Mr LUGG - 1999-02-18
I understand the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service yesterday held a public meeting at which it condemned the Housing 2003 policy and stated that tenants would be evicted if they did not sign new leases. Can the minister advise what advantages the Housing 2003 policy offers and whether or not tenants should be signing new leases?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am very pleased the honourable member has asked me that question, because I am very concerned at some of the media reports that have come out of that meeting. I will tell honourable members that I cannot give them any first-hand information on what occurred there, because a request by our departmental representative in Alice Springs to attend that meeting was denied by CAALAS. He was told, basically, that he was just not welcome. So, the tenants who attended that meeting were denied instant access to the departmental representative who could have allayed some of their fears. As far as I could see, much of the information CAALAS was peddling at that meeting was inaccurate and provocative and I can only assume the meeting was politically motivated.
For instance, the member mentioned the fact that the meeting was told that tenants who did not sign new leases would be evicted. That is just not true. Tenants who do not sign their lease would be foolish, because the term of the lease in some cases is 5 years. Where in the private market do you get an opportunity to have a lease for 5 years? It is my understanding that you might get 12 months with another 12 months option, but you certainly won’t get the opportunity to sign a lease for 5 years. What will happen is that they will then just be on a week-by-week rental basis. It is really disadvantaging them, and that is what CAALAS has done. They needed that representative there because he could have clarified very quickly some of the misleading statements they were making. For instance, they talked about the rents, but the market rents are based on the advice of the Australian Valuation Office. It’s a body quite independent of the Northern Territory government and people need to realise that.
They also mentioned that they thought Aboriginal tenants would be disadvantaged, but that’s not so. A tenancy agreement is applicable to everyone. It has no discrimination whether you are Aboriginal or otherwise. Tenants have a responsibility, if they have visitors to their house, to those visitors. Aboriginal tenants can have their extended families visit regularly as long as they understand that they have the responsibility, as tenants, to make sure that those visitors behave in a suitable manner.
It seems to me that CAALAS is doing a beat-up on this. We have to remember this Housing 2003 policy is to help those Territorians in need. It is to provide affordable housing access to those people on low incomes. That’s the primary aim of this particular system. It’s a much better system than we had in the past, it’s a much fairer system, because those are the people you should actually be catering for within our public housing system. That’s why we have a public housing system and a private housing system.
A lot of what CAALAS said, I believe, is misleading, provocative and, unfortunately, it’s scaremongering. They’ve left many of those tenants quite uncertain as to where they stand. I believe they should be condemned for their actions. I just want to tell the tenants who attend that meeting tomorrow to not listen to CAALAS, and to go and talk to the departmental officers so that they are fully aware of the true facts.
It is a situation that seems to be politically motivated by CAALAS, and I just don’t think they are going to get anywhere with it. But I say to tenants who are involved in this process: make sure you are fully informed. Take advantage of the opportunity to talk to the departmental representatives and let us at least get our facts straight. I advise CAALAS to butt out and leave it because it is a tenancy matter.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am very pleased the honourable member has asked me that question, because I am very concerned at some of the media reports that have come out of that meeting. I will tell honourable members that I cannot give them any first-hand information on what occurred there, because a request by our departmental representative in Alice Springs to attend that meeting was denied by CAALAS. He was told, basically, that he was just not welcome. So, the tenants who attended that meeting were denied instant access to the departmental representative who could have allayed some of their fears. As far as I could see, much of the information CAALAS was peddling at that meeting was inaccurate and provocative and I can only assume the meeting was politically motivated.
For instance, the member mentioned the fact that the meeting was told that tenants who did not sign new leases would be evicted. That is just not true. Tenants who do not sign their lease would be foolish, because the term of the lease in some cases is 5 years. Where in the private market do you get an opportunity to have a lease for 5 years? It is my understanding that you might get 12 months with another 12 months option, but you certainly won’t get the opportunity to sign a lease for 5 years. What will happen is that they will then just be on a week-by-week rental basis. It is really disadvantaging them, and that is what CAALAS has done. They needed that representative there because he could have clarified very quickly some of the misleading statements they were making. For instance, they talked about the rents, but the market rents are based on the advice of the Australian Valuation Office. It’s a body quite independent of the Northern Territory government and people need to realise that.
They also mentioned that they thought Aboriginal tenants would be disadvantaged, but that’s not so. A tenancy agreement is applicable to everyone. It has no discrimination whether you are Aboriginal or otherwise. Tenants have a responsibility, if they have visitors to their house, to those visitors. Aboriginal tenants can have their extended families visit regularly as long as they understand that they have the responsibility, as tenants, to make sure that those visitors behave in a suitable manner.
It seems to me that CAALAS is doing a beat-up on this. We have to remember this Housing 2003 policy is to help those Territorians in need. It is to provide affordable housing access to those people on low incomes. That’s the primary aim of this particular system. It’s a much better system than we had in the past, it’s a much fairer system, because those are the people you should actually be catering for within our public housing system. That’s why we have a public housing system and a private housing system.
A lot of what CAALAS said, I believe, is misleading, provocative and, unfortunately, it’s scaremongering. They’ve left many of those tenants quite uncertain as to where they stand. I believe they should be condemned for their actions. I just want to tell the tenants who attend that meeting tomorrow to not listen to CAALAS, and to go and talk to the departmental officers so that they are fully aware of the true facts.
It is a situation that seems to be politically motivated by CAALAS, and I just don’t think they are going to get anywhere with it. But I say to tenants who are involved in this process: make sure you are fully informed. Take advantage of the opportunity to talk to the departmental representatives and let us at least get our facts straight. I advise CAALAS to butt out and leave it because it is a tenancy matter.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016