Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

When I first came to Canberra, the main drag, Northbourne Avenue, had blocks and blocks of public housing. I was pretty impressed, although some looked like they were in dire need of repair. I remember thinking, 'Thank God our nation's capital has housing for low-income people near the centre of town, near services, near hospitals, near schools.' Since that time, I have watched those public housing units be replaced by luxury apartment buildings—this, under a Labor-Green government of all things; you know, the guys that say they care so much about low-income people having a roof over their heads? When I was growing up in public housing in Devonport, the shops were down the road. The school was a short walk away. Services were only a few blocks away as well, and I mixed with kids and families that didn't live in public housing.

Pushing people out to the fringes or our cities and towns, like those Canberrans who were living in Northbourne Avenue, has to stop. The 'out of sight and out of mind' approach is absolutely deplorable in itself. Take Tasmania, for example. We have two blocks in the CBD of Hobart that are dedicated to car yards—yes, that's right, car yards. Tasmania has a thing called a restrictive covenant, which means that land can never be used for public housing. It's rules like these that push low-income people into the suburbs, on the fringes, with often only a shopping centre within walking distance or a 24-hour service station, and you're lucky to get bus stops out there. Anyone who has taken a drive through the outskirts of Western Sydney will know what I'm talking about. Cities that don't cater for all of us hurt all of us—cities where nurses, police officers, teachers and shop workers have to travel hours to get to work. If the only people who can afford to live in our cities are rich people, that hurts all of us.