I think this is probably just the Opposition oppositioning, but housing spokesperson Jacqui Burke (no shadows in my style guide) has some interesting comments to make about ACT public housing and what the governnment’s not doing about it.
This includes
“This Government promised it would not reduce public housing stock, but now what it is saying is that there will be no further spending on capital works in public housing.
“Why? Because this Minister forgot to ask for it or was rolled in cabinet on the importance of public housing.
“Instead we have unnecessary expenditure on pet projects like the arboretum, which will undoubtedly go over budget.”
and also
“[We have] a prisoner with a life sentence who still holds a public housing property and people who can afford to be in the private market taking up valuable public housing assets.”
The government thinks it’s doing the right thing by public housing, Hargreaves having announced on Friday and Saturday the near completion of 20 appartments in Gungahlin for accomodation for low-income single people and the completion fo 24 older persons’ units in Lyons respectively.
Both the press releases announcing these (not on the net yet as far as I can tell) were accompanied by comments about how the government has done nothing but improve public housing since it’s been in power and how these developments show that they are changing with the times and needs of the Canberra people — one of the criticisms levelled at them by Mrs Burke.
I personally don’t know much about public housing, but I realise there’s a lot of debate about what should or shouldn’t happen and think there are interesting points to be taken from both sides of the Legislative Assembly.
[ED – There is now a highly informative comment from MLA Jacqui Burke in the comments section of this post.]