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State House Sell-Off to Benefit Australia’s Less Well Off

29 JUNE 2015

State House Sell-Off to Benefit Australia’s Less Well Off


New Zealand taxpayers could soon be paying to look after Australia’s less well off, says New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters and Member of Parliament for Northland.

“If the mad plan of Finance Minister Bill English to sell state houses overseas goes through this will happen.

“In short, the Kiwi taxpayer who pays many state house rents through welfare payments will be paying an Australian landlord, who will put the management profits back into services for Australia’s needy.

“How numbskull is that for an outcome,” says Mr Peters.

“The taxpayer built and paid for state houses, but now Bill English wants to sell them at a cheap price to an Aussie organisation. We lose on the sale.

“The tenants are still Kiwis, many of them receiving a state payment of some sort, so they can live and pay the rent

“So, the Aussie company gets rent from the New Zealand taxpayer, via these welfare payments.

“The Aussie organisation turns a profit and ploughs it back into its services, but not in New Zealand. Its partners and shareholders are all in Australia, they are various charities and non-profit organisations.

“If Mr English wants to give help to Australia’s needy he need to do it through Foreign Affairs and New Zealand’s foreign aid budget.”

ENDS

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