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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-18 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC HOUSING

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:59): My question is to the Treasurer. Why is the Treasurer approving the sale of 8,000 publicly owned houses while the federal government plans to build 1,500 publicly owned houses in South Australia? The government's announcement to sell off 8,000 publicly owned houses contrasts with the Premier's media release of 16 February, which states:

About 1,500 new social houses will be built in South Australia, to be funded by the federal government.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations) (15:00): What an odd question. If the Housing Trust is selling a house, that means the house has been built. The whole stimulus package is about building 1,500 new houses. One does not correlate with the other.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: A package they opposed.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Yes, that's right: a package they opposed. They wanted to deny every kid in this state a new school, gymnasium, library or science laboratory, and they did not want 1,500 social housing houses. The stimulus package is about jobs and construction of new housing. The decision by the federal government was that, if we are going to build houses, we will make them available for the needy, for those who need low-cost housing.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader!

The Hon. J.M. Rankine interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Exactly. What do you think you did when you were in government?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: John Howard ripped away public housing as the responsibility of federal government. He took away billions of dollars towards social housing, which forced the government into a process—and it happened under your government when you were last in office—of rotating our stock and selling our stock to finance the construction of other new builds. The deputy leader would not know too much about housing stocks or Housing Trust homes, because there would not be too many in Burnside.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Good idea. We will build them at Glenside. Would you like them at Glenside?

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Why didn't we think of it? That's right, we did.

The Hon. K.O. FOLEY: Thank you. The former leader of the opposition is a bit like Peter Costello. I reckon he is starting to get himself a little bit keen on the top job. One thing Iain Evans can do is: he can count. The comparison between the sales program of the Housing Trust and Kevin Rudd's stimulus package—there is no connection. It was a dumb question.

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