Page 4368 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 19 November 1991
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HomeBuyer Scheme
MRS NOLAN: My question is to Mr Connolly in his capacity as Minister for Housing. I refer him to the ACT Housing Trust's HomeBuyer scheme. The brochure promoting that scheme states:
Your loan repayments are set at 27 per cent of your household's gross income.
Yet the contract, in very small print, says that the percentage is at the discretion of the commissioner. Will the Minister address this issue and ensure that trust clients are not misled when participating or seeking to participate in that scheme?
MR CONNOLLY: Yes, I certainly will have a look at that. The clear policy is that maximum repayments will be locked into income, and I would be concerned if there were an outer clause in the contract which would apparently allow a discretion to be exercised. I guess the political reality is that any government that so exercised that discretion would have to answer to the people and would not stick around for very long. However, Mrs Nolan raises a sensible point which I will address, and I will advise her of the detail when I have looked more closely at it.
Narellan House
MR HUMPHRIES: My question is to the Minister for Education. I refer to concerns about the future of TAFE's Narellan House, which is student accommodation for TAFE students in the ACT. Has the Minister yet responded to the concerns that have been raised with him by the ACT Institute of TAFE Students Association? In particular, can the Minister ensure that adequate notice is given to students before any demolition of Narellan House occurs? Can he guarantee to the Assembly the continuation of student accommodation for TAFE students at present levels?
MR WOOD: This matter has taken up my consideration for some time. I recall that late last year there was a proposal by the former Government to close Narellan House. The one comment I made about it, apart from saying that it was not a very safe place, was that ample notice should be given to the students. I can assure you that ample notice will be given to the students, should any change occur. We all know the condition of Narellan House.
As to the student accommodation, obviously we have a commitment to provide student accommodation and we will do that. It may be that that student accommodation will not be on that present site or there may be only a part of the accommodation provided on the site. There is no
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