The Liberals have been putting the new FOI regime to good use, this time digging up what the nation’s banks thought of the controversial land rent scheme.
- What Commonwealth Bank said: “… (The bank) is concerned about the risk it would be assuming in providing finance for the depreciating asset…”
What St George said: “…there was no appetite for participating in the scheme…there is a valid argument that the house will depreciate over time and therefore may be less than the overall debt…”
What Westpac said: “…it is my understanding that the proposed land rent scheme provided us with some challenges…”
What Wizard Home Loans said: “…have a hiccup in the process…not comfortable with the inability of the bank to have security of the land…”
Zed is outraged that having had this feedback the Chief Minister still went to the election saying it was all hunky dory.
I’m a bit torn on this. On the one hand I’d hate to have a Government so scared of failure that it never tries anything new or different. On the other hand the flaws in land rental that the banks point out were screamingly obvious from the very start and it appears to only be the legendary stubborness of the Chief Minister keeping it going.
If we’re going to throw things at the wall and see what sticks it’s best to quickly clean up the mess.
UPDATED: The ABC report on this has Mr. Stanhope’s defence:
- Mr Stanhope says the banks did have questions about the scheme but many decided to back it after the Government addressed their concerns.
He says the Government still has not secured a lender because of the global financial crisis.