Page 1510 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
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incorrect change to the Territory Plan to enable the government to build large public housing tenancies, residential buildings, on the community’s land. That is what has happened.
I make the point that this is all about the money. This is not about the best interests of public housing tenants. It is all about the money. At this stage I refer to some correspondence that has been provided from the Greens relating to this. The Greens have provided to their constituents in response to this issue a rather long piece. I will quote from it. This is from Ms Le Couteur. It states:
We support the traditional salt and pepper placement of small numbers of public housing throughout Canberra.
As we all do, Madam Speaker; as we all do, including residents from Chapman, from Holder, from Wright and from Mawson. It goes on:
The time pressures to get people out of the ageing and substandard housing on Northbourne Avenue and other sites have necessitated some larger developments being considered.
There are a number of points to what Ms Le Couteur is saying here. Firstly, she supports salt and pepper. That is the way to go. We all agree with that. She is then acknowledging in her correspondence to constituents that what is being proposed by the government is not salt and pepper. It is not what we all support. It is something entirely different.
She also makes the point that there are time pressures. The time pressures are not about trying to get people into better accommodation. People in Northbourne flats have been there for decades. This government has been in power now for 16 years, as they often remind us. The time pressure Ms Le Couteur is talking about relates to asset recycling. It is about getting money from the commonwealth government to fund light rail. That is the only time pressure.
In Ms Le Couteur’s own words, on these sites we will be proceeding with something that she does not support. This is not salt and pepper. These are inappropriate complexes. We have heard from Minister Rattenbury and Minister Berry before that we should not have complexes of these sizes. We are doing it on community zoned land because that is cheaper and easier for the government. But it is the wrong solution not only for the tenants but also for the community.
This lecturing that we hear that this is somehow all about public housing tenants and that the community are being ungracious and unwelcoming is not true. That is just smearing the very good people, the hundreds of very good people, that have signed those petitions. Ms Le Couteur says that we do not want these bigger complexes of 30 units. Mr Rattenbury is also on the record saying that 12 to 15 units is as big as you want to go. This is not salt and pepper.
The location is also very questionable on each of the sites that have been considered. Not only is the Chief Minister taking away the community’s land and taking people
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