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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-19 Daily Xml
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Question Time

Housing Trust Rent

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): My question is to the Premier. Did the government mislead Housing Trust tenants when they stated that their rents would not increase under a Liberal government? With your leave and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: On 16 March, Rob Lucas, the Treasurer, stated on radio, 'Every election there's a scare campaign that gets sent to Housing Trust residents that says, if a Liberal government is elected, then the Housing Trust is going to be privatised. Their homes are going to be sold. Some of them will be booted out of their homes or their rents will go up massively.'

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:41): I think it's fair to say that we have had a lot of scare campaigns run against Housing Trust tenants over a long period of time.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

Mr Duluk interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Is the member for Waite interjecting? You are warned. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I think what we have seen over a long period of time is our political opponents use virtually every single trick in the book to run fear campaigns in the lead-up to the election. We have great regard for people who are living in Housing Trust facilities here in South Australia and that is why we have announced very significant reforms in terms of this area.

Ms Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is on two warnings again.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Although the previous government had their time in office, we know that they flogged off a lot of Housing Trust properties.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Deputy Premier is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We know that they had failed experiments with separating out the management and the ownership of these facilities. We know that many times there were thousands of Housing Trust homes in any given period that were just not occupied and we know that because people told us. There was a lack of coordination which we have sought to address in the way that we are dealing with Housing Trust tenants going forward. I am very confident in our minister's ability to handle this very complex area of public policy. Our opponents will continue to use every single opportunity to drive fear into communities. That's what they know best.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: When those opposite develop a decent policy towards Housing Trust tenants in South Australia, public housing in South Australia, we would welcome to hear it. But in the absence of that, I think they should concentrate on some more pressing issues than trying to inflame a situation—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —which they know is spurious at best.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond has the call. The member for Reynell is on two warnings still, even though she has been interjecting.

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