[Greens-Media] Liberal by Stealth

[Manderson, Roland]

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ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey MEDIA RELEASE
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20 April 07



Liberal by Stealth

ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey has suggested ACT Housing Minister John
Hargreaves is implementing Liberal Party policy with his new policy on
tenure announced today.

"The Government will argue these changes are about addressing need, but
once they are implemented Housing ACT will become 'welfare housing' with
all the social and economic costs that entails" Dr Foskey said today.

 "This is precisely what the Liberal Party has been calling for for
years, and what the ACT Labor Party Conference last year acted to
prevent, when it reaffirmed its commitment to security of tenure."

"The Minister and his Department are trying to reassure us that all
these changes will be handled sensitively. In the end, however, with
fewer and fewer tenants paying market rent, the pressure will be on
Housing ACT to meet its bottom line. And some of those subtleties about
people's individual circumstances will no doubt fall by the wayside." 

"Pushing people into purchasing a shared equity in their home instead is
a seductive notion, but their incomes and circumstances can change
overnight. So can economic conditions."  
 
"The ACT Government will need to accept responsibility for the
establishment of shared equity schemes that will protect its tenants
from sudden changes. Telling them to simply find a bank is not good
enough."
 
"I appreciate the need for Housing ACT to become as effective as
possible in utilising its resources to meet the needs of people in
housing stress. I am pleased it plans to use the opportunities that the
Chief Minister's Affordable Housing Action Plan has opened up in terms
of improving its stock; and I do support - and have always supported -
the commitment to assisting people into home ownership."

"There is however no strategy in this plan to grow Canberra's public
housing stock. The result can only be an increased need for housing
subsidy, the loss of secure housing or employment opportunity for many
people, and a growing stigma for public housing tenants" Dr Foskey said.



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Roland Manderson   Media Advisor
ACT   Greens    MLA  Deb  Foskey  
Legislative Assembly for the ACT 
ph(02)62050551      m 0412241379
==== www.act.greens.org.au ===== 
  
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