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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2331 ..
MR WOOD (continuing):
The problem is that the government has been selling off units. On the minister's figures, we now have about 600 units fewer than we had two or three years ago. That is accommodation for a lot of people. Many of those units were for single people, but there were some one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. That reduction is keenly felt right at this minute, because there is an acute need for housing in this town.
Only at about 6 o'clock tonight, with the cooperation of the minister's office, did we find a spot for a woman who told us she has been sleeping in a car for some time with a seven-year-old child. I am sure the minister's office gets more than I do, but I get my share of people who just do not have a house or a place where they can bed down. I had a case last week of a mother who finally ran out of patience. There is an acute problem with housing. I could use the term "crisis", but I am being a bit cautious in the words I use. The problem has been exacerbated because the government has been selling off properties.
At Condamine Court, we used to have 214 units; we now have 70. At Macpherson Court there were 143 units; we are now going to have 15, and I think some community units. At Lachlan Court we had 119. They are all gone. At Burnie Court we had 264-I do not know whether they were all occupied-but we are going to finish up with 124. At Mawson Gardens 54 have gone. That is a deficit of nearly 600 at a time when we can ill afford it.
There is nothing much in the private rental market. The minister gave out some figures today. We have the lowest rental vacancy rate in Australia. Effectively, there are no rental properties available. There is a real problem with housing. I am sure all members experience cases similar to the ones I see.
What I am saying to you tonight, minister, is: give us the good news but balance it with the other side of the ledger. Tell us where the money is going to come from and how you are going to adjust to the current situation. How are people going to find housing, with a priority list that is stretching out? It might be better than in other states. The minister might stand up and tell me that we have a shorter priority list than anyone else. I am sure that if you are out in the rain tonight it will not mean much to you.
Come out with more detail. You made a reasonable start with the release of the ecumenical housing report, but give us a longer plan of where you want to go. I know you tried one or two years ago to interest the private sector in providing more housing for people. I think they came up with zilch. Maybe I am wrong, but they did not come up with very much-I can be sure of that. It is a difficult issue, I acknowledge, but let us hear your plans in that regard. Let us hear about ecumenical housing report No 2 or somebody else's report on where we are going in these difficult times. That is what I want to hear about.
MR SMYTH
(Minister for Urban Services) (10.01): Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is a pleasure to see you in the chair. It is great that the gentlemen have stood aside to give you this opportunity to control the house this evening. Much that has been spoken in the last hour or so about the Urban Services portfolio makes me believe that there might have been an attack of lycanthropy in the house tonight-a mythical turning of human beings into werewolves, or perhaps werewolves back into human beings. We
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