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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2136 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I want to stress once again that housing is a fundamental part of the community's rights. It is the right of the community to have access to appropriate housing. It is very concerning for the community as a whole to see this given a lower priority than we have seen in the past. Answers to questions on notice confirm that we do not have definite information from which to draw an accurate and comprehensive picture of homelessness in the ACT. I would like to see more attention devoted to this issue. The anecdotal reports about a growing demand for crisis accommodation certainly concern me greatly. I am still concerned that the Government has not explained why Kick Start is not about assisting government housing tenants to purchase homes.

I am very concerned about maintenance. Despite the small amount of extra money going into maintenance, there is an enormous backlog in ACT public housing. I was not happy with the answers I got on that issue in the Estimates Committee. I am pleased that the Government has agreed with a recommendation of the Estimates Committee to provide more detail on the housing capital works budget. I think this is going to be an area that we will need to pay very close attention to. I am glad to see Ms Reilly continuing to object to what is occurring in this area. I also will be watching closely what is happening, because I believe that government has a responsibility to ensure that people are appropriately housed. It is like public education, really. It has been one of those things that Australians expect. They do not expect it to be user pays. They do not expect it to be not available when it is needed. There are very worrying signs in Australia now - not just in the ACT - that these things are being eroded. I hope that we will see an electoral backlash at the next elections, federally and locally, if we do not see a greater priority given to this very critical area of responsibility for government.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Training and Minister for Housing and Family Services) (6.18): Mr Speaker, I note that Ms Reilly actually commented on the Government's response to recommendation 10, in relation to the capital works budget for housing going to the Planning and Environment Committee in the same format as the capital works budgets for all other agencies. We agreed with that recommendation. We see sense in that. So, I am glad that you mentioned that, Ms Reilly. More so perhaps than others, this Government, along with its coalition colleagues in the States and the Northern Territory, has reaffirmed its commitment to public housing.

Ms Tucker, I think, if you had read anything coming out of the recent Housing Ministers meeting, you would have noted that this Government is certainly not prepared to sign up to any agreement that might disenfranchise about 30 per cent of people on our waiting list. That might be okay for a couple of the other States, who were prepared to go along that track, but not for us. So, a lot more work needs to be done in terms of that agreement. I think all the steps we have taken, certainly since we have been in government, in relation to the big-picture stuff - model B seems to be pretty well dead in the water now - and in relation to getting a new Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement have been taken with the very best interests of our tenants at heart.

We have made our position on that quite clear. There is no way that I am, as Minister, or this Government is, going to sign up to anything that has the potential to disenfranchise a significant number of people who are on our waiting list and who have a justifiable expectation to get into public housing. I make that point. So, I do not think you should

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