Housing Minister caught fudging social housing figures
More people culled from waitlist than housed
The Palaszczuk Labor Government has been forced to admit Queensland’s social housing waitlist has increased in real terms.
Incredibly, the Government has been caught out culling more people from the waitlist than they put into a home.
The Budget Estimates bombshell follows months of delays to the release of the social housing waitlist by the Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon.
However, today, it has become apparent the Government has been fudging the figures, with revelations in 2022-2023:
It was also revealed Minister Scanlon has set no social housing targets for the next 12 months.
These numbers still pale in comparison to the remaining 41,400 Queenslanders still languishing on the waitlist, waiting for a roof over their head.
Shadow Minister for Housing Tim Mander said today’s revelations were more evidence the Palaszczuk Labor Government is more focused on how things look than how things are.
“The more than 40,000 Queenslanders waiting for a roof over their head during the Queensland Housing Crisis aren’t patting the Government on the back for their abysmal efforts," Mr Mander said.
“Fudging figures doesn’t house Queenslanders, the Minister must explain if she’s using tricky numbers just to make herself look better.
“Queenslanders need assurances this Government is focused on housing Queenslanders not protecting their own jobs at all costs.
“What we learned today was the Minister does not have a target to house every Queenslander waiting for a home.
“This is a slap in the face to those who have trusted their government to deliver in their time of need.
“The Palaszczuk Labor Government has categorically failed to deliver enough homes to keep up with population growth and now it appears they’re trying to cover up their chaos and crisis by fudging figures.”
Mr Mander said the Housing Minister also had serious questions to answer about Indigenous social housing, with new numbers revealing the number of homes had gone backward since 2018.
“The number of Indigenous social and community homes has gone backward by more than 100 homes in five years, despite a growing number of First Nations Queenslanders in need,” he said.
“Queenslanders deserve to know what is happening when some $1.6 billion has been spent on Indigenous social housing and there’s nothing to show for it.
“Queenslanders will not cop more dodgy number tricks from the Palaszczuk Labor Government who cares more about how things look than how things actually are.”
