Tuesday, February 10, 2009

No additional funding to house bushfire victims

Kevin Rudd has just announced on Question Time that  "the Victorian Govt can draw on the $6.4 billlion social housing fund", or $1.x billion of it to house those left homeless. Let's hope that most of those who lost their homes were insured, otherwise what about the people that have been on the wait lists for years? Will they be displaced by those who are the "more deserving" new poor?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This disaster just highlights the absurdity of capitalism. I saw a woman on the news the other night in tears because her house had gone up in smoke. Fair enough, she's worked hard for it... But suddenly, through a freak of nature, what was probably her most secure asset is completely worthless and she'll have to start again from scratch. If she's lucky she might get a paltry handout that evidently comes at the expense of someone else's wellbeing...

Anonymous said...

“Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced further financial support measures for those affected by natural disasters in Victoria and Queensland.
An additional $5 million will be provided, on top of what has already been announced, for emergency relief in bushfire-affected Victoria and flood-affected Queensland, Mr Rudd told federal parliament.”
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-boosts-support-for-disaster-victims-20090210-836j.html

Anonymous said...

Yes DH, you are right on the money with your observation about the "more deserving new poor". Also, think Rudd has shown, with his targetted grants/bribes/stimulants that dole recipients are at the bottom of the food chain. But now with so many falling out of work, he may even have to adjust that prejudice.

As for that journo from the Oz who's loudly complained about Centrelink asking for a bank statement as p.o.id in order to get his emergency fire grant, imagine if he had to jump through the obligatory hoops that Centrelink helpfully puts all other welfare applicants through!

Finally, re the public housing in the stimulus package, i bet a lot of it will turn out to be social housing with tenants having to pay over 30% of income in rent - particularly in Victoria where they've forgotten how to build public housing!

Anonymous said...

What happened to all the money given to the red cross? There was enough to rebuild all the uninsured homes.