DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING DELIVERS FOR THE GIANT STATE

Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten welcomed the 2007 Commonwealth Review of Government Services (ROGS) Report, and said there was a great deal to be pleased with how Queensland fares in the annual comparison with other States.

“Queensland is a great sprawling State, one quarter of the land mass of the whole of Australia.

“There huge mass of people concentrated in the South East, some bustling rural hubs as well as small communities dotted throughout the land.

“It is a huge challenge delivering housing services to a population as diverse as ours, across the length and breadth of this giant state.

“That is the first fact that springs out of this report. We have a higher proportion of housing stock in regional and remote areas than any other State. It is much higher than the Australian average; for community housing it is over 60%.

Mr Schwarten said that one could expect the cost of delivering housing to be much higher in a decentralised state, but this is not reflected in the ROGS report.

“Despite many of the services being in regional areas, the administrative cost of providing public and community housing are substantially lower than the Australian average.

“We have managed to keep the cost of delivering housing down, which means we can offer more services with the money that we have”.

“One of the critical areas where Queensland is achieving well is the quick turn around of housing properties.

“The average turn-around time for public housing in Queensland is the second lowest in Australia and is substantially lower than the Australian average.

“It means we are maximising the use of resources.

Mr Schwarten said that the report found a very high satisfaction level with the Department of Housing.

“They do say the customer is always right, and in this case clients of Department of Housing give us top marks, with very high tenant satisfaction.

“But there is always room to improve, and my Department will be looking closely at this report to see what we can learn and where we can do better.”

Media contact: David Shankey (07) 3237 1832