Mr. Michael Walsh:

The joined-up approach is the very essence of what we are trying to achieve through the working groups the Department has set up. Separately, the CCMA housing committee has a number of subgroups that are working to try to join up some of these animals but specifically the private rental standards. The Senator says it is unacceptable that there are different standards in different local authorities. I agree with her only in the sense that we should all seek to meet the minimum rental standards. After that, it is an essential part of local democracy that the budgets be set locally and that there be different cultures and traditions surrounding housing generally across different local authorities. There should be scope within the overall regime. The local authorities are independent corporate entities and in terms of local democracy some element of flexibility is needed but the simple reality is that by law, we must meet minimum rental standards.