Page 1511 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
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away from the Northbourne corridor—I note where Mr Rattenbury owns three properties and Ms Fitzharris owns a property—he is also putting people out into large complexes where they are dislocated from employment, from public transport and from amenity. This is not the way to go.
I also make the point, as the minister and the Chief Minister have been attacking constituents, attacking residents, that there is an acknowledgement that the consultation process has been appalling. You cannot on the one hand acknowledge that, yes, we have got the consultation wrong, very badly wrong, and then on the other hand attack residents when they actually complain about the very process that you acknowledge is wrong.
This process has also been deceitful. I make that point in terms of the consultation. For example, Mrs Jones wrote twice to the Chief Minister about the site in Holder. She said with regard to that site, “Are there any plans for the PANDSI site?” This is where the public housing is being built. The Chief Minister said no, in writing, twice. What we know from FOI material received last week is that this planning has been occurring since 2014. That was hidden not only from us but from the community.
I make the broader point that this is not the end of it. That same FOI request makes it very clear that the current sites that we are discussing today are only part of what is being considered by the government. There is a long list of other sites, other CFZ land that is going to be used. Mr Parton has written a good article about that that is available on RiotACT.
There is significant frustration. I think it is very unhelpful when we have Mr Barr and Ms Berry characterising the hundreds of residents as nimbies, in effect sneering at them and saying, in Ms Berry’s words, that the residents are telling the public housing tenants to “bugger off”. They were her words.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, that language was withdrawn yesterday.
MR HANSON: I withdraw. I was simply quoting the minister from yesterday, Madam Speaker. I withdraw. This is not a concern that just the Canberra Liberals have. I remind you of the number of signatures that the Clerk just read out. There is significant concern in the community. Certainly the feedback that I am getting from people who are working on these petitions is that just about everybody is signing them. There would be many more if they could knock on more doors. What we are talking about here is local mums and dads and pensioners, people going out and knocking on doors, working as they should in the community. There are only so many people whom they can actually have contact with. The vast majority of the signatures come from the affected suburbs.
Let me be very clear: we, and the residents affected, are very supportive of public housing. That is not the issue at stake here. The attempts by the government to twist it like that I think are very unhelpful for the debate. I ask, as we have this debate today in the Assembly on Ms Lawder’s motion that follows, that the government play the issue, not the person, and treat the residents, and particularly those who have signed the petition, with respect.
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