report finally released
fudge figures
opportunity squandered
The
long delayed September quarterly housing update provides damning insight into
the Liberal Government’s failure to deliver social housing.
The
report was released in Budget Estimates today after a lengthy delay.
Shadow
Minister for Housing, Alison Standen, said the Government had reformatted the
report to make it harder to compare against previous quarters.
“We
now know why the report was delayed for so long; Roger Jaensch was trying to
find a creative way to fudge the figures,” Ms Standen said.
“We suspected
the report would be bad, but not this bad.
“In
a shocking display of failure the report shows the Government has built just
three social houses with the proceeds of the Commonwealth debt waiver. That’s
even fewer homes than the five that the Minister claimed to have built in the
last quarterly update.
“The
Commonwealth debt waiver negotiated by Jacquie Lambie was indeed an historical
achievement but Roger Jaensch has completely squandered the opportunity.
“It
is almost comical that the latest quarterly report claims that all government
targets are ‘on track’ when in reality this Government has broken every promise
it has ever made on housing.
The Liberals promised 900 new social housing homes
under the first Affordable Housing Action Plan 1 (2015-2019) but delivered just
453.
We are now well into the Affordable Housing Action
Plan 2 (2019-2023) and the Government has only completed an additional 370
homes despite boasting a track record of delivering 400 new social housing
dwellings each year – a milestone he has never once delivered.
The Minister said he would deliver 80 new homes every year through the debt waiver funding. Last quarter he had completed just 5 and this report revises that figure down to just 3.
Alison Standen, Shadow Minister for Housing
