Page 5436 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 November 2010

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access to public or community housing, we are ensuring that Canberrans have greater options when it comes to housing.

MR COE: Supplementary, Mr Speaker?

MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Coe.

MR COE: Minister, given that both the sale to tenants scheme and the shared equity scheme are based on agreed value, what strategy do you have in place to still encourage tenants of the ACT to invest in their home, to take pride in it and to hopefully do renovations but not to actually incur an extreme additional increase in the cost of the actual home when it comes to the shared equity or the sale to tenants schemes?

MS BURCH: The shared equity scheme is a very promising scheme and, by the numbers that I have just said, is very popular amongst tenants. Those are tenants that live in a property for a number of years and do take pride in their home. We encourage all our tenants to take pride in their property. It helps us in our asset management and certainly helps them to move from a house to creating a home.

As to equity that tenants put in through renovations or property improvements, where they are tangible and where they can be considered and quantified through either a sale to tenant program or a shared equity program, that is all put into the mix as negotiations go through.

As I said, with the shared equity program, there are three points of payment: the upfront payment and then at five and 15 years. The guidelines for the program are clearly outlined and are publicly available and anyone who has an interest in purchasing a property through that is walked through the step by step processes and obligations and responsibilities that they would have.

Disability services—providers

MS BRESNAN: My question is to the minister for disability and is about disability service providers. Minister, in the last sitting week I asked you what the government did to engage with service providers when concerns were being raised.

MR SPEAKER: Order, members! There are a lot of conversations happening in the chamber. It is hard to hear Ms Bresnan. Ms Bresnan, could you start your question again?

MS BRESNAN: Yes, I will start again. Minister, in the last sitting week I asked you what the government did to engage with service providers when concerns were being raised. You replied that the department actively investigates any concerns that come to its attention. Minister, beyond “active investigation”, how is a service provider held to account if concerns about a service are found to be true?

MS BURCH: Without having a detailed incident or exercise in front of me, I cannot give specifics, other than to say that we take very seriously the quality of care


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