Mrs BRAHAM - 2001-07-03
Minister, Territory Housing embarked upon a review of the eligibility income levels of senior Territorians after a number of approaches had been made by long-term senior residents. Many found their income was just above the eligibility level.
With government keen to encourage seniors to stay in the Territory and with your program to build senior villages, you did advise that this review would be completed by the end of April. Could you tell me what was the result of that review? What changes were recommended to the eligibility levels? When will you be announcing any changes?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member for Braitling has taken two years to work on this in her position as the minister and it has taken her that length of time to get nowhere. The department has conducted the review and it is in the process of finalising the report and until the report is finalised, I am not at liberty to provide any further information. The review is just about to be completed and the information is there. We are looking after our senior Territorians. We all do our best to provide them with housing that they are very satisfied with, particularly all the seniors’ villages we have opened in Darwin so far, and are considering doing something elsewhere also.
What we consider is that our senior Territorians through CPI increases in their pensions, particularly the self-funded retirees, gradually work through their income creep, that they go past the threshold which allows them to get subsidised housing. That is the reason why we decided to review the threshold, to ensure that our senior Territorians will receive all the benefit that the Territory government provides for housing Territorians. We are very proud of our record that we give our senior Territorians great support when they live in the Territory. In due course, the report will be tabled and it will not be very long now.
With government keen to encourage seniors to stay in the Territory and with your program to build senior villages, you did advise that this review would be completed by the end of April. Could you tell me what was the result of that review? What changes were recommended to the eligibility levels? When will you be announcing any changes?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member for Braitling has taken two years to work on this in her position as the minister and it has taken her that length of time to get nowhere. The department has conducted the review and it is in the process of finalising the report and until the report is finalised, I am not at liberty to provide any further information. The review is just about to be completed and the information is there. We are looking after our senior Territorians. We all do our best to provide them with housing that they are very satisfied with, particularly all the seniors’ villages we have opened in Darwin so far, and are considering doing something elsewhere also.
What we consider is that our senior Territorians through CPI increases in their pensions, particularly the self-funded retirees, gradually work through their income creep, that they go past the threshold which allows them to get subsidised housing. That is the reason why we decided to review the threshold, to ensure that our senior Territorians will receive all the benefit that the Territory government provides for housing Territorians. We are very proud of our record that we give our senior Territorians great support when they live in the Territory. In due course, the report will be tabled and it will not be very long now.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016