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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 11 Hansard (29 November) . . Page.. 3377 ..
MR MOORE (continuing):
Canberra Hospital. That was facilitated by the Department of Health, Housing and Community Care to ensure that we were able to resolve that.
Mr Stanhope, I will take particular care to look at those waiting lists and make sure that the information is accurate. I will ensure, before we table them, that no person who is still waiting is lost off those lists because they have been shuffled from one spot to another.
MR QUINLAN: My question is to the Minister for Business, Tourism and the Arts. The Waldorf Apartments were given concessional treatment based on the policy of bringing people to reside in Civic. I recently stayed at the Waldorf Apartments as part of a CPA conference. I do not know who else has stayed there. It looks very much like it operates as a hotel. Do you know how many permanent residents now live there? Was there any agreement or control to ensure that the taxpayers revenue forgone has achieved its stated aims of bringing people to live in Civic?
MS CARNELL: I don't know exactly how many people live there but the basis of the Waldorf is strata title. Individual people own individual units. Then they make a decision on whether they live there or whether they allow the unit to be let out, either on a long-term basis or a short-term basis.
The ACT government's policy, without doubt, has worked. Remember what it used to look like over the other side of the street? We had empty third-rate office buildings. We now have a very good facility available for both long-term and short-term residents, an area that looks absolutely great in comparison to the old pre-refurbishment days. The new youth hostel is absolutely wonderful. It brings life back into the Civic area. People have a right to decide on whether they live in their units or they rent them.
MR QUINLAN: I ask a supplementary question. As an aside, I might say that the developments sent a couple of sound businesses broke because of lack of control. Will you confirm that you had no agreement as to the number of permanent residents and that we have set up virtually a discount hotel?
MS CARNELL: I am absolutely fascinated that the Labor Party would contemplate a requirement that people undertake to live in a unit they buy. Surely people who buy units have a right to decide how they use them. I find any approach that dictates what people do with their own properties absolutely amazing. If those opposite think untenanted third-rate office space is better than the Waldorf, heaven help us if they ever get into government.
MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, I seek your indulgence. After having looked at the Administrative Arrangements, I am not too sure to whom I should address this question, the Treasurer or the Minister for Urban Services. I will take a punt and address it to the Treasurer. He can pass it on to the Minister for Urban Services if he has to.
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