Page 1966 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017

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(2) further notes:

(a) that in relation to a recent FOI request by the Leader of the Opposition for information on sites for the public housing renewal program, the Government provided a heavily redacted response with very substantial portions of documentation blacked out;

(b) this response and this approach is contrary to the spirit of where the Government’s own legislation is heading and is a stark refutation of its own transparency principles; and

(c) this response is a compelling demonstration of a Government committed to a culture of secrecy and suppression of its public housing development intentions; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) provide this Assembly with details of all community facilities zoned land that is being considered for, or has been earmarked for development of public housing, by the end of this sitting week;

(b) explain why so much secrecy is necessary on issues of vital and enduring concern to the community; and

Can I start by assuring this Assembly, and indeed the wider ACT community, that we, the Canberra Liberals, are enormous supporters of public housing. As I have stated in this chamber on a number of occasions, including in my maiden speech, my very first residence was a state housing commission bonded asbestos house in Western Australia. I share the thoughts of the minister that we should all be proud to live in the jurisdiction that has the highest level of public housing per capita in the nation. As we see the housing affordability indicators continue to squeeze more and more families, it is my wish that this Assembly continue to do whatever it can to ensure that all Canberrans have the basic right of a roof over their head and the necessary support to lead fulfilling lives.

Although we seem to argue a bit in this place and in the wider communications space, although we seem to disagree vehemently on a number of things, the reality is that for the most part we agree on so many things within this space. This motion does not call upon the government to change any of its processes in regard to selection of sites for future public housing development. This motion is purely about transparency.

I would like to quote one of the nation’s contemporary political leaders, if I could:

We’ll be very clear on what is up for debate, so the people are in no doubt about what is open to change as a result of community feedback.

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