Gippsland East electorate
Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (14:54): (698) My constituency question is to the Minister for Housing in the other place. The information I am seeking is what she is going to do to address an exorbitant 55 per cent increase in rent at a public housing complex in Heyfield. A group of tenants living in very small 40-year-old one-bedroom units are in shock at being told that their rents are going up $64 a week, from $116 to $180, leaving many of these pensioners unable to pay. Gary Kennedy, one resident, has undergone a kidney transplant. He has regular trips to Melbourne. He has to take 20 medications a week. I have been contacted by other residents in that complex who are saying they are going to have to choose between heat and food on the table. Government correspondence says that the rental adjustment is due to market value, but whether it fits within the threshold or not, this is the government pinching money to pay for its state debt, and I want to know what the minister is going to do about it.