Page 1353 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 5 April 2005
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also the very significant financial investment that has been afforded by the department, and which I have spoken about.
The government in the 2004-05 budget papers highlighted many strategic and operational issues it would be pursuing. I will not go through those now, but we have seen some good things coming out of that. But, sadly, I have to say that we are a long way from achieving a lot of those goals, and I am sure the minister and his department’s senior staff are aware of that. Change seems to take forever with this government. Change has to occur now—decisions made now would better service the community—rather than waiting for a crisis to be fully realised. The challenge for many people is the very fact of change. This requires high-level leadership and a robust transition plan, driven by the minister.
Some changes required could cover such issues as the implementation of a sound and responsive drugs strategy and a longer-term commitment to adjusting the relevant legislation to reflect the perceived needs of the community. The government has done some good things with the legislation recently, and I applaud them for that. An example would be amendments to take the issue of eviction to another level whereby the Residential Tenancies Tribunal will have increased responsibility. We need to ensure that tenants who breach their tenancy agreements are held responsible and made accountable for their actions. This process should not be solely a mechanism for managing tenancies but, rather, an approach that protects tenants, ensuring they are fully aware of their rights and responsibilities.
It must be appreciated that, whatever public housing tenants currently endure—whether it is drugs, crime, physical and/or verbal abuse affecting personal safety and security—inevitably this has a detrimental impact upon the broader community. Our public housing tenants deserve better. Indeed, all members of the community deserve better. All members of the community deserve a quality of life free from crime, violence and drugs in and around their own home.
ACT Housing also has to face up to the challenge of balancing the needs of its tenants—be they maintenance, social disturbances or neighbourhood disputes—with working towards reducing the number of applicants on waiting and transfer lists and must aim to offer the optimal number of the right kinds of dwellings, that is in size, construction and flexibility of properties, that can be sustained within the realms of realistic budgetary limitations imposed on Housing ACT by the ACT government.
I further call on this government to instigate a committee inquiry into the state of public housing, and more so the operational side of the department that delivers services to ACT public housing tenants. Via the committee process we must look at such options as facilitating and supporting Housing ACT facility-based tenant committees, who do great work, and corporate bodies or similar alternatives, in the provision and management of remedial programs that prevent antisocial behaviour. We need to do more along those lines. Again, some things are being done, but we can always do more and better.
Another option is further allocation of funding for the provision of high-level, ongoing support to housing managers that will provide them with the professional training and management support they deserve while expanding their roles to provide tenants with timely and accurate frontline case management assistance and advice. There are many
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