Page 10 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 16 February 1993
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I am pleased to report to the Assembly that the first fruits of that are now coming through. We have extended the HomeBuyer loan scheme to a new scheme which is being referred to as HomeBuyer Plus. This will provide for a further 160 low and moderate income Canberra families to gain access to affordable home loans, and that represents a significant boost to economic activity in the Territory.
The new loan system will be somewhat more generous than has been previously available. It will apply to a maximum household gross income of $980 a week; previously it was $790 a week. It will apply to a maximum property value of $160,000, as opposed to $140,000 under the old scheme, with a maximum loan amount of $140,000 compared to $120,000. The loan payments will be linked to a maximum of 27 per cent of gross household income. The important aspect of these Commissioner for Housing loans is that they allow people on moderate or low incomes to enter into commitments with a guarantee that the repayments are linked to income. So, if they have a change in circumstances, their repayments will be adjusted accordingly. The total loan establishment fee is also well below what it might be out in the private sector, with an establishment fee of $250. The Bill the Assembly passed before Christmas is bearing fruit - 160 additional loans to low and moderate income Canberra families to allow them, in many cases, to get out of public housing and into the private housing market and buy new homes, thus creating employment and activity in this town.
HIV/AIDS Patients
MR STEVENSON: My question is to Rosemary Follett and concerns the Health Minister and the non-reporting of the details of HIV/AIDS patients to the Medical Officer of Health.
MADAM SPEAKER: Please refer to the Chief Minister by her title of Chief Minister or as Ms Follett, Mr Stevenson.
MR STEVENSON: Due to claims by the Government that the reporting requirements were unclear prior to the latest amendment of the regulations, I ask the Chief Minister, as it is well within her power, whether she will move to clarify the facts by either, firstly, releasing the opinion on the legal requirements prepared by the Attorney-General's Department for the Health Minister as this relates to a matter of legal fact affecting every doctor in the ACT and there being no valid reason for withholding this information; or, secondly, the Government commissioning two legal experts - Professor Dennis Pearce, Dean of Law, ANU, and Peter Sheils, QC, at the separate bar of the ACT, would appear eminently qualified for such a purpose - with the brief to advise the ACT Government of appropriate action, if any, that should be taken in response to the matters raised in the motion of no confidence in the ACT Health Minister on 16 December 1992, this opinion to take proper account of any associated matters deemed relevant and the proper broader experience of the House of Representatives.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I thank Mr Stevenson for the question. The last part of his question relates to the fact that this very issue was debated exhaustively in the Assembly, and in fact it was voted down in the final vote. Mr Stevenson is attempting to reactivate the issue, on which the Assembly has already made its majority view clear.
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