Page 1817 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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MS BERRY: I thank Ms Le Couteur for the question. Yes, there has been some work recently on tenants in the ACT and on people experiencing homelessness and seeking support, and around the different needs of different cohorts in our community. These were some of the issues raised during the housing summit, which I understand Ms Le Couteur and Mr Parton attended, about the different kinds of cohorts in the ACT that were experiencing homelessness and whether there were supports appropriate for their specific needs. I will check on the report and whether it will be released soon.
MS LE COUTEUR: How will the results and recommendations of this study be fed into the review of the future of Ainslie Village or, in fact, any other housing premises?
MS BERRY: This review has already fed into the work that the ACT government is doing right now into meeting the needs of different cohorts across the community, particularly with our renewal program and future work with Housing ACT.
MR PARTON: Minister, why do you continue to assert that homelessness is declining in the ACT when all the front-line service providers indicate that the number of rough sleepers is on the increase?
MS BERRY: There are two different definitions there that Mr Parton has referred to. Rough sleeping has increased slightly in the ACT but all the figures we look to for the ACT around homelessness show that homelessness figures in the ACT have dropped compared to a national rise. Those are two different data sets that Mr Parton is referring to.
ACTION bus service—new network
MISS C BURCH: My question is to the Minister for Transport. I refer to a piece of correspondence that the Canberra Liberals received last week from a constituent living in Weston Creek regarding the new bus network. The constituent, who has mobility issues, expressed her frustration about how the new network has severely limited her ability to access regular doctors appointments in Woden. The trip planner suggests that the quickest and most direct route would require her to cross the Oakey Hill Nature Reserve, a trip that she is physically unable to make. Her story is one of hundreds that we have received from across the territory from elderly and mobility-impaired Canberrans. Minister, why are the new bus network changes further isolating and discriminating against the elderly, mobility-impaired and disabled in our community?
MS FITZHARRIS: I do not believe that it is.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, what have you done to ensure that the new bus network is human rights compliant?
MS FITZHARRIS: I will take advice on answering that question.
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