Reprinted from the Courier Mail  21-1-13 (read it from their website here).
Let’s hope the Queensland state government re-establishes their commitment to tenant advocacy after the Commonwealth’s emergency funding runs out at the end of June.

Tiny French apartment houses man for 15 years, for $418 a week

A MAN who lives an apartment too small to even stand up straight in has been paying more than $400 a week for the tiny abode.

The apartment in Paris measures just 1.56 square metres, and has been home to the 50-year-old man, known only as Dominique, for the past 15 years.
His plight came to light after the man asked housing advocacy group Fondation Abbe Pierre for help dealing with his landlord, according to French news site NPR.
The advocacy group has published a photo of the tiny home, which has a skylight and a slanted roof, and said on its Twitter feed that “a person doesn’t stand correctly” in the space.
Dominique had reportedly been paying €330 a week to rent the cramped space.

The legal minimum size of an apartment in Paris is 9 square metres and an apartment must include a shower, according to Le Monde.

The owner of the apartment faces a court later this month and the door of the tiny apartment has been permanently shut, RTL reports.

The high rent demanded for the apartment, which has reportedly been managed by three different real estate agencies, is being touted as evidence of the excessive cost of renting in Paris.

Reprinted from the Courier Mail 17-1-13.  Read the article directly from their website here.

Bruce Flegg and his son exchanged a series of emails about Government staff. Source: The Courier-Mail

STARTLING new documents reveal the extent of the professional relationship between former Newman Government minister Bruce Flegg and his lobbyist son. The documents filed in the Supreme Court show a trail of emails between Dr Flegg and his son Jonathon, who was working for lobbying firm Rowland.

They include a clear directive from Mr Flegg to keep the correspondence off government computers – a move that would mean the emails would be exempt from Right to Information laws. 

The emails include a critique of 16 of the Newman Government’s ministerial chiefs-of-staff, sent by Jonathon’s Gmail account to his father’s BigPond email address just three weeks after last year’s state election. 

It is not clear who wrote the critique, but Dr Flegg forwarded it to the personal accounts of his own chief-of-staff and media adviser, with the warning: “Very confidential. For your info. Useful. Don’t send to any govt computors (sic).”

The dossier of emails is part of former media adviser Graeme Hallett’s defence to an $800,000 defamation damages claim brought by Dr Flegg.

Included is a directive from the minister to his chief-of-staff to have a policy officer look at information that “Jonathon will forward”. Continue reading →

Earlier this year the state government announced it would sell the Monte Carlo caravan park in Brisbane.  This park was purchased in the early 1990s by the then Labor government to protect it from private sector redevelopment.

Given the recent announcement, anxious residents have been attempting to purchase the park themselves but have so far received a limited response.

4ZZZ’s Steve Riggall caught up with the residents about the situation.  Listen to the interview here.

The story below was reported by ABC online on Tuesday December 11.  It outlines concerns over the WA government’s ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy for public housing tenants, something that was being considered her by ex-Housing Minister Flegg.

The Housing Minister Terry Redman has rejected criticism that the State Government’s three strikes housing policy is adversely impacting on children.

The Equal Opportunity Commissioner Yvonne Henderson wants the policy reconsidered because she say it results in a high number of Aboriginal families being evicted from public housing.

She says while traditionally most complaints to the commission have been about discrimination in the workplace, the biggest increase in complaints concerns accommodation.

Ms Henderson says there has been a 65 percent increase in those complaints. Continue reading →

The ABC website reported this story last Wednesday, December 5.  Unfortunately the Tenants’ Union of Tasmania were not successful in trying to save the tenancies fo a number of public housing tenants.  Even though they weren’t successful at least there is an organisation standing up for tenants rights.  Where would the community be without tenant advocates?

The Tenants Union is considering its legal options after losing a Supreme Court case in Hobart to stop the eviction of public housing tenants.

The union took legal action against Housing Tasmania after five tenants were evicted.

It argued the tenants were denied natural justice because they were served eviction notices without reasons or opportunity to appeal.

One of the cases, involving a single mother, was tested in the Supreme Court.

Justice Alan Blow found Housing Tasmania was within its rights to evict the woman because her lease had expired and was not terminated.

The judge said that meant she had no right of appeal.

The union’s Ben Bartl, says the decision is disappointing.

“It sends an appalling message to all Housing Tasmania tenants; it says that the government can simply tell tenants that their lease is not going to be extended,” he said.

“In our view the judge has made a decision that is overly legal.”

He says it sends a bad message to other public housing tenants.

See the report on line here.

Reported in today’s Courier Mail by Robyn Ironside

FORMER Public Works and Housing Minister Bruce Flegg has launched legal action against his sacked media advisor Graeme Hallett for defamation, and for costing him his ministerial income.

In a lawsuit lodged in the Brisbane Supreme Court this week, Dr Flegg lays the blame for losing his job squarely on Mr Hallett.

 He is believed to be seeking up to a million dollars in special damages for the income he will forgo after quitting the ministry and returning to the backbench.

Dr Flegg also accuses Mr Hallett of defamation as a result of a press conference he called the day after he was sacked by his boss, who said he was untrustworthy.

 At the press conference, attended by all major media organisations, Mr Hallett accused Dr Flegg of being unfit to hold office.

 He released documents from Dr Flegg’s lobbyist son Jonathon showing he had regular contact with his father’s office despite previously claiming he had been banned from lobbying the minister.

Mr Hallett also revealed diary entries showing Dr Flegg was working in his electorate office were untrue, with the Minister instead working at a Burpengary medical centre as a GP.

Although Dr Flegg and Premier Campbell Newman initially dismissed Mr Hallett’s statements as a “fizzer” the Minister resigned before Parliament sat the following day.

Mr Hallett has raised the possibility of taking action for wrongful dismissal.

Blue ribbon law firm Cooper Grace Ward is representing Dr Flegg in his action.

 No date has been set to hear his case.

There is a considerable difference between a backbencher’s and a minister’s salary, equivalent to about $60,000 a year,