PM Transcripts

J 1AUSTKALA L
PRIME MINISTER May 1974
FREE ISSUE OF TREES AND SHRUBS TO SERVICEMEN IN QUEENSLAND
The Prime Minister announced today that the Australian
Government would assist married servicemen occupying Housing
Agreement homes in Queensland to establish and landscape
their gardens by providing trees, shrubs, lawn seed, top
soil and rotary hoeing free of charge.
Mr. Whitlam said that these items were normally provided
for all Service-owned married quarters completed after 1 July
1970 and also in dwellings allocated to servicemen under the
Commonwealth-State Housing Agreements. However, the Queensland
Government had not agreed to accept this provision in the-homes
it~ builds for servicemen.
The new provisions will apply to the original tenants of
houses completed after 1 July 1970, the gardens of which are
presently not established.
The Prime Minister said that the Australian Government's
decision to provide landscaping assistance directly to servicemen
occupying Housing Agreement homes in Queensland followed the
refusal of the Queensland Government to bear the cost of
providing these amenities for Australian servicemen.
Mr. Whitlam recalled that he had raised the matter of
providing trees and shrubs for the occupants of Army married
quarters in Queensland with the then Minister for the Army,
Mr. Peacock, as long ago as September 1971.
CANBERRA. A. C. T.