Legal advocates say the Northern Territory government has "quietly" wiped $70 million worth of rental debt allegedly owed by remote residents who didn't know the debt existed.The government has not formally announced the debt waiver and it comes as rents are set to riseThe NT has been embroiled in years-long legal battles over the state of remote housingfor providing uninhabitable housing stock., claiming individual households owed up to $21,000 to the department in unpaid rent.
Freedom-of-information requests revealed the Territory government alleged the community owed a total of $2 million in unpaid rent but had never pursued the debts. "They announced to the tribunal that the Treasurer has made a determination under the Financial Management Act waiving or writing off any alleged debts," Mr Kelly said.NTCAT heard the decision to wipe the alleged debt was made at the end of June.
Wiping these debts means the government can no longer countersue residents who take them to court in this same way, but Mr Kelly said based on the outcome of the Santa Teresa countersuit, it was "questionable" if any debts would have been provable.In a statement, the government said the rental system was "antiquated" and "ineffective, confusing for tenants and challenging to administer".
Must be nice to not even know you have to pay rent, then have the debt magically disappeared. Imagine having to pay half or more of your income on rent. Who's disadvantaged?
120,000 homeless Aussie's, yet we have this shit going on. If true imagine how many home's $70 million could build FFS?