Page 474 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 May 1992
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Mr Lamont: Table the cover sheet.
MR KAINE: I do not have a cover sheet. It is not on my copy.
AINSLIE VILLAGE
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MADAM SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Mr Cornwell proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
The need for an independent inquiry into the operation of Ainslie Village Limited.
MR CORNWELL (3.22): Madam Speaker, in introducing this matter of public importance - "the need for an independent inquiry into the operation of Ainslie Village Limited" - I think it is germane to provide some very relevant background information. Ainslie Village accommodates about 300 people. It receives quite substantial funding. In 1990-91 it had operating revenue totalling $1.5m, including more than $868,000 in government subsidies and grants. My source for that information is the directors report and financial statement 1990-91 of Ainslie Village Ltd.
Most of the government subsidies and grants, Madam Speaker, come through the supported accommodation assistance program, or SAAP; but there is also some funding from our own ACT Housing Trust, and in 1990-91 that was about $26,000. Further, upwards of about $10m, according to a correspondent in the Canberra Times yesterday, or $8.8m, according to another source - take your choice - has been spent over the years by ACT administrations upon capital works at Ainslie Village. Whether it is upward of $10m or $8.8m, I think we all agree that it is a considerable amount of money.
Thus, because of the involvement of the ACT Housing Trust and the money spent by successive ACT administrations over the years, the operations of Ainslie Village can, and indeed should, properly be a matter for this Assembly. However, due to a quite extraordinary arrangement some years ago, Ainslie Village is run by a limited company which holds a lease terminating on 4 May 2000, with an option for another 10 years.
There is nothing wrong with this, Madam Speaker, except that the result of this arrangement is that Assembly members appear to be prevented from asking questions of this Government concerning Ainslie Village Ltd. This was a situation that I encountered recently when, on 7 April, I asked two questions, No. 24 and No. 25, of the Minister for Housing and Community Services, Mr Connolly. This is, indeed, an extraordinary situation, let me repeat, where a substantial and valuable property has been handed over, according to the lease, for 5c a year if demanded - - -
Mr Connolly: You would have got an answer.
MR CORNWELL: You will have your chance. It has been handed over to a company looking after people who have nowhere else to live and many of whom have a variety of social problems. It could be argued, Madam Speaker, that what I have so far outlined in relation to Ainslie Village's operations and reasons for
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