Page 1855 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 1 May 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
So, under Mr Collaery's careless and callous ministry for housing there are about 50 Canberra people who will have to find other accommodation each night and who will probably have to sleep out. That is an indictment of this Government's housing policy. It is an indictment of any claims to social justice that Mr Collaery might have and, of course, it is very much the Liberal Party attitude towards what it would class as "welfare housing" and what we, on this side of the house, would call "public housing".
Mr Speaker, the Alliance has done absolutely nothing about housing in the ACT. Its members have been particularly harsh in relation to the most disadvantaged in our community and they now totally refuse to acknowledge that there is a crisis there at all. We have heard from the complacent Mr Jensen. And, of course, given that refusal, they have not acted upon it either.
MS MAHER (3.50): I disagree with Ms Follett's comments and would like to remind the Assembly of what the Alliance Government has recently done to assist people to become home owners. On 2 April 1991, my colleague Bernard Collaery, the Minister for Housing and Community Services, announced the Alliance Government's package of programs for home ownership assistance. These are: The introduction of a new gazetted scheme to rationalise the management of home mortgages along commercial lines; significant changes to eligibility criteria to enable more people to qualify under the Commissioner for Housing loan scheme; a new home entry scheme to provide a $1,500 grant to assist with deposit and other acquisition costs for first home buyers and families seeking to re-enter home ownership - this money will assist families whose partners have separated and custodial parents who are looking to re-establish their family home; and the extension of stamp duty concessions to people who are re-entering home ownership. These initiatives put home ownership on a more equitable footing in the ACT.
Mr Speaker, these packages have generated considerable interest from members of the ACT public. As a result, we have eliminated gaps that existed between people who could not afford mortgage funding from the private sector but who exceeded the eligibility criteria for public housing. There are many families in this group who have shown an interest in becoming home owners. The Housing Trust has already answered several hundred inquiries and it received 124 new applications in April, which is four times the number received in March.
We have also ensured that eligibility will keep pace with the market conditions by linking it to official statistical indicators. This clearly demonstrates that we, in government, have responded to an obvious need for housing assistance. At the same time as announcing the new package for home ownership, we announced a phased program for sales of government houses to tenants. This will assist people currently in public housing into home ownership, and this is very important for a lot of them who are renting and
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .