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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (2 April) . . Page.. 1259 ..
Offensive words
MR SPEAKER: Members, during question time, Mr Stefaniak raised a point of order in relation to personal reflections or improper motives. I refer members to page 490 of House of Representatives Practice, and in particular some comments by Senator Wood, who was Acting Deputy President of the Senate in 1955. It says:
... in my interpretation of standing order 418 ... offensive words must be offensive in the true meaning of that word. When a man is in political life it is not offensive that things are said about him politically. Offensive means offensive in some personal way. The same view applies to the meaning of "improper motives"and "personal reflections"as used in the standing order. Here again, when a man is in public life and a member of this Parliament, he takes upon himself the risk of being criticised in a political way.
I will take guidance from that ruling. Although things are not black and white in any sense of the word, I think that is a useful guide.
Public and community housing
MR HARGREAVES (4.10): I move:
That the Assembly:
(1) notes the high levels of demand for public and community housing in the Tuggeranong area;
(2) supports moves by the Government to ensure that more public and community housing is available in Tuggeranong; and
(3) in particular, welcomes the Government's commitment to regularly update and turn over the housing stock to meet the changing needs of the community.
I rise to speak about the high levels of demand for public and community housing in the Tuggeranong area. Members may be aware that people on the waiting list for ACT Housing properties in Tuggeranong number over 1,100. About 25 per cent of them are in the priority allocation categories. My office receives a steady flow of constituents seeking assistance with acquiring an ACT Housing property in Tuggeranong, many of them seeking priority housing status.
The community housing sector is very small in Tuggeranong-across the ACT, for that matter-but it is growing. In the past few years the number of community housing dwellings across the ACT has increased fourfold. I am very keen to see Tuggeranong benefit from these increases.
I will now talk about moves by the government to ensure that more public and community housing is available in Tuggeranong. Since Labor came into office in November 2001, ACT Housing has acquired a further 71 properties in the Tuggeranong area and have another 10 in the pipeline.
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