Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Early Childhood and Childcare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to break the habit of a lifetime and stand in the nation's parliament to say nice things about Alexander Downer, more specifically to say nice things about the organisation which Alexander Downer is chairing and which is doing some remarkably good work within my electorate in Adelaide, but also across South Australia. That organisation is called Common Ground Adelaide. It is an amazing accommodation and housing company which works to provide affordable rental housing to low-income working people. It is really important that they do this right within the heart of the city of Adelaide. It is important that we do not create an accommodation system where low-income earners can only afford to move right to the outskirts of suburbia. It is important that we have a mix within our city and it is vital that we have affordable low-income housing available to low-income families. As well, they are working with people who are homeless or at the risk of homelessness.

I had the opportunity to visit the Common Ground facilities in Light Square recently at the invitation of their deputy chair Mary Patetsos, along with a number of my colleagues from the parliament—the Hon. Don Farrell, Mr Steve Georganas, the member for Hindmarsh, as well as Senator Anne McEwen—and see firsthand the remarkable work that is going on there. There are 52 rental units in Light Square and 38 rental units in Franklin Street in the city run by Common Ground, and they are currently doing some great work with 35 units under construction in Port Augusta, which are to be completed by the end of 2012. This is a really important model because what Common Ground does is work to mirror the original non-profit Common Ground project in New York, which was founded in 1990. It seeks to provide a pathway for individuals towards stability and self-sufficiency.

I want to acknowledge the incredible hard work of the support staff at Common Ground who work tirelessly with the tenants to get them back on their feet. It is important that we have services to provide shelter, it is important that we have places where people can go for a bed for a night, but it is also important that we have organisations like Common Ground that provide so much more than that. The model is based on the premise that access to stable high-quality housing is a vital first step towards a satisfying and balanced life. They work with tenants to design individualised support plans, with focuses on skills building, on creating connections with other people and services, and on achievement of personal goals and improvements in health and income. They also work with tenants on educational and vocational services. They are doing a remarkable job for hundreds of South Australians and I thank them wholeheartedly for their work.