Social and affordable housing
Mr RIORDAN (Polwarth) (09:43): I rise this morning to put on the record the views and concerns of thousands of ratepayers and ratepayer groups right across the state of Victoria. The government’s announcement last Friday of their social housing and public housing reforms had a great sting in the tail. That sting was this government’s desire to slug councils with up to $140 million a year in lost income. This income will come directly out of the pockets of ratepayers from one end of the state to the other. This attack on ratepayers and local councils will see local ratepayers—residents who are already suffering huge cost-of-living burdens—having to see their rates increase yet again, and for people outside metro Melbourne that rate burden is already a massive impost on lifestyles, incomes and affordability. Not only that, everyone will suffer under this proposal that the government are sort of half backtracking on, but they have refused to come to Parliament to say they are going to abandon it. What is worse is that if the rates increase, that also means that the government will be forcing local councils to increase charges, fees and service levies or be forced to cut services. And because this is based around public housing, it is some of those communities who will be worst hit, because councils provide those important community services that so many people in our public housing rely on, and with $140 million sucked out of the system it will be those who cannot afford it who will pay.