Page 3193 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 20 August 2019
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I was going to say that it is great to see that Minister Berry is proud, and rightly proud, of the housing strategy. I think she is. I am disappointed that she is not here to hear the discussion about this. The development of the housing strategy was one of the parliamentary agreement items. The significant funding for new social housing is much needed, and it is great to see it in the budget.
I do have some concerns about the housing strategy. They may be misplaced, but in conclusion I would like to draw the Assembly’s attention to the responses I received to a number of questions on notice that I asked regarding the oversight of the strategy. First, I asked if consideration had been given to a cross-sector advisory group to maintain stakeholder dialogue, leverage expertise as required, and generate new ideas to ensure that the housing strategy is a living document. I note that a number of stakeholders have suggested to me that that would be valuable. In response, Minister Berry noted:
Consideration is being given to the role and capacity that the Affordable Housing Consultative Group, which was established to assist in the development of the strategy, may have in the implementation phase.
It is not a confidence-inducing response. In response to a question about what reporting there will be on the housing strategy’s progress, the answer was:
A report, detailing the first year of the strategy, is to be prepared for government later this year. The inter-directorate Affordable Housing Consultative Group will provide input.
I would have hoped that that response would have involved the word “public” and, maybe even better, “regular”. Maybe I need to ask a question on notice about how often these will occur, what will happen and who the inter-directorate group is. Finally, I asked if an external review of the strategy is planned, and, if so, when it will take place. Apparently, “given that the strategy is in its early stages, no review is currently planned”.
These responses are underwhelming. I appreciate that the government is doing a lot of good work on the housing and homelessness front, but more needs to be done. I hope that things can be dealt with in a more cohesive, integrated and compassionate way as the housing strategy continues to be implemented.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (4.20): Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this section of the budget. We are falling like flies on this side but the tough ones remain, although I am a bit worried about Mr Milligan, because he sounds like he is going down fast.
The social housing services output budget will cost our community around $206 million, with a controlled recurrent payment of $51.3 million. I do not begrudge the social housing sector an adequate budget—nobody would—and I hope this meets the expectations of our community. Those in our community who pay a growing level of taxes and levies that sustain our social housing services would expect an assurance that funds are utilised efficiently and effectively to get the biggest bang for our buck,
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