Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Affordable housing is a critical issue in Australia and the Gillard government, in partnership with the states and territories, is deeply committed to providing affordable, appropriate and flexible social housing. Given the relative affluence of Canberra, many in this place may not consider housing affordability and homelessness to be a particular problem here and I acknowledge that we are fortunate to be below the Australian average when it comes to homelessness. However, this does not mean we are immune from today's housing and homelessness challenges. Canberra has some of the highest rental prices in the country. We also have some of the lowest levels of rental availability. In fact, housing and housing affordability are by far the main issues on which I am contacted by constituents in need of assistance—mainly by women. Each week my office helps many Canberrans who are struggling to find a place to live and build a life and a home.

The 2006 census showed that there were 1,364 homeless people in the ACT, which equates to 42 homeless per 10,000. Of this figure, 22 per cent were aged between 12 and 18 and six per cent were sleeping rough. Irrespective of whether this is below the national average or not, I do not believe it is acceptable. Every Australian deserves a home and both the Gillard and the ACT governments are doing a commendable job on helping people with that. Having a home is something so basic and yet so powerful in determining your future, especially if you are a child and going through the formative stages of your life. The experiences of your early childhood form the prism through which you see the world. If you know that you have a safe, secure and inviting place to return to at the end of your day it makes everything seem more possible.

Having access to secure, affordable housing is no less important in the later years of life. Being able to enjoy retirement and one's family in a suitable place to call home should be a great pleasure. Older members of the community should not be forced to worry or stress about a place to stay, nor should they feel they are a burden on their families. For this reason, I have been very pleased to be able to attend a number of openings in the ACT of new older-persons units. These are units that have been funded though the Gillard government's $5.6 billion Social Housing Initiative, in partnership with state and territory governments—the single largest investment in social housing ever undertaken by an Australian government.

As part of this partnership in the ACT, building has begun on 421 approved dwellings, with over 280 of these already completed. The units provide age appropriate accommodation for older people in the community, and free up larger social houses for families. So it is win-win. The units mean older members of the Canberra community can continue to live independently and with dignity in a space they can call their own—usually around their social network in their former suburb and in six-star energy rated homes built to universal design principles.

The most recent opening occurred in the suburb of Rivett in my electorate where I was fortunate to join with the ACT Minister for Housing and Community Services, Joy Burch, to open 60 units. I have also opened new units in complexes in Curtin, Conder and Bonython. Once complete, the Rivett complex will have 69 two- and three-bedroom units as well as a community centre and there are community centres in some of the other complexes as well, so it is about not just living spaces but also community space. The complex was funded jointly by a $10.7 million grant from the Gillard government, with the ACT government contributing the land as well as a further $5.1 million.

I really enjoyed being able to see how these units had been turned into homes in a very short amount of time. In a matter of weeks, proud new resident Judith Young had made her new space her home. She had photos of family and loved ones on the wall and a fantastic garden with pots and outdoor art. Many of the other residents are using this opportunity to move from an older home into a brand-new home, to get new curtains and new furniture and to make a welcoming space. Judith's home was a place that looked like it had been lived in for years with comfort and love and family, even though it had only been a matter of weeks.

Safety and shelter are the fundamentals that underpin self-esteem, confidence and achievement. I am extremely proud of the historically significant investment the Gillard government has made to provide thousands of Australians with a home, and through it the opportunity to actively participate in society.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to discuss today the marked increase in the incidence of graffiti and vandalism in my electorate of Goldstein, a series of incidents which is increasingly common across many other parts of Melbourne. I cite as an example the very shopping strip in which my office is based in Centre Road in Bentleigh, one of the 17 suburbs in my electorate. It is a wonderful shopping strip but it has increasingly been confronted with endless graffiti: shopfront hits and tagged windows and advertisements on bus shelters and a host of other sites up and down that strip and the surrounding streets. All of the signs are being attacked and defaced by graffiti and it is dreadful. At a time when retail is hurting, and the last 12 months have been perhaps the worst in 20 years, it saps morale. It is ugly, it is a blight on the landscape and so many local residents and traders alike are fed up and are calling for action on graffiti.

We have people reporting that while graffiti has always been around, it is increasingly becoming out of control. Centre Road has been made a most unattractive place to shop due to the extent of graffiti. President Tania Moss of the Bentleigh Traders Association, whom I have met with on a number of occasions, said the traders paid for the graffiti to be removed from shops on a weekly basis. Every week they have a person coming in for nearly one day to remove graffiti up and down the strip. It is costing literally thousands of dollars—no assistance from council—and all in an attempt to maintain the truly pleasant nature of that strip at a time when retail sales are really being hit all over the country.

This is but one example. I could talk in equal terms about many other areas in my electorate including the shopping strip in Highett, Carnegie, Hampton Street, the Beaumaris Concourse, Ormond, Black Rock and Sandringham. It is very unfortunate that some of these sorts of local community issues could well have been dealt with in the last 12 months and, in fact, the voters and the members of my electorate have been denied effective action because, unfortunately, we were not able to get onto the government benches at the last election. We were taking to local electorates all over the country a very flexible and responsive program designed very much to tackle these sorts of issues of graffiti, vandalism and other unnecessary local violence. The program was intended to enable councils and local community groups to apply for funding for crime prevention projects and strategies to deal with crime prevention. It was to include CCTV systems for community hubs and shopping strips, security patrols, graffiti removal kits for traders associations and alarm systems for sporting clubs. It was to be a highly flexible and responsive program to deal with the fundamental concerns of Australians. At the moment Australians are deeply anxious about their circumstance. The government is offering no direction and no leadership, you have a leader with no authority and people are concerned. That is why savings rates have gone up dramatically. That is why retail sales are down. This sort of cost is being imposed on our retailers who can ill afford to be dealing with graffiti and other incidents and damage and vandalism. We need a government in place that can live within its means, focus on the issues that are of concern to our local communities and make sure that Australia heads in the right direction again. (Time expired)

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is always good to follow the member for Goldstein. He is always so negative and oppositional. He really reflects the opposition's policy of no, no, no. That is what the member for Goldstein is about. I am here to give you a positive picture. I am here to talk about some of the Building the Education Revolution projects that have been completed in my electorate of Shortland. Over $85 million has been spent on schools. This money would never have been spent. This money has delivered state-of-the-art classrooms, state-of-the-art libraries and state-of-the-art halls.

Gorokan Public School, where I went on 7 June, has six fantastic new classrooms. I have spoken about the Budgewoi classrooms, and the ones at Gorokan are of the same quality. They really reflect the needs of the school. Nords Wharf Public School has a new library. Marks Point Public School have the school hall they have dreamt about for many years. I will be attending Swansea Public School on Tuesday for the opening of their Building the Education Revolution project.

I attended Gwandalan Public School in the construction stages. They have got new classrooms. I was particularly impressed with what was happening there because they were employing apprentices who are in the government's Apprentice Kickstart program. That demonstrated how all these programs are coming together. On 30 June I will be visiting Mannering Park Public School and on 1 July I will be visiting St Patrick's at Swansea. Charlestown Public School are having their opening at the same time as Mannering Park, on 30 June. All these projects are welcomed by the school communities as they are very worthwhile projects.

On 8 June I was at Windale for the opening of 16 new one-bedroom units that have a six-star energy rating. I was there with representatives from Compass Housing. That is a $3.8 million project. The thing I found so exciting about it was the fact that a number of the residents have been homeless and have had enormous insecurity about their housing. There were a number of Indigenous tenants and people with disabilities. They are getting not only the wonderful support of living in these new houses; they are also developing friendships with the other tenants in that complex. We had a morning tea. It was such a success that I have given those tenants an undertaking that, during the July-August break, I will be back there with my staff and Compass Housing to have a barbecue. We are going to encourage the friendships that are starting to develop in that complex.

Around lunchtime on Saturday I had two hours of free time, so my husband and I went for a wonderful ride on our bikes along the Fernleigh Track. The federal government put $2 million into that project under the national pathways program. It was the largest project that was funded under that program. Once again I enjoyed the investment and saw the Commonwealth's money working for the benefit of the community. There were hundreds of people on that track either riding their bikes or walking. It was a wonderful experience. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.

Main Committee adjourned at 13:05

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, in writing, on 10 February 2011:

What are the costs of central functions for each department and agency of the Australian Public Service (including finance, human resources, information technology, and other functions that support the work of the department or agency as a whole) in dollar terms, and as a proportion of total expenditure for each department and agency.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Finance and Deregulation has supplied the following answer to the member for Bradfield's question:

The Department of Finance and Deregulation does not currently comprehensively or systematically track the information requested by the Member for Bradfield. The task of compiling the information requested would require a significant diversion of resources both in individual agencies and in the Department of Finance and Deregulation, and would be an unreasonable diversion of resources across Government.