Page 1365 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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We have also been working very hard in the area of public housing to meet the needs of the broad range of people that think of public housing as their home. We are providing a range of tenancy options for young people and have set up a youth housing program. This includes working with NGOs to establish supportive stairwell models where young people can live together with support and are able to return to education and training and, ultimately, employment. Officers from the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services have already visited the Winteringham model in Melbourne for vulnerable older people who have experienced homelessness and have scheduled discussion about how to establish this model in the ACT.
The ACT’s approach of pepper-and-salting public housing so that it is distributed throughout the community is the embodiment of the achievement of mixed communities. In addition, the joint venture redevelopments of our multi-unit sites have already created mixed communities of public and community housing, aged accommodation and private residential accommodation.
Members will be aware of the ACT government’s climate change strategy in which it committed significant funds to make public housing more energy efficient in advance of the nation building and jobs program. We have provided a 10-year program to improve the energy and water efficiency of our stock. This work has reached the stage where we are already starting to roll out the work scheduled for the 2009-10 financial year. We will achieve a six-star energy rating where possible and will design homes on universal housing design principles.
We are already talking about these matters to the people who will be building the homes under the nation building and jobs program. We do not have the energy efficiency expertise in-house, which some people seem to think we do. We contract out to consultancies to tell us how to deliver efficiency in our building program. I will say that again: we contract it out to consulting companies to tell us how to do it. So we do not need another expert group because we are already doing that with an expert group.
The motion asked that we conduct a consultation forum to provide further advice on the commissioning and construction of affordable, energy efficient, low emission housing. And we would be happy to, subject to clause (2) of the motion, which now reads:
(2) recognises that the Nation Building and Jobs Plan must meet the requirements of and be delivered within the timeframes set by the Commonwealth.
We must be absolutely clear that the federal government has established the ground rules. The stimulus package has specific requirements regarding energy efficiency components to ensure this. There are deadlines, rules, targets, all set by the federal government, which we are bound to comply with. And we need to move quickly. We have to be absolutely sure that we establish a consultative process that is going to allow us to move quickly, given the commonwealth requirements in relation to achieving a six-star rating. This work will need to be delivered by engaging
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