Page 1359 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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This motion I bring forward today is about adding value. Our intent is to ensure the ACT draws on the best—
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Sorry, Ms Bresnan, one moment. Members, I invite you to continue discussion in the corridor if you need to. Ms Bresnan you have the floor.
MS BRESNAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will start again. This motion is about adding value. Our intent is to ensure the ACT government draws on the best available local skills in making the significant social housing investment that the commonwealth government is funding. We have been well briefed by the government on the project to date and are confident that the initiatives we are trying to kick off here will add value to that project, both in terms of the quality and design of the resulting dwellings and in the purposes to which they will be put.
We are asking the government to set up an expert reference group to assist in getting the best-performing buildings possible. We are also asking that it convene a consultative forum consisting of the Canberra community housing providers and those key agencies that work or advocate for residents in the community so that the identification of appropriate projects will be well informed and subsequent tenanting and management can expect long-term success.
Recognising the complexity of this commonwealth-state agreement and the undeniable fact that a certain proportion of the details relating to commonwealth expectations have not yet been sorted through, members are aware that I am happy to amend this motion to add a new clause which reads:
That the Assembly recognises that the Nation Building and Jobs Plan must meet the requirements of and be delivered within the time-frame set by the Commonwealth.
I think it is important that the ACT government takes on the responsibility to work with local experts to ensure the best performing and most affordable dwellings are designed and built through this project and takes a partnership approach to deciding on the housing projects themselves.
I think it is fair to say that this support will make a bigger contribution to stage 2 of this massive housing project, given the deadline for stage 1 applications has already passed. And while there is no doubt that there is experience and expertise in the ACT that could assist in the construction process at a later stage, without a doubt the best contribution from the proposed expert reference group will come at the front end of this project. Similarly, while community sector input will be continuously useful and the benefits to the community housing providers themselves through expansion and capacity building will be ongoing, the forum will make a particularly valuable contribution at the planning stage. Given the commonwealth’s deadline for the expected competitive tender for stage 2 of this project is the end of this financial year, the urgency for this motion then is obvious.
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