Page 3975 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 12 December 2006
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of the complexes that are either vacant or in shadow. We do have a relationship between the security guard system and the police, but we do not have any recognition for that at all. However, I had a look through Mrs Burke’s utterances before the last election and she actually says in there that these things are a community responsibility. There is nothing in there at all that says that it is the government’s responsibility. It is a community responsibility.
We, funnily enough, believe that we need to take as much care as we can to make sure that the tenants in our complexes have a high quality of life as best we can do it, and we provide the extra services. That is why public housing in some cases is more expensive than in the private sector, because the private sector do not go there.
Kimberley Gardens is a complex in our suburb—Mrs Burke lives in the same suburb as Kimberley Gardens, as do I—that is privately owned. They do not have security guards in there. I have been associated with this particular complex since the nineties and from time to time there are undesirable elements in that complex. Do we see security guards there? No, we don’t, because the private sector do not accept any responsibility for that; they just believe that it is a police responsibility.
With respect to Kanangra Court, I think the opposition should be saying to the government, “Good on you for putting that extra layer of safety and security into those particular areas.” I do not see any alternative being offered by the opposition. In relation to compensation, I have not got the faintest idea what Mrs Burke is talking about.
MR SPEAKER: Do you have a supplementary question, Mrs Burke?
MRS BURKE: Yes, thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you, minister, for that buck-passing answer. As the landlord to public housing tenants and not the private sector, what are you doing to ensure your tenants abide by their tenancy agreements?
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, I do not see the relevance between that question and the safety question with Kanangra Court.
Housing—Abbeyfield disAbility House
MS MacDONALD: My question is to the Chief Minister. Can the minister tell the Assembly about the government’s support for Abbeyfield disAbility House, which opened in Curtin last month?
MR STANHOPE: I was very pleased to be part of the official opening of the last Abbeyfield House in Canberra on November 29. I am also very pleased that the ACT government has been able to support such a fantastic and innovative project. I say that on a number of fronts. As I am sure members know, Abbeyfield is a worldwide non-profit organisation that works to create supported accommodation in the form of group houses. These are aimed mainly at older members of the community on low incomes, who are at some risk of social isolation.
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