government is continuing to meet that commitment.
Unfortunately, the Canberra Liberals did not make this same commitment, and I am concerned by the lack of support for public housing in Mr Parton’s motion. For several years now, the ACT Liberals have failed to indicate any genuine support for Canberra’s social housing system. Going into the last election they refused to tell the community whether they would sell off stock or outsource public housing. All that we are sure of is that if they had terminated the contract for light rail, which they promised to do, they would also have terminated the public housing renewal program, the asset recycling initiative and the federal government funding which was tied to it.
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