Minister’s Backdown On Unfair Retirement Village Charges Welcome

Ms Hale said she was pleased the Minister for Fair Trading, Virginia Judge, had changed her mind on slugging residents of retirement villages with up to 50% capital replacement costs.

“The Greens and every other non-Labor MP in the Upper House were opposed to this Bill. The Minister knew that if the she brought the Bill to the Upper House in its current form it would have been defeated.”

“The section of the Bill imposing 50% of capital replacement costs on residents was blatant cost shifting from owners onto elderly residents.”

“It was always unfair and it should have never been in the Bill in the first place.”

“The former Minister for Fair Trading, Linda Burney, was reported lunching with retirement village owners at a Labor Party fundraiser at Aria restaurant.

“The Retirement Villages Owners Association then bragged in a press release about their capital replacement agenda appearing in the Bill.

“The new Minister, Virginia Judge, was then left with Ms Burney’s mess.

“To her credit, the new Minister has done the sensible thing, listened to the residents, and has backtracked on this.

“I hope that the government has learnt the lesson – that we have to treat our elderly with respect and protect them from big business exploitation in their retirement”, concluded Ms Hale.