As the housing crisis in Tasmania continues to
worsen, there is absolutely no doubt that more needs to be done – and urgently.
However, removing Housing Tasmania from the public sector and shifting the responsibility
to a new statutory authority will not improve the situation.
There are hundreds of Tasmanians who sleep rough
each night right now, and are living in constant stress due to the current
housing shortage both in the private and public and community sector.
The housing legislation before Parliament simply
shifts responsibility from the public sector to a new body with a commercial
board, without giving that new body any new powers additional to the powers
currently held by Housing Tasmania.
Meanwhile, the new statutory body will sit at
arm’s length from government, removing the fundamental ethical responsibility
of housing provision from government and placing a commercial board over the
work of the new body – a fundamental departure from the history of government
housing provision.
The Government says the new body will be able to
get houses out of the ground faster, but there are actually real dangers in the
bill that mean there could in fact be more stumbling blocks in the way of
housing supply, not less.
The government has not explained how their bill
will help Tasmanians sleeping in their cars, couch surfing, or living in other
dangerous conditions right now. It seems all this Government is trying to do is
shift the responsibility on to someone else.
The Liberal Government has failed to get the basics right on housing for nearly a decade, and this latest policy from the struggling new Premier risks making the crisis even worse.
Ella Haddad MP
Shadow Minister for Housing
