Mortgage relief’ plan is a fraudulent imitation

Citizens Electoral Council of Australia
Media Release  6th of April 2009

Isherwood: Rudd’s ‘mortgage relief’ plan is a fraudulent imitation of the Homeowners and Bank Protection Bill

Citizens Electoral Council leader Craig Isherwood today scoffed at the Federal Government’s agreement with the banks to provide a 12-month period of relief of mortgage payments: “It’s an incompetent attempt to induce homeowners into believing they will be relieved of their mortgage stress.”

Mr Isherwood referred to Mr Rudd’s speech on Sunday to the Brotherhood of St Laurence community jobs forum, where Mr Rudd said: “(B)anks will make assessments based on the borrowers' ability to meet new contractual obligations in the long-term.”

Mr Isherwood said: “That is basing the mortgage relief on a dangerous, unproven, but currently very popular assumption: that those getting the relief will find jobs next year, and that ‘creating jobs means economic recovery’. The world financial system began the terminal phase of its collapse in July 2007, as Lyndon LaRouche warned in an international webcast on July 25th 2007, and no amount of stimulus packages, job retrenchment programs, or $650 million spent on ‘community projects’ can generate an economic recovery which will free us from the crisis.”

The CEC has campaigned specifically for the policy that is the first step to a genuine economic recovery—the Homeowners and Bank Protection Bill—since November 2007. Hundreds of local councillors, many Councils, and thousands of Australians have endorsed the Bill.

“What the Government announced is also an attempt to ignore the only solution that will protect Australians from being foreclosed upon: the Homeowners and Bank Protection Bill,” Mr Isherwood continued. “While Rudd’s fraud may relieve mortgage payments for a year, after that year is up, there is no fundamental change to the value of that mortgage!

“Under the HBPB, a mortgage will be frozen for however long it takes to adjust the value to a fair price, and then a new, affordable monthly payment, equal to a rental payment can be made to the bank to keep the banks capitalised. Keep Australians in their homes, and allow them to pay what their home actually is worth, not what the market says it is worth.”

“The Government should realise now that their policy will fail, and instead adopt a policy that will work. The HBPB must be implemented by the Federal Government. I think that one reason why it hasn’t is that Mr Rudd is afraid of using protection.”

“I urge all Australians to join the CEC in organising for this to happen. Meet with your local councillors, state and Federal MPs, and make protection the issue, otherwise we’re guaranteed to be in a mess. We must act now to prevent total disaster from hitting the Australian people.”

ends

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