NSW Liberal Leader and Shadow Minister for Western Sydney Peter Debnam, Shadow Minister for Housing Greg Aplin and Liberal Candidate for Parramatta John Chedid today slammed the Iemma-Costa Labor Government’s 12 years of neglect of public housing. 

“The Iemma-Costa Labor Government has failed public housing tenants for 12 years,” Mr Debnam said, after meeting with local public housing tenants at Telopea.

“Public housing tenants frequently complain about neighbours involved in bold criminal activities making neighbourhoods unsafe.

“The Labor Government should have learnt a long time ago that career criminals should not be placed in public housing – they should be turfed out.

“The Labor Government’s financial mismanagement means many public housing tenants simply can’t get basic maintenance jobs completed properly,” Mr Debnam said.

Mr Aplin said the most recent figures from the NSW Audit Office estimate the Iemma-Costa Labor Government’s public housing maintenance backlog at $650 million.

“The Iemma-Costa Labor Government has failed public housing for 12 years, funnelling money into the bloated bureaucracy rather than fixing people’s homes,” Mr Aplin said.

Mr Chedid said he was very pleased to have Peter and Greg in Parramatta to speak to local residents and hear the concerns of public housing tenants first hand.

“I have been contacted by a number of local residents with complaints about the lack of maintenance and ongoing problems with unruly neighbours,” Mr Chedid said.

“Ian Kelly has been a local resident in public housing for a number of years and his ongoing experience has been the Labor Government’s failure to perform vital maintenance work and provide adequate services.

“After 12 years of Labor the time for excuses is over – NSW needs higher standards, better services and balanced budgets,” Mr Chedid concluded.