National's Week Of Housing Lies

Monday

- National's Housing Policy is released on their website without a press statement – Labour announces the policy on National's behalf
- The policy indicates National would scrap income related rents and restart National's state housing sale programme of the 90s
- Don Brash tells Guyon Espiner he's not familiar with the detail of the policy and was unaware it had been released

Tuesday
- The Herald publishes comments from National's Housing spokesperson David Carter that include a suggestion that income related rents could possibly be kept for existing state house tenants
- Don Brash is asked again about National's housing policy and again is unable to explain the detail of the policy
- Every Child Counts asks for a "clear and unequivocal statement from National" about the impacts their policy would have on children – National does not respond

Wednesday
- The Herald publishes an admission from John Key that he and Don Brash were not involved in the creation of the housing policy
- John Key claims that no tenant will be worse off under National as the accommodation supplement will be expanded to replace income related rents – this is described as 'fiscally neutral' despite the fact that it would require nearly $2 billion in extra spending over four years even after the savings from scrapping income related rents
- Don Brash admits to Linda Clark that he is not familiar with the effects of National's housing policy in the 90s
- Brash repeats Key's lie that no one will be worse off under National

Thursday

- National's Welfare spokesperson Judith Collins becomes the fourth MP to comment on the policy
- Collins – a former Housing New Zealand Director – outrageously claims there are still 12,000 people with an "urgent or near urgent" housing need – the true number is just over 4,000
- She also claims that Labour continued National's programme of state house sales when in fact Labour has added 5,000 homes to the stock
- The Child Poverty Action Group offers Don Brash "a crash course on the reality for poor families in New Zealand."

ENDS

© Scoop Media