With homes across Australia left unfinished and subcontractors wondering whether they will be paid, the South Australian government is urging customers of Bob Day’s building group to make insurance claims.
“This is devastating news for families who in many cases have put everything on the line to build their dream home,” South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said.
“The state government underwrites Building Indemnity Insurance to protect home builders against these situations and I encourage those with a claim to contact QBE.”
The former Family First senator’s building group, Home Australia, has gone into liquidation, leaving hundreds of homes across Australia incomplete.
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Along with customers left pondering how they will build their homes, subcontractors who worked for Mr Day’s companies are wondering whether they will be paid for their work.
“I hope that Bob Day is able to find a way, in conjunction with the administrator, to repay the substantial debts he now owes South Australian contractors,” Treasurer Koutsantonis said.
“Our small contractors are critical to our economy so Mr Day needs to make good on these debts so we don’t see further damage to the economy as a result of this liquidation.”
Greens link political donations to Bob Day’s collapse
The Greens say compulsory electoral returns show Bob Day made large payments from his company to his Family First political party.
In 2013-14, B & B Day Pty Ltd made a $484,000 donation to Family First. In the financial year before that, the same company made a $381,775 payment which was neither listed as a ‘donation’ nor ‘other receipt’.
“Mr Day and his company were donating to his political party, helping his political career, helping him get elected to Parliament and at the same time, people who were expecting their homes to be built are getting short-changed,” Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon told SBS.
“You could understand why many people who have been impacted and who now don't have a home, or half-built home, would be pretty cynical and feel a lot of contempt for how this played out.”
The NSW Greens senator told SBS Mr Day had made nearly $2-million in payments to Family First from his building group.
It showed the need for greater transparency in political donations and caps on individual and company donations, according to Senator Rhiannon.
Bob Day’s office has not returned SBS’s calls for comment.
