Page 2516 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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MRS BURKE: Good. I await the minister’s explanation of where all this funding has been expended and what taxpayers have seen for their money. It was like playing the pea in the cup: now you see it; now you do not. There was $30 million, and it kept being re-announced. People were fooled out there for one moment, for some of the time. Mr Hargreaves did fool some of the people for some of the time, but not all of the people for all of the time. No doubt Mr Hargreaves will once again play with the numbers.
It continues to be of concern to many in the community that there are still empty properties around Canberra. The minister does acknowledge this fact. The delays in getting those properties back online should be fixed even more expeditiously. In the case of the multi-unit complexes that have been decommissioned, it is high time that we saw some action, particularly with the Fraser Court and Currong apartment sites.
The upgrading of our rapidly ageing stock is another concern. There does not appear to be a great deal of money targeted for overall capital improvements to Canberra’s ageing housing stock. I note that there was money spent to upgrade new firescreen doors and so forth.
I was thinking, “Will I have enough to speak on tonight?” I do not see that there has been an awful lot of activity in terms of the public housing sector itself. In fact, I think the minister is being fairly quiet. He has just popped his head up every now and again when I have taken problems to him or when the shadow Treasurer has.
One area that I will continue to monitor is the Narrabundah Long Stay Caravan Park. Budget paper No 4 has committed $600,000 to upgrade infrastructure, with a focus on electrical and fire safety at the park. I am wondering if these works have now been completed. I also await with interest an update from the Chief Minister on this matter. I hope that, unlike the situation that we had some months ago, the residents are now being kept fully in the picture about the situation.
I note with some curiosity that apparently $20 million has recently been earmarked for the retrofitting of public housing to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions. Whilst the announcement is welcome, it is of concern that the minister will not be seeking any action on this project until early 2008, and then it will be to spend $1 million on audits. The expenditure of $2 million a year over the next four years is questionable too. What will this actually provide for? What is it going to purchase? Isn’t this just some knee-jerk announcement to try and pretend that the government are doing something to keep the Greens happy? I would also have to ask: how can any money be allocated for works when the audits have not even been conducted?
Finally, let me say that we welcome the increased funding for tenant advisory services, although there appears to be no indexation built into this funding, unlike other community service funding agreements. It is hoped that the voices of tenants will be genuinely listened to. We have seen joint champions and forums. I have gone through all those things before. There was the much hailed minister’s housing forum. I know that a lot of tenants spent a lot of time there, really enjoying the sessions and input into it—only to find out that some of the information they put in was cut out and it was not explained why that happened. If we are going to listen to people, let us make sure we do.
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