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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2453 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

It also took place when the Labor Party was in office. The practice of selling houses has not changed. Whenever a house is declared either uneconomic to maintain or surplus to requirements, a valuation - - -

Ms Reilly: There are an awful lot more of them being sold.

MR STEFANIAK: Listen to this. I will say it for about the sixth time for you, Ms Reilly. A valuation is obtained from the Australian Valuation Office before the property is disposed of. In the last financial year we sold over 200 houses. In fact, instead of losing $3.5m on valuation, we were $66,000 above the valuation of those properties. For the record, over $26m was realised from the sale of those properties - money that is poured back into housing; money that is poured back into new and more appropriate accommodation for our tenants.

Mr Berry: Would you sell your own house right now? Of course you would not.

Ms Reilly: Would you sell it for $20,000 less than you paid?

MR STEFANIAK: Shut up, Ms Reilly. You, especially, need to listen. She has relied on 1994 valuations to make her outrageous claim. Of course property values have dropped over the past three years; you do not have to be blind Freddy to realise that. But that should not mean that we should stop selling unsuitable real estate. For Ms Reilly's benefit, we have a buying program as well; so there are swings and roundabouts in all of this. As you know, all the income derived from the sales must, under the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, be reinvested in housing. This has occurred. Sales revenues this year will be about $19m; again, it will be reinvested in capital works, to buy new homes, to build homes or to undertake major renovations.

I heard an interjection from the new Leader of the Opposition about timing. Mr Berry, it does not really matter when we sell - whether the market is up or down - because we also buy in that market. What we might lose in one area we make up in the other. It is all about swings and roundabouts, and anyone with any knowledge of the market knows this. Unfortunately, Ms Reilly does not. Mr Berry - and one can understand this as he is a very solid member of the Labor Left - does not understand either.

Your next comment, Mr Hird, was about $10.4m in Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement moneys having been handed back to the Commonwealth and another $5.4m to be handed back. It is true, Mr Speaker, that a total of $10.4m has not been taken up because of the need to make a contribution to fill the Beazley black hole. To offset this reduction in funding, we have transferred $5m from the housing loan operation to the capital works program. This largely offsets the loss of Commonwealth money and has meant that the level of activity has been able to be maintained. In addition, thanks to the very capable negotiating skills of the Chief Minister at the Premiers Conference earlier this year, we were able to claw back $5.4m from the ACT's contribution to your party's mismanagement of the Australian economy, Ms Reilly. God save us all if you get your hands on the piggy bank again.

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