Every Australian Counts launches the DIY Disability Housing Plan

Media release 20 March 2015:

DIY Disability Housing Plan

“While the National Disability Insurance Scheme has been talking about making a plan to start building accessible housing for people with disability, TV’s ‘The Block’ has built 18 units”.

The NDIS at full scheme will have a budget of up to $700 million a year to invest in accessible housing for people with disability. This week we learned that after two years of discussion the housing options paper prepared by the National Disability Insurance Agency has been binned! Instead they are going to discuss the issue again at the next national meeting of disability ministers in April.

John Della Bosca continued “By 2020, there will be 122,000 people with disability eligible for the NDIS without accessible housing. This problem is not going away. It’s time the Ministers took disability housing out of the too hard basket”.

It is taking too long for the governments to come up with a plan and so we are making our own. Today the Every Australian Counts launched the DIY Disability Housing Plan. While our politicians are talking about making a plan, people with disability and their families are going to write a plan ourselves.

John Della Bosca concluded: “We are calling on our 160,000 supporters to send in ideas on how the NDIA should invest $700 million each year to provide accessible housing to people with disability. What they have taken two years to do, we will do in one month.

Contributions to the paper are being made at http://www.everyaustraliancounts.com.au/take-action/

Before you start to cry copious tears for Community Housing Limited on the NSW North Coast......

Mainstream media on the NSW North Coast reported that Community Housing Limited had lost its NSW Land & Environment Court bid for rates exemption on its 1,368 properties in this state.

On its website the company asserts it is a registered charity. However, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission lists it as a public benevolent institution and the court decided that the company failed to prove it was a charity in its presented arguments.

In its Concise Annual Report 2014 Community Housing Limited stated:

At 30 June 2014 CHL had a portfolio of 4,309 properties under rental management in Australia across six States including Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. Internationally in Timor Leste, Chile, and India….

Results for year

Total revenue and other income of the Economic Entity is $70,842,035 (2013: $88,406,634).

Total Members Funds are $315,033,844 (2013: $303,983,086). Net surplus for the year amounted to $11,050,758 (2013:$39,630,760)….

In 2014 the company had a surplus of over $11.1 million, total rental income of over $36.6 million and paid no income tax.

In Australia its combined grant and incentive income in 2014 was over $17.7 million.

In the Coffs Harbour area the company appears to have taken possession of 180 Coffs Harbour public housing properties (a mix of one & two bedroom units) in 2011, with the state government contributing a one-off payment of around $1.5 million and the company making a contribution of around $1 million to required property upgrades.

In the Clarence Valley it has fourteen housing properties (a mix of units, townhouses and houses) in Grafton funded by federal, state and local government in the form of land contribution, discounted land sale, capital grants and National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) as well as a loan taken out by the housing company.

These appear to be typical profiles of how this company funds its affordable housing expansion.

So the bottom line in all this is that a comfortably cashed-up international housing company (which already gets considerable assistance from all three tiers of Australian government) wanted more and didn’t get it.

Forgive me, if I cannot see why it shouldn’t pay its council rates, particularly in regional New South Wales where net surpluses running into many millions are rarely found in in local government coffers.

OVERCOMING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE 2014 report released 19 November 2014

M e d i a R e l e a s e

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision

OVERCOMING INDIGENOUS DISADVANTAGE 2014

The 2014 Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (OID) report released today shows some positive trends in the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, with improvements in health, education

and economic outcomes. However, results in areas such as justice and mental health continue to cause concern.

The report shows that, nationally, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians:

• economic outcomes have improved over the longer term, with higher incomes, lower reliance on income support, increased home ownership, and higher rates of full time and professional employment.

However, improvements have slowed in recent years

• several health outcomes have improved, including increased life expectancy and lower child mortality.

However, rates of disability and chronic disease remain high, mental health outcomes have not improved, and hospitalisation rates for self-harm have increased

• post-secondary education outcomes have improved, but there has been virtually no change in literacy and numeracy results at school, which are particularly poor in remote areas

• justice outcomes continue to decline, with adult imprisonment rates worsening and no change in high rates of juvenile detention and family and community violence.

“It has been almost three years since the last OID report. For this report we made a concerted effort to increase the involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Their input contributed to significant developments, including broadening the focus from overcoming disadvantage to improving wellbeing, and the inclusion of new indicators, such as Indigenous language revitalisation and maintenance, valuing Indigenous cultures (including experiences of racism and discrimination) and participation in decision making” said Peter Harris, chairman of the Productivity Commission and of the Steering Committee.

The OID report is the most comprehensive report on Indigenous wellbeing produced in Australia. It contains accessible data for an extensive range of wellbeing measures as well as case studies of programs that have led to improved outcomes. “This report should be compulsory reading for anyone interested in outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians or working in service delivery or program design,” said Commissioner Patricia Scott, who convenes the expert working group that advises on the report.

The report is a product of the Review of Government Service Provision. It is overseen by a Steering Committee comprising senior officials from the Australian, State and Territory governments, and supported by a secretariat from the Productivity Commission. This report is the sixth in the series, which traces its origins to the final report of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 2000.

The full report can be found here.

On the same day the Productivity Commission report was released the Abbott Government walked away from another one of its 2013 election promises, according to The Australian, 20 November 2014:

THE national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services NATSILS is angry at the Abbott government for “back flipping” on a pledge to consider introducing justice targets as part of the Closing the Gap policy agenda, a move which NATSILS along with many other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and organisations have long called for.

It comes after this week’s Productivity Commission Overcoming indigenous Disadvantage report revealed a shocking increase of nearly 60 per cent in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration rates over the last decade.

NATSILS Chairperson, Shane Duffy, said that confirmation from the Minister for indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, during question time in the Senate on Wednesday that the government would not be progressing with introducing a justice target, despite publicly supporting such in the lead up to the 2013 election, was a troubling development…..

Mr Duffy said that the development of Closing the Gap justice targets was not just about throwing more money at the issue, as the Minister had described it, but was rather about getting the policy settings right to affect real change and to make sure resources in the justice space are used most effectively.

“The high cost of incarceration combined with the fact that prisons actually offer little in terms of effective rehabilitation, means that addressing incarceration rates should be an economic priority for the Government and its budget bottom line,” Mr Duffy said.

“It is costing Australian taxpayers more than $795 million per annum just to maintain the current level of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander over-imprisonment, so to reiterate the sentiments of the Minister in recent days, we shouldn’t just keep throwing money down the drain.”

The Abbott Code Explained - Part One

The Abbott Code

Interim Report of the Reference Group on Welfare Reform to the Minister for Social Services, June 2014:

Effective Rent Assistance

Rent Assistance should be reviewed to determine appropriate levels of assistance and the best mechanism for adjusting assistance levels over time. Rent Assistance for parents should recognise their role in supporting young people beyond school to independence.

Consideration could be given to moving away from the current system of income based rents towards the use of Rent Assistance as the preferred rent subsidy scheme across both private and public tenures.

Decoded Message

It is our intention to allow the states to charge full market rent for public/social housing stock and, the only welfare subsidy available will be a maximum of $61.50 per week off that market rent for age pensioners, independent retirees, disability support pensioners without children, unemployed singles/couples and low income childless couples or between $73.78-$83.65 a week off full market rent if you have dependent children/recent school leavers who have not yet started work.

BACKGROUND

Rents for the March Quarter 2014 according to Housing NSW:

NSW North Coast

Tweed Valley 2-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent* $290-$380 per week

Richmond Valley Coast 2 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $300-$428

Richmond Valley Hinterland 2-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $215-$300

Clarence Valley 2-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $225-$290

Coffs Harbour 2-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $260-$365

Some metropolitan/local government areas in New South Wales

Port Stephens 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $200-$350

Newcastle 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $220-$420 

Woolongong 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $230-$430

Greater Sydney 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $450-$500 including:

Parramatta 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $333-$480

Liverpool 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $260-$440

Campbelltown 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $298-$380

Blacktown 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $250-$400

Auburn 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $410-$520

Bankstown 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $260$480

Blue Mountains 1-3 bedroom flat/unit/house - median rent $240-$380.

* Median Rent is the weekly rent amount that falls exactly in the middle of the full range of rents charged.

UPDATE

Northern Rivers Echo 4 August 2013:

Table derived from Australian Property Monitors 2014 June Quarter data

So just how much is the O'Farrell Government taking from the wallets of public housing tenants when it takes one quarter of their Commonwealth Clean Energy Supplement?

In April 2013 the NSW Coalition Government began to calculate public housing rent to include the Commonwealth Clean Energy Supplement. It also allowed community housing associations/corporations to similarly adjust their rent calculations.

Premier O’Farrell said revenue needs to be raised by increasing public housing rents because NSW won’t be compensated for the carbon tax “hit” to electricity generators.

According to the NSW Auditor-General in 2012; New South Wales has the largest social housing portfolio in Australia, comprising over 150,000 dwellings. LAHC owns the bulk of these with about 134,000 dwellings valued at around $32 billion.

If one nominally allocates one Clean Energy Supplement payment of $13.50 per fortnight^[1] to each of the 134,000 dwelling owned by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) and totals the 25% of this supplement that the NSW O’Farrell Government takes from the renters of this public housing – then Liberal Party Premier O’Farrell and Nationals Deputy Leader Stoner now extract an estimated $11.7 million annually out of the pockets of predominately old aged and disability pensioners, widows (including war widows), single parents and carers.

In March 2013 the NSW Liberal Party stated that the cost to the State Budget of the carbon tax is expected to be $237 million. So 134,000 low income households will be paying an estimated 4.96%^[2] of the O’Farrell Government’s total expected carbon tax bill for 2013-14.

Or to put it another way, about 5.42% of all 2.4 million NSW households (ABS National Regional Profile: New South Wales 2013) pay almost 5% of the NSW Government's total expected carbon tax bill.

 

If one also nominates one Clean Energy Supplement payment per fortnight to each of the 16,000 dwelling held by community housing – then the not-for-profit housing sector takes another $1.4 million annually. As this sector is unlikely to find that it is directly liable for the carbon tax, one wonders what excuse it will give its low income tenants for so blatantly gouging.

One particular Northern Rivers community housing company collects around $74,000 per annum from its tenants’ fortnightly federal energy supplements.


[1] The $13.50 is a single person's fortnightly payment if they are receiving the aged, disability, widow's or wife's pension or receiving carers payment.

[2] A thank you to Clarrie Rivers for confirming the estimated percentage of public housing renters paying part of the state's expected carbon tax bill.

Ballina affordable housing stock grows by 120

THE HON MARK BUTLER MP

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing

Minister for Housing and Homelessness

Minister for Social Inclusion

Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform

JANELLE SAFFIN MP

Member for Page

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

120 MORE AFFORDABLE HOMES FOR BALLINA

26 April 2013

North Coast residents will soon have access to 120 more affordable homes in Ballina, thanks to a $5 million investment by the Labor Government under its Building Better Regional Cities program.

Minister for Housing and Homelessness Mark Butler, Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin, and Ballina Mayor, Cr David Wright, said the funding would help reduce the cost of building local infrastructure needed for a new housing development in Ballina.

“We know that housing shortages are creating challenges on the North Coast and The Ballina Heights Estate will deliver much needed affordable housing for the region.

“I gave strong support to Ballina Shire Council's submission, given the community need for affordable housing and the Council's great work and planning.  Mayor Cr. David Wright and his team of Councillors and General Manager Paul Hickey and his team are to be commended," Ms Saffin said.

“This funding will help reduce the cost of the development by delivering essential infrastructure such as stormwater drainage and street lighting in the estate, and these savings will be passed on to home buyers with a $25,000 rebate from the purchase price of land in the Estate.”

Cr Wright said the funding would help more low income earners in Ballina gain access to affordable housing.

“I know how challenging it can be for people on low incomes to get a start in the property market and tohis project will increase the supply of affordable homes for sale and rent and help alleviate housing supply pressures in our community,” Cr Wright said.

“The Ballina Heights development is about more than just housing. It’s about creating a community, with a new school, shops, and public parks, all at the residents’ doorsteps.”

Mr Butler said the Building Better Regional Cities program is part of the government’s record $26 billion investment in housing programs to help address housing affordability around the nation.

“We’re investing in regional centers like Ballina, where rapid population growth is forcing up house prices and rents,” Mr. Butler said.

“This funding is in addition to the $4.5 million we provided Ballina Council under Building Better Regional Cities for the development of sports fields in Wollongbar.”

He said the funding is part of the Labor Government’s $114 million investment over three years to support local infrastructure projects for new housing developments in 16 regional communities across Australia.

“We believe all Australians deserve a safe, secure home, and we will continue to work to provide affordable housing for Australia’s most vulnerable people.”

Media contacts:

Tim O’Halloran (Butler) – 0409 059 617

Lee Duncan (Saffin)      – 0448 158 150

Are Clarence Coast homeowners becoming too greedy?

National Australia Bank (NAB) Quarterly Australian Residential Property Survey: June 2012:
"According to the survey, national house prices fell -2% in the June quarter, from -1.3% in Q1’12, with all states reporting price falls in the 3 months to June.
House price declines were most pronounced in Victoria, down -2.9% (-1.8% in Q1’12). Heavier falls were also seen in NSW (-2.3%), compared with -0.4% fall in Q1’12. Capital values held up best in WA, although they also fell -0.6% (-0.1% in Q1’12). Marginally slower price declines were recorded in Queensland (-1.7%) and SA/NT (-1.6%).
The housing sector is expected to remain under pressure in the next year, with property professionals expecting national prices to fall by -0.7% (-0.2% forecast in Q1’12). There is, however, wide variance between the states.
Prices are expected to continue falling in Victoria (-2.1%), NSW (-1.5%) and SA/NT (-0.5%), but grow in WA (1.6%) and Queensland (0.5%)."
ANZ Research is slightly more optimistic; "prices, capital values and property market confidence in NSW should edge gradually higher through the second half of 2012 in the absence of further deterioration in the global economy."
These reports might explain why First National Real Estate Yamba in its July 2012 property update flyer is stating “some vendors pricing does not reflect the current market” as contributing to the fact that only forty-five homes have been recorded as sold in Yamba in the last six months.
Apparently many of those million dollar plus waterfront ‘mansions’ are only worth a million dollars plus in the eyes of their owners at the moment. Which might explain why they have been very publicly languishing in online property listings representing around three hundred and twenty Yamba properties currently for sale.

Barry O'Farrell robs around 1,400 pensioners living in the Page electorate

Saffin calls on O’Farrell Government to stop slugging pensioners

Page MP Janelle Saffin has slammed the O’Farrell Government for taking part of the Federal Government’s recent pension increase away from public housing tenants.

Premier O’Farrell has announced a hike in public housing rents from March next year.

Ms Saffin said the NSW Government is using Labor’s pension increase as an excuse to hit public housing tenants.

“This cash grab will affect about 1400 public housing tenants in Page.

“The Federal Labor Government is delivering a boost for pensioners to help them make ends meet, but Barry O’Farrell wants to take a slice of it for himself.

“Local pensioners are sick and tired of seeing the NSW Government hit pensioners every time the Federal Labor Government gives them a bit of extra support.

“All pensioners in Page have received a lump sum payment from the Federal Government in recent weeks of $250 for singles and $380 for couples. From next March they will get a permanent boost to their regular payments.

“But Barry O’Farrell’s decision means a maximum rate single pensioner in public housing will be paying an extra $84.50 in rent a year.

“Federal Labor is delivering the pension increase as a separate, stand-alone supplement. The accepted practise is to leave pension supplements alone when public housing rents are calculated.

“In 2009 when the Australian Labor Government brought in the biggest ever increase to the pension, I lobbied the then State government to quarantine the increase from public housing rent rises,” Ms Saffin said.

“Barry O’Farrell has betrayed local pensioners.”

June 15, 2012

Media contact:  Lee Duncan 0448 158 150

Uncle Joe puckers up and blows the first dog whistle of the season

On the 3^rd January 2012 @JoeHockey tweeted that “I warned of this a year ago!!!”

I clicked on the link wondering what financial horror the federal shadow treasurer had uncovered.

The article merely confirmed the bleeding obvious; “Among banks trading in Australia, the major lenders account for 86.7 per cent of the home loan market.
Well, knock me down with a roo’s tail feather!

Now mortgage holders can switch between banks with no financial penalty for doing so, they are still sticking with the big banks.

I wonder why?

Could it possibly be that these aspirational borrowers believe that solid reputations built up over decades or centuries by the banks really matter in periods of global financial uncertainty?

Or did many of them approve of the big banks following the November 2011 example of the Reserve Bank rate cut? After all there was a surge in mortgage lending to first home buyers and investors right after that – mostly within the banking sector.

Were they cheered by the fact that in December all four of the big banks had passed on another rate cut to their borrowers?

Now Uncle Joe likes to blow his dog whistle loudly over Twitter, this time crying out that Teh Big Four are still big!
A few street mutts might even scamper his way. This old mongrel won't be one of them.
I may hail from a long gone time where you actually knew your bank manager and it was the price of our schooners which concerned us all, but for the life of me I can’t see that consumers exercising choice is a problem for the country. Specially those consumers taking out a new mortgage.

Why should they go and pay higher borrowing rates in the non-banking sector just to please Hockey’s notion of how the world should turn?

Running dogs from http://www.halhigdon.com/
Dog cartoon from http://www.webweaver.nu/

A question of housing priorities.....

With social housing being scarce as hens teeth in the Clarence Valley Maud Up the Street and her mate are a bit hot under the collar over the goings on at North Coast Community Housing Company.

Apparently this government funded company is indefinitely holding a one bedroom unit in the Lower Clarence for a tenant who isn't even halfway through serving a two-year gaol sentence after pleading guilty to multiple charges.

Even I had to mutter a WTF after hearing that one. Bit hard to live in two places at once isn’t it?

Pic from Google Images

O'Farrell Government to rob 68,000 NSW pensioners of millions every year

In 2009 the Rudd Labor Government increased the base rate of Australian pensions.

Since then those NSW pensioners renting social housing (who comprised less than 5 per cent of all public/community housing tenants in the state in 2010) have been fighting a rapacious state government which immediately saw this increase as a jam pot which it could dip into in order to improve its fiscal bottom line.

It would do this by taking 25% of the payment increase from the approximately 68,000 pensioners in NSW public housing, nearly one-third of whom are probably 65 years of age or older.

The windfall would come to an estimated $13.2 to $16.5 million annually for the NSW Government – depending on how many lone person households there are in this group.

In September 2011 the O’Farrell Coalition Government announced in the budget papers that it intends to commence stealing these millions from elderly, disabled and widowed pensioners.

NSW Nationals MPs who dominate North Coast electorates are remarkably silent concerning this theft. Why should they care - after all they are sitting quite comfortably on a salary package of over $140,000 per year plus an electoral allowance.

Northern Rivers Housing Forum 10am-2.30pm 14 September 2011 Lismore

Northern Rivers Housing Forum

The theme for this month’s Northern Rivers Housing Forum will be ‘New Approaches to Connecting People and Services’.

The forum is free for participants and will be held on Wednesday, 14 September, from 10.00am – 2.30pm at Goonellabah Community Centre, Oliver Avenue, Lismore.

Lunch will be provided and places are limited so people will need to register early.

Please register to attend the forum with Julie Dukes at North Coast Community Housing Company on 66 275315

Saffin invites Inquiry Into The Operation Of The Insurance Industry During Disaster Events to hear evidence on the NSW North Coast

Media release from the office of Janelle Saffin, Federal Labor MP for Page, on Thursday 16 June 2011:

PAGE MP Janelle Saffin has welcomed a new inquiry into how the insurance industry responds to natural disasters, including floods, storms and bushfires regularly experienced by Northern Rivers residents.

Ms Saffin has wasted no time in inviting the House of Representatives Standing Committee Chair, Graham Perrett MP, to hold public hearings in her electorate during the second half of this year.

“Our region is frequently affected by floods, storms and bushfires, sometimes several times a year, and there always is a mountain of paper work and phone calls for policy-holders to navigate,” she said.

“Some of my constituents have been less than satisfied with their insurance companies’ handling of claims or unacceptably long delays in having those claims assessed and finalised.

“This new inquiry will provide the insurance industry and consumers will an opportunity to make submissions on how the system can be streamlined or improved.”

The inquiry will examine the insurance industry in respect to extreme weather events, which due to Climate Change, are becoming more common.

It will consider:

· The information provided to consumers about claims processing arrangements.

· The timeliness of claims processing.

· The impact of third-party consultants on timeframes for claims processing, and

· External and internal dispute resolution processes.

Ms Saffin urged policy-holders who had made a disaster-related claim in the past five years to participate in the Committee’s on-line survey by visiting www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/spla/insurance/index.htm

Full terms of reference for the inquiry can also be found at this website. Individuals and organisations are invited to make submissions to the inquiry by Friday, July 15, 2011.

----------------------------

This Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs inquiry is also conducting an online survey:

To gauge community concerns relating to this inquiry, the Committee is conducting an online survey. The survey is targeting members of the community who have made a disaster-related claim on their insurance policies in the last 5 years.

Tell us about your experience of dealing with insurance companies in relation to disaster-related claims here.

So who is homeless in Oz? Will we ever find out?

As part of preparations for the August 2011 Census of Population and Housing, the Australian Bureau of Statistics is revisiting how it estimates the number of homeless people across the nation. It was fascinating to find that here in Oz we actually have a minimum community standard as to what constitutes a home of your own - a small rental flat with a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom and an element of security of tenure.
Don’t have that or something very like and you don’t have a permanent home it seems.
Regardless of this definition, apparently our statisticians are running through a bit of a longstanding maze when it comes to calculating homelessness.
Undercounting and over counting are just as likely across different groups and it was no surprise to find that rural and regional areas were more of an accuracy challenge than cities and suburbs.
In 2006 there were 173,000 people in homeless services accommodation on census night and several thousand sleeping rough, but nobody really knows exactly how many don’t have a roof over their heads. Probably because rough sleepers often need to hide where they kip outdoors for the night to keep safe and indoor couch surfers don’t always like to admit how precarious is their situation.
Anyways ABS is trying to do something about the head count problem and is holding consultation nights at these venues in April and May.
I wish them luck but I’m not holding my breath when it comes to a head count of the homeless in the Northern Rivers - so many places to hide if you don't want to be noticed.

Land values fall - finally the penny is dropping on the Clarence Coast?

The Daily Examiner 24 November 2009

For literally decades now – with information and risk scenarios firming along with the science as the years pass – the NSW Northern Rivers generally and the Clarence Coast specifically have been aware that these regions will probably be on the front line of climate change impacts. Heatwaves, increased fire risk, more drought periods per decade, more extreme rainfall/wind/flash flooding events are predicted.

With parts of Yamba Hill likely to end up in the ocean when specific weather and seas conditions batter the cliff face, rising sea levels also likely to cause strong storm surges which will inundate streets within the town as far up as Lake Kolora, higher groundwater tables or sea water in the aquifers and, river flooding predicted to be less frequent but more destructive

So it has been a quiet wonder over these last ten years to find that house and land values had been holding firm or rising.

Not anymore though, as it appears that prospective buyers may now be more cautious when scoping out coastal property and are probably not as willing to shoulder the higher end of the coming financial risk:

A DROP in land values of up to $600,000 for properties in Yamba's prestigious hill precinct will see ratepayers fork out hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars less in annual rates.
Figures obtained by The Daily Examiner show drops of up to 30% over the six-year period from 2004 for land in streets including Ocean St, Pacific Pde and Clarence St.
Despite this, increasing values in other areas of the Valley will still see the council's rate revenue for the 2011/2012 financial year rise by a projected 15%.
One Pacific Pde block, valued at $2.34 million in 2004, plummeted $600,000 to $1.64 million in the 2010 valuation.
The owners of one property on Ocean St will have to fork out around $1200 less in rates per year after the value of their land dropped by $350,000 to $1.2 million.
And the reduction in land values isn't just confined to residential properties.
The value of land occupied by the Blue Dolphin resort dropped $3 million, which will see council get around $13,000 less in annual rates from the holiday park.
Without knowing the specifics impacting on Yamba land values, a representative for the Valuer-General's Department said local issues could effect the movements of valuations up or down.
“The valuations are based on sales analysis. If the sales are moving up or down this could be a factor,” the representative said.
The Valuer-General's Department will investigate factors influencing land values and The Daily Examiner will report on the results……
[The Daily Examiner, 19 March 2011]

Well, the warnings were there weren't they?

Climate change has potentially profound effects for the property and development industry. Stakeholders in the industry must begin to consider the various ways that climate change will impact upon property prices and valuation methodologies. [2010]

Tens of thousands of properties along the coast of New South Wales could be left uninsured to the threats of rising sea levels, Gabby Greyem reports.
Sea level rise could cost Australians $150 billion in uninsured real estate, according to Insurance Australia Group.
As a result of global warming sea levels are predicted to rise up to 40 cm by 2050 and 90 cm by 2100. 46,000 properties between Newcastle and Wollongong are less than three metres above sea level and are uninsured for coastal erosion or landslip.
Director of Lonergan Edwards & Associates, Tony Coleman, said most insurance policies cover the house and contents, but not the land value, and often the land is a significant part of a waterfront property’s overall value.
“Even half a metre within 50 years is a lot of extra sea to keep out if you’re trying to stop waves.
“A lot of people are going to lose their property and they won’t be insured,” he said.
Mr Coleman believes there is a growing realisation about the costs of sea level rise, but it is being overshadowed by the high focus on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. [2009]

One general insurer has estimated that the value of coastal property in Australia at risk to rising sea levels and erosion is between $50 billion and $150 billion.
In a submission to a Federal Government inquiry, the insurer even suggests an insurance fund into which owners of low-lying land would pay a regular levy for compensation when sea levels cause their land to become permanently unusable. [2008]

Climate change has the potential to impact heavily both society at large and the global economy. It is also increasingly being understood as a business risk.
Issues of energy and environment have, for some time, been of key interest and relevance to the actuarial profession on a number of fronts. In particular, the effect of climate change on insurance and the contribution of electricity markets to greenhouse gas emissions.
Such concern on the part of the actuarial community is hardly surprising, given that they are experts at understanding and assessing the financial impact of future uncertain events. There can be no set of complex problems more amenable to, and more in need of, application of the actuarial skill set than those generated by climate change.
Weather and climate are "core business" for the insurance industry. At its most basic, insurers underwrite weather-related catastrophes by calculating, pricing and spreading the risk and then meeting claims when they arise. A changing, less predictable climate has the potential to reduce the capacity of insurers to calculate, price and spread this weather-related risk. Policyholders, shareholders and the community at large all have a stake. [2007]

Implications for property values & insurance in risky areas [2006]

So, what happened to Perle Pty Limited and why is it suddenly on the political radar?

Snapshot of Perle Pty Ltd website

Here is a corporation (apparently owned by one Norman Herfurth and Graham Keeping through their own individual companies) which has been in existence since 1997, was expecting an annual turnover in 2010 of approximately $35 million, had ongoing contracts to build social housing for the NSW Government and private schools for the Catholic Church and boasted this substantial client list on its own website:

AMP Capital, Australian Museum, Australia Post, BNP Paribas, Bovis Lend Lease, City of Sydney, CMC Markets, Collex / Veolia Water, Incorp Interior Designs, Jones Lang LaSalle, Macquarie University, Memo Corporation, Mintel International, Racing NSW, Railcorp, Reserve Hotels, Rice Daubney, Roads & Traffic Authority (RTA), Roberts Weaver Group, Savills, Sydney Ferries Corporation, Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, Sydney Opera House Trust, TransGrid, University of Technology, University of Western Sydney, Virgin Mobile and Visa International

So why did Perle Pty Limited operating as Perle Construction Management suddenly go into voluntary liquidation with a list of around 500 creditors (some on the NSW North Coast) and, why is Federal Nationals Luke Hartsuyker attempting to link the Federal Government’s Stimulus Package with the downfall of this company and subcontractors current financial problems when elsewhere creditors appear more stoic?

Perhaps the answer to the first part of this question lies in the fact that this company appears to be more experienced in refurbishing/refitting existing structures rather than building from-the-ground-up, may have been over-ambitious in applying for new construction contracts as well as having a penchant for luxury cars and allegedly pretending all was well in order to receive progress payments from the NSW Dept of Housing and, the second part is easily explained by the Federal Opposition’s desire to use everything and anything it can to beat the Gillard Government about the head and the willingness of local tradies to be used as political tools by the deeply cynical Member for Cowper.

If any one government is to blame for this debacle the finger should be firmly pointing towards the NSW Keneally Government which lurches from one mismanagement disaster to another and a state public service which has been out to lunch for years.

While the real losers in this matter are creditors both large and small, as well as those on the North Coast sometimes desperately waiting for affordable rental accommodation.

K-K-Keneally is just too cute for words

In 2009 Wayne Swan said that the Rudd Government wouldn't tolerate the NSW Government clawing back a big hunk of the base-rate pension increase for single pensioners in increased rental payments for those in public or community housing.
The Rees Government temporarily placed a stay on implementing the rent increase until September 2010.
This month the Gillard Government has requested the Keneally Government not to claw back this same increase and again the NSW government has temporarily stayed its hand.
Presumably for only a short period after last Monday's indexed pension rise because the last state budget deliberately didn't quarantine that 2009 base-rate increase.
Premier K-K-Keneally is being just a little too cute if she thinks that wiping $18 dollars from the payment in hand received by public housing tenants on single pensions won't be noticed if it doesn't quite coincide with this month's $15 pension increase.
They'll notice Kristina and they're bound to remember on polling day in 2011.

This is the Member for Tweed in June this year in the NSW Parliament:
"But the New South Wales Labor Government is clawing back $7.50 per week from those people who can least afford it. Approximately 28 per cent of the Tweed electorate's population is aged over 65 years. In fact, for this age group the Tweed ranks second in the State, behind Port Macquarie. Aged pensioners have worked hard all their lives and have given a great deal to this great State, if not this great nation, of ours. Yet their pension increase is being clawed back. Some people may say that $7.50 is not a large amount, but it will buy several loaves of bread or other essentials. Many aged pensioners budget down to their last dollar every week. Last year electricity costs increased by 20 per cent and over the next two years they are expected to increase by another 40 per cent. Many pensioners have told me that their bills will increase by $300, $400 or $500 a year, yet all the Government says is that they can get the pensioner rebate to offset the increase. The pensioner rebate is $140, so they will not save anything. In fact, they will be worse off.
Aged pensioners in the Tweed have told me that they take cold showers every second day because they cannot afford to run the electric heater for their hot water systems, and time and again they turn off appliances. In other words, their lifestyle and comforts of living are being eroded. No longer can they afford the things for which they worked hard all their life. I don't normally agree with much that Geoff Provest has to say, but in this case his words bear repeating.

A bit of background Fair dinkum, you're a bit of a political b*tch aren't you Kristina and Australian pensions increase effective 20 September 2009 and other changes

What NSW Northern Rivers social priorities are in 2010 for local community services

From Northern Rivers Social Priorities 2010 Report:

In early 2010 Northern Rivers Social Development Council (NRSDC) conducted a survey amongst the regions’ community service providers to gauge their views on social priorities. The results from the survey will be used to inform NRSDC in its advocacy role. It will also stand as a resource for other community services to gain an insight into the key social issues faced by the Northern Rivers community and community service system.

Since 2001, initially the Northern Rivers Interagency and now NRSDC have conducted research, consultations and surveys with service providers. The aim has been to identify common social priorities across the region, flag new issues as they arise and monitor the state of those priorities.

Responses from community services of the Northern Rivers to the 2010 Social Priorities survey has revealed that the region’s social priorities, as identified in 2002 and revisited in 2006 remain hot issues in the community.

Data from the survey may be considered in different ways. An indication of what responding services had the strongest feelings about can be found by looking at which issues had the most respondents rating them as 9 out of 9 ie the highest level of concern.

Ranking of the social priorities is as follows on a scale of 1 to 9:

1. Youth 7.72
   
2. Complex needs 7.64
   
3. Transport 7.58
   
4. Housing 7.08
   
5. Ageing 6.92
   
6. Community based management 6.52

Rats in the rooves

There's a lot of not so quiet muttering on the North Coast as retirees discuss the possibility that the subsidised roof insulation installed in their homes over the last year is unsafe.
All the media exposure about shoddy work and greedy spivs has masked another emerging problem - that of other types of roofing work contracted for by local affordable housing providers.
Seems at least one provider is canvassing its tenants to find out if one particular company has left a trail of leaking or unsafe roofs in its wake after sub-contracting work to non-tilers.
Whatever happened to company ethics or pride in a bloke's workmanship?

Is this the view from your Northern Beaches unit? Mapping predicted seal level rise (6)

Is this the view from your brand new Northern Beaches unit?

This is your immediate neighbourhood

with a 1 metre sea level rise

Is your considerable financial investment safe?

This posts displays a current photograph and Google Earth mapping showing the effects of a 1 metre sea level rise on a residential area of the New South Wales coast, which would see the beach eroded and sea water possibly reaching some of the residential back boundaries during storm surges.The 2009 Federal Government report Climate Change Risks to Australia's Coasts contains a 'worst case' scenario involving a 1.1 metre sea level rise along the NSW coast sometime within the next 90 years.

Apology - due to a clumsy cut and past the wrong information initially appeared below the images. It has now been corrected.