Page 1771 - Week 05 - Thursday, 2 April 2009
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the needs of the most vulnerable members of our community. By supporting this motion the Greens and the Liberals have a chance to get on board and support the way forward on social housing.
Let me signal that the government will be supporting all of the amendments proposed by the Greens without demur, except for the bit where I did demur. What is significant is that we have an opportunity for all elements of the parliament to join with the executive and grab this opportunity that the Rudd government have delivered to us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, in my view. It will probably never happen again in my lifetime, or even in my political lifetime. It is an opportunity for us to say, “When someone throws $100 million at us and we can really do something about homelessness, we ought to grab it with both hands,” All three sectors of this parliament should work together.
If we wish to make political issues, I implore the Assembly to make political capital out of another issue. Let us not make political capital out of something as horrible as homelessness. I would hope in my heart that what we share is a need to do something about it. As you would know, we look at the root causes of homelessness. When we move people out of what we see as homelessness, either because of domestic violence or because of financial circumstances, there are usually a number of other underlying issues, and we bring together a package. But the package is then delivered around a foundation, and that foundation is the bricks and mortar of a property. That often limits what we can do for homelessness in the ACT.
I have always been a big believer that the provision of bricks and mortar will not solve the homelessness issue because it does not address the issues which caused a person to become homeless in the first place. It also does not necessarily give people a long-lasting solution or series of solutions to their problems, but it does give them a sanctuary and a safe place from which they can springboard into a better life.
It is a bit of a catch-22. We cannot cure homelessness if we do not address the root cause, and we cannot address the root cause if we have not got somewhere safe for people to go. So what we are saying with respect to the stimulus package is: thank you very much. Thanks very much to Tanya Plibersek for the advocacy that she put into where the stimulus would go, so that we can address the homelessness issue for the ACT. It is not as bad as in other jurisdictions, but one homeless person is one too many in this town.
The other thing with the stimulus package is that it provides some insurance against the wave of the GFC in the construction industry. We have a very healthy construction industry and I think we can ride this crisis out. But having $100 million that is able to be ploughed into the residential sector of the ACT in one hit is an absolutely beautiful piece of insurance.
I commend the motion to members and again indicate the government’s support for the amendments to be moved by the Greens.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (11.32), by leave: I move:
(1) Omit paragraph (2), substitute:
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