Page 3672 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 27 October 2015
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It is something that I believe the government just cannot do. Indeed, it would be justly criticised by others in the community. It has been clear that there is not a perfect outcome to suit everyone on this issue. It certainly has been a difficult issue for me given the challenges of finding the right balance between giving each of the affected home owners what they want and finding a scheme that is equitable and affordable for the entire community.
I know that each and every member in this place wants to limit the costs of the scheme on the community. They also want to reduce the impacts on individual home owners. There is, of course, a tension between these two things. It is now established that the scheme is going to cost the ACT government in the order of $400 million net after the various revenues are recouped from this scheme.
I know there is a range of views in the community. I have certainly met many people and I have met the full spectrum of opinions from those people who have moved very quickly, who are grateful for the support that they have received and who have been able to re-establish their lives already or who are in the process of doing so. I have also met others who feel that the scheme could be better constructed. They feel that it has not met their needs in the way that they might have hoped for.
I find this a very difficult balance but I think that overall the task force has given this a great deal of thought. They have considered it very carefully and worked very hard to construct a scheme that is, as I said, as equitable as possible for everybody in the community: those who are affected by the Mr Fluffy scheme and everybody else in the community who is helping to pay for addressing the problems that they have inadvertently, innocently, been caught up in.
I will be supporting the legislation today. I think it seeks to strike the best possible balance between all of the interests we have in the community. The government will and must continue to support people affected by the Mr Fluffy scheme as best we can.
Visitors
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: I would like to welcome the Amaroo Scout Group to the Assembly and acknowledge their leader, Brent Juratowitch.
Building (Loose-fill Asbestos Eradication) Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
Debate resumed.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Urban Renewal and Minister for Tourism and Events) (5.42), in reply: I thank the Leader of the Opposition, Ms Fitzharris and Minister Rattenbury for their contributions to the debate this afternoon and acknowledge that there is, as previous speakers have identified, a range of very complex and challenging policy issues before the Assembly. In fact, the entire Mr Fluffy loose-fill asbestos insulation legacy is complex and challenging and
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