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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 5 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1617 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

is working at it. There is a very good community at Currong. Members have probably been invited to a theatrical event there and witnessed the community working together. I have seen Mr Stefaniak there more than once.

ACT Housing puts a lot of effort and lots of resources into encouraging that sort of community development. That is actually the best way of doing it. When it comes to criminal matters, the advice is that they are problems for us, but they are primarily police matters. There have been a number of times when tenants have been, as Mrs Burke says, a bit coy about contacting police, and there have been quite a number of times over the years when I, whether in opposition or in government, have simply made a phone call or two to the police and said, "Look, I'm getting strong information about this particular place. Would you keep it under observation as you carry out your intelligence."That is the proper place to go when crime is involved.

From time to time, we take tenants through the necessary legal process to remove them from their tenancy when they create real problems. Other ministers will know that such cases are not easily won. Cases have been fought through and it is not always easy to win them, but we do go through that process. The ultimate sanction is to remove people from their flats on behaviour grounds. That option is always there and we can follow such a course.

I think that the best means of looking after a complex is to have the community working together. The second best is the one that Mrs Burke started with, which is putting resources into it. We are putting extensive resources into making these places better, a lot of money into making places better, so that people are proud to live there and, with that community aspect as well, they have community ownership. As Mrs Burke and I work together on this subject, I think that we should start to introduce her to some more of these fine tenants so the stereotyping and the sweeping statements do not continue.

Let me make a point about something else that was raised. Mrs Burke said that there were three specialist housing managers away on stress leave-another sweeping statement. I do not know where it came from. I can say that the advice I had instantly was that three were away at one stage, two actually on recreation leave, which is what happens from time to time, and one on sick leave. But there was no indication of stress. The absence was not on stress leave; it was sick on leave. With another sweeping statement, she is now casting aspersions on our fine specialist housing managers.

Caution is needed. I am not sure that our specialist housing managers would appreciate that sort of comment being made. There are only five of them, so we know who they are. When it comes to people, you have to be extraordinarily careful in what you say. Statements like that in the Assembly can be heard by people in government offices around the place who bother to listen or care to listen to the broadcast of these proceedings. Bear in mind the capacity for this debate to be heard widely. Let me make a correction in that regard, because people may have been offended. There were not three housing managers on stress leave. I will apologise to them.

Mrs Burke: I didn't mention housing managers. They were your words, not mine. I don't know where you got them from.

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