Housing Minister Matt Brown talks tough (to small fry)

Mild-mannered NSW Housing Minister Matt Brown is the the latest in a long line of Labor Housing Ministers (think the "Honorable" Joe "Mr Clean" Tripodi, and Cherie "Trust Me, I was a Houso" Burton) who get off on talking tough to small fry.



Referring to the new Tenant Fraud Amendments to the Housing Act 2001 tabled in Parliament last week, which will see draconian measures to combat public housing tenant fraud, Matt Brown told the Daily Telegraph "We won't cop anyone ripping off those most in need".

And BMW owners have had a wake-up call too from our fearless Minister. They can forget about applying for public housing now. They'll just have to go back to the North Shore where they belong.

This inflammatory language is certain to rebound on the vast majority of honest tenants scratching to get by in poorly maintained housing stock, thanks to combined Howard Government parsimony and lack of commitment and imagination from NSW Labor.

Like the renowned Strong Man of NSW, Morris Iemma, (oh, please, don't frighten us!), young Matt has taken to talking big, in language he wouldn't dare use if he was targetting the major perpetrators of fraud in this country, big business tax "minimizers".

Think Kerry Packer, who got a State Funeral for his services to Tax Evasion. That parasite is still getting increasingly moist-eyed obituaries lamenting the "good old days", when the bugger paid practically no tax, and then gambled away the hard labor of Australians in overseas casinos and horse races.

Private housing dwellers rip off public by $700,000,000

A recent report in the "The Australian" estimates that a number of Australia's wealthiest millionaires are defrauding the Australian public by at least $700,000,000 in tax evasion schemes. According to a figures based on an unrelated press release (see below), from NSW Housing Minister Matt Brown, this massive amount would purchase 3000 public housing dwellings. We can only hope that our indefatigable parliamentarians will put as much legislative effort into naming, shaming and prosecuting their wealthy scrounger business mates, as they do to "protecting" all us "good tenants" who do not currently have a pied-a-terre in Liechtenstein.

If only our Housing Ministers could figure out a better way of being "fair" to us housos than bringing calumny on all our heads with press releases catchily titled "Crackdown on rip-offs to create fairer public housing in NSW "...

Perhaps its time to call these these private housing tax cheats by a new name: AntiSocial Housos.

Whatever happened to the good ole' Class Struggle? Bring back the good old days...

Disclaimer: In principle DH supports exposing wealthy cheats no matter where they live. She does not currently have any assets in Liechtenstein.

DH, Done diddled by Commonwealth Bank

Ken Done and DH lose three quarters of personal fortune to CBA!

DH would like to extend her sympathies to her fellow Sydney Icon, Ken Done. She knows exactly how he feels.

Yes, she, too, has had three quarters of her personal fortune devoured by the profit-hungry ex "People's Bank".

Admittedly, DH's loss was $70 ...

While Done's was $53,000,000

But while she admits that she lost significantly less in absolute terms, she reckons the magnitude of the disaster, measured by their respective abilities to put a meal on the table at the end of the fortnight, is about equal.

DH lost hers, as battlers regularly do, to "Overdrawn fees". Fall $10 short when the electricity bill direct debit goes through, and CBA add $35 to your misery. As do all its rogue banking mates.

Shouldn't there be a law preventing banks from charging pensioners these miserable fees, when they know full well that the amount will be covered in the next day's automatic pension deposit?