Page 897 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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Madam Speaker, this motion is not just about buying a house. This motion is about housing affordability, about reducing homelessness and housing stress. Canberra has the lowest public waitlist of all jurisdictions as a proportion of total stock. We are triple the national rate of residents receiving accommodation support services. This is worth noting but, of course, there is work to be done. We will continue to prioritise the 1,700 Canberrans sleeping rough, couch surfing or staying in supported accommodation. That is why this year the ACT government will release 530 sites for public housing, community housing, affordable home purchase and land rent.
The supply of housing and the market that surrounds it is incredible complex. The countless government initiatives, tax settings, land release time lines and population projections make for a variable market. We in this government, with our core values, are determined to make sure that all Canberrans have somewhere to call home.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Adjournment
Motion (by Mr Gentleman) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Harmony Day
MRS KIKKERT (Ginninderra) (6.29): I wish to take the opportunity this Harmony Day to acknowledge a special group of people who work tirelessly to help establish harmony in our Canberra community. These are the leaders and others who donate thousands of hours to the more than 70 multicultural community organisations that operate here in Canberra.
Last week I had the opportunity to host 50 of these multicultural community leaders at a reception held here at the Assembly, in the lead-up to Harmony Day. I took the opportunity to thank those who could attend for all that they do, but this afternoon I wish to repeat some of my expressions of gratitude.
I have some sense of the hundreds of meetings that these community leaders and other volunteers attend in order to plan, prepare for and organise events for their communities and often for the wider community. All of this work, of course, is followed by the events themselves. And this does not even touch on the many hours these multicultural leaders spend providing support to individual members and families in their communities.
Harmony Day is a day to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, based on the successful integration of migrants into our community. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. I know from personal experience that much of the success and vibrancy of our multicultural society is a consequence of the hard work and dedication of the community leaders and other volunteers who carry our active multicultural organisations upon their shoulders.
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