Page 3884 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 September 2018
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Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (10.51): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to provide to you and the Assembly today my initial response to the ACT housing choices collaboration hub final report. The report details responses to the 13 recommendations presented by the collaboration hub participants to me on 28 July this year.
I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to the 36 collaboration hub participants who committed their time and energy over three months, including the five full days of deliberation at the hub workshops. I am grateful for their contribution to this project and to the recommendations that they have presented to us.
This was a new, exciting and genuine opportunity for the people of Canberra to influence the future of housing diversity in the city. The level of community engagement in this process and the quality of recommendations from the collaboration hub are proof that our local democracy can be enhanced through deliberative engagement with our community.
This is the question that we sought to answer through the housing choices engagement.
Canberra is changing—and there are many different ways our housing needs can be met. What do we need to do?
For the past few years I have heard a wide range of opinions and ideas from the Canberra community about housing choices in Canberra. This project sought to bring together all of those ideas and to reach a consensus set of recommendations the government can use to guide its future planning.
In November 2017, the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate launched consultation on the housing choices discussion paper. Through workshops, online surveys and consultation kiosks, Canberrans told us what they valued most about housing choices. These included the ability to age in place, as well as improve the quality of building construction, housing affordability and much more. All community feedback was summarised in the housing choices discussion paper community engagement report that was released in May 2018.
Following this, we launched the housing choices collaboration hub, a deliberative process that brought together 36 randomly selected individuals that represented a broad cross-section of the Canberra community. Over three months the collaboration hub participants considered the insights from our research and community engagement, heard from speakers and read public submissions.
They considered the desires of stakeholders and best practice options to improve Canberra’s housing choices. Together, the group developed 13 recommendations around nine themes: zoning, planning and approvals, affordability, character, public housing, quality of design and construction, and lifestyle and diversity.
Housing choice and diversity require considered thinking and balanced solutions. This project therefore required an innovative and participatory form of engagement that
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