‘Basically, I get less than $2 million for my electorate for social housing,’ Greens Member for Ballina Tamara Smith said in response to this week’s state budget announcement.
‘We don’t actually know where that social housing money will be invested in the regions but a simple maths of about 60 regional seats works out to be less than two million per seat,’ Ms Smith said.
The member for Ballina was unimpressed with the government’s social housing investment in Labor’s first NSW budget in more than ten years, contrasting it with the recent Labor budget in Victoria.
‘In their budget this year, five point something billion,’ Ms Smith said of the Victorian Labor government, ‘and the NSW Labour government, that’s less than 100 million’.
This week’s budget showed 30% of a $300 million investment in state-owned house building agency Landcom dedicated to affordable housing.
‘I don’t think they’re taking it seriously, said Ms Smith, ‘it’s a drop in the ocean of what the actual need is’.
Ballina MP calls for 100 new social housing dwellings
The Ballina MP said there were fifty social housing units delivered in the Tweet electorate two years ago ‘without any fuss’.
‘I keep saying to the premier, give me a hundred,’ she said, ‘give me fifty in Ballina Shire and fifty in Byron Shire.’
‘Let’s greenlight this and really make a difference.’
Other references to social housing in the budget came under a $224 million Essential Housing Package.
Funds for debt financing, including for social housing, amounted to more than $70 million.
The government allocated more than $35 million for critical maintenance of social housing.
There were also significantly lesser amounts allocated to mental health housing ($20 million), urgent priority housing and homelessness ($15 million) and temporary accommodation ($11 million).
But the Greens MP said frontline charities in her electorate were missing out.
Community-led frontline charities missing in budget, says Ballina MP
The Greens recently joined a campaign for the government to fund services at the Byron Bay community-led charity Fletcher Street Cottage but Ms Smith said the call appeared to have been ignored in the budget.
The cottage provides a range of wrap-around services for people sleeping rough and / or at risk owing to local housing pressures but Byron Community Centre General Manager Louise O’Connell says it costs a million dollars each year to run.
‘The issue that we have at the moment is some key social organisations like the Fletcher Street [Cottage,] like Mullumbimby [District] Neighborhood Centre, like Wardell CORE, and others, cannot get any funding for wages for salaries for their operational costs,’ Ms Smith said.
‘Labor went to this election saying that they will absolutely deliver recurrent funding for organisations like that,’ Ms Smith said.
‘Fletcher Street Cottage is doing the work that government should do,’ she said, ‘we absolutely think that Government needs to be funding that program, as well as a number of other significant programs that are delivering social supports and still doing post-flood social supports.’
‘We know that Byron Shire has some of the highest rates of rough sleeping in the country, so there could not be more of a need.
‘But we’ve been given a very, I’d hate to say mean spirited, but it’s a budget that, really ,there’s not a lot in there for vulnerable communities.
‘There just really isn’t.’
Greens slam gov’t rent-to-buy scheme as ‘bonkers’
The NSW Labor government has recently spoken of a new rent-to-buy scheme, allowing renters to have their rent contribute towards the cost of buying their abodes.
But the Greens member for Ballina said the party was unimpressed with the detail.
‘What the proposal is, is to use Crown land, so 100% public land,’ Ms Smith said.
‘Seventy per cent is private,’ Ms Smith said, explaining sales of properties developers would be allowed to build on public land ‘for free’.
The remaining 30% would be used for social housing, Ms Smith said.
‘We think that it should be 100% social housing,’ she said, ‘and the government could eat easily give those developers an incentive’.
‘At the end of the day, we’re handing over to private corporations 70%,’ she said, ‘obviously, they’ve built, but they’re getting that land for free’.
‘To me that is just bonkers.’
Well Tamara, you are the local MP, if you think that the region is missing out, instead of just whinging get out there and fight harder; you should also know that the Minn’s Labor Govt inherited a fiscal mess from the Conservatives and savings across the board have to be made, to at least bring the huge State debt- forecast to rise to $187.5 billion by the end of the 2025-26 financial year- under control, yes more definitely needs to be spent on affordable housing nation wide, and don’t forget that it was the hopeless Greens that unnecessarily held up the Federal Govt’s HAFF bill in the Senate for over six months.
Keith, Keith, Keith, regurging the lines copied to you from ALP HQ to distract from the ALP’s FloodFail does you no credit.
Its your ALP mob that is the Governments and supposed to be solving the Flood Victims but all we get from you is another of your anti-Greens rants.
Keith, the Flood Victims, deliberately left behind by your ALP mob. The ALP is a useless waste of time and space.
The Flood Victims now know where they stand, that the ALP Governments – Federal and State – just don’t care about them. Its all just very cruel, Aussie citizens needing help, just thrown onto the ALP’s scrapheap.
All those lovely sounding words that we got in the immediate aftermath of the Flood Catastrophe….all now shown to be empty, heartless, words. Emperor Albo’s presser October 2022 in Lismore…now we see Emperor Albo for who he really is, just another cruel, heartless, untrustworthy pollie. Emperor Albo will reap what he sows come the 2025 Election.
Keith, your mate Emperor “No one held back no one left behind” Albo, sitting on his $’s22billions worth of Budget Surplus, counting his dosh is all very nice but N O T H I N G for the Flood Victims.
There is no excuse for such cruel action.
Keith, as for your HUFF, “the hopeless Greens” got more $’sdirect funding = $’s6.5billions for the Housing and Rent Crisis than your too slow, too lazy, couch dozing Emperor Albo was ever going to initially directly spend.
So very well done and T H A N K Y O U to Greens!!!!!
Your too slow, too lazy Emperor Albo is the one responsible for the delay to his HUFF. He could have had the HUFF passed months earlier if he had months earlier directly spent those extra $’s, but no, Emperor Albo decided to dish out more cruelty – this time to those caught in the Housing and Rent Crisis, keep them waiting and for what.
All so cruelly unnecessary but that’s the ALP way these days.
It seems that our dear old mate Joachim, has unleashed yet another of his classic Greenspin anti Labor sprays, or was it just the usual light Green mist permeating from down at Greens HQ with their usual weird concept of reality. But seriously old son you must be getting totally worn out defending the indefensible, oh the pain, the constant pain, it must be finally getting to you my man, keep up the pain medication at all cost. If the great Green Tamara was any use at all, she should be able to actually do something about the problem, I’m betting that if there was a Labor member for Ballina, like there is for Lismore the problem wouldn’t be a problem.
Keith my man, all we get from your waste of space ALP is presser announcements that FAIL to deliver any relief but SUCCEED in delivering ongoing pain, to Flood Victims. Its very cruel.
Keith old son, we’ve had enough of those lovely presser announcements; in June it was the rejigger of the NRCC being folded up and folded into NSW Reconstruction Authority; in August it was the Janelle Saffin appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery.
Well, here we are September, after the NSW State Budget 19/9/23 and the Flood Victims, Nothing, ….still waiting. Its very cruel.
How low can the the ALP keep sinking.
In a piece in IndyNR.com, ‘Prime role for Saffin in government’s flood recovery reset, August 23, 2023’.
How prescient was the line, ” As one resident said at a meeting last month in Woodburn with Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib – “We don’t give a bugger what they’re called, we want action.”
Keith, the “we want action”. Yep, plenty of action by the ALP alright – pressers, rejiggers, personnel announcers but….. ZERO action or delivery for the Flood Victims. Its very cruel.
Keith, your ALP have shown they aren’t up to the job, your ALP just don’t care about the Flood Victims.
Time for the cruel and heartless ALP to get right out of the way and resign.
Joachim old son, you seem to be suffering a paranoid episode, you really need to stay on that pain medication, the last thing the Labor Party in MAJORITY Govt needs is advice from some radical Green advocate who seems to waste most of his life writing Green propaganda, and trying desperately to be relevant.
Keith, again, ZERO acknowledgement from you of the continued ALP FloodFAIL.
Well done Keith and ALP, NOT.
Well done Keith, your reply to Joach is a text book classic on the lingo of oz polly attack on the supporter of another party. The condencending tone, the worn out buzz words, the lack of respct all go down to put young voters right off — totally. The rhetoric is so worn out you will find a lot of people would have to get out a dictionary — if the jargon context could even be found. Keith , you are talking in code to another party, swaggering on and trying to be smart – but not. And then at the end of the public statements, the bully threat to the whole community comes in … ‘if there was a Labour member in Ballina there wouldn’t be a problem …’ Here we have the ALP pushing the reward or punishment worn out line, which Keith must have been taught from the Nationals — bring back Joh !
Joach? 🤣🤣 look I prefer language that is original and to the point, AND actually puts forward a nuanced argument.
I’m a bit perplexed though. You think your friend Joach’s typical efforts do this?
Mr/Mrs AS+A+SOCIETY+-+WHO+PAYS+?, If you think that condescending Green garbage that old mate Joachim continually confuses for reality makes sense, then it’s not very hard to work out what end of politics you are coming from. If someone wants to peddle garbage then they deserve what they get in return, it’s called “return fire”, if you or your kind don’t like it, or can’t handle it then don’t read it, your welcome.
Keith, nice that you use the word “condescending”, that is yours and your ALP mob attitude to the Flood Victims – it is some 18months of promises, topped off by Emperor “No one held back no on left behind” Albo and his infamous Lismore presser October 2022, and still the Flood Victims are being left behind.
Keith, try spinning your “condescending garbage” to the flood victims that Channel 10 news interviewed, when Channel 10 media were in Lismore 2 days ago.
Thanking you Tamara with so much appreciation and gratitude for the strength and peoples voice you continue to share in parliament , acknowledging this is hard work for you yet you continue relentlessly to do right for the betterment of all and easpecially those in dire needs , desperate for a safe affordable home 🙏🩵👏🥰👍🦌💪🫶🏼
Who is this ” Tamara” that you are praising?
I know that the local State MP is called Tamara but ..
Have social housing dwellings been handed over to Aboriginal Housing Office within Tamara Smith’s electorate?
If so, what has Tamara done about this?
Probably , just the usual.
Joachim old son, your mindless ranting and anti Labor crusades are not doing any of the flood survivors any good whatsoever, the Minns Labor Govt inherited a fiscal mess from the Conservatives and are doing their best to sort it all out, all I can say is thank God the incompetent Greens are not in charge, they have no fiscal responsibility whatsoever.