Williamson's delay is not acceptable

Continuing to ignore a petition signed by more than 3,600 rest home residents highlights the Government’s blasé attitude to their plight, Labour Building and Construction Spokesperson Raymond Huo says.

“In May last year, a group of concerned senior citizens made an urgent plea to Maurice Williamson calling for changes to the Retirement Villages Code of Practice  which would guarantee that residents got their money back in full if a retirement village was demolished and not rebuilt.

“The petition set out to change a ‘legal loophole’ in the Code that saw 200 elderly residents out of pocket and  paid out significantly less than what their units were worth following last year’s earthquake in February.

“Stakeholders in the industry - residents, operators and statutory supervisors - were unanimous that urgent action was required to ensure others were not in the same predicament should such a disaster re-occur.

“Unfortunately, 12 months on and the issue has still not been addressed. The Minister appears to have left the petition to collect dust.

“That is unacceptable. Mr Williamson needs to wake up. These people are living each day not knowing where they stand. That suffering would benefit from some leadership,” said Raymond Huo.