Cuts by MP Louis Ng for Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) Committee of Supply debate 2020
Ensure divorcees with shared care and control have access to housing
Last year I asked the Ministry to consider requiring divorce rulings to specify which parent can list their child as an essential occupier in HDB flat applications. The reply was that parents with shared care and control arrangements have equal rights to list their child as an essential occupier and that they should come to a mutually agreeable decision themselves.
That is ideal but the reality is that a divorcing couple might find it hard to cooperate on an issue as contentious as housing. Divorce rulings already decide on custody, care and control, and division of matrimonial assets, which are equally contentious. Why not housing?
Can MSF clarify what each parent awarded care and control is expected to provide in terms of housing for the child? Is a parent’s ability to provide housing a factor in awarding care and control to that parent?
For the welfare of the child, can MSF require divorce rulings that award shared care and control to also state which party is allowed to list the child as an essential occupier in their application to buy a subsidised HDB flat?
Provide the cash component of Baby Bonus to single unweds
The parent who needs the cash component of the baby bonus the most is the one who does not qualify for it. Why? With a median salary of only $600 a month, single unwed parents under 35 years old clearly need the cash.
They can get the cash if they marry the father or mother of their child and then file a divorce. But why do we want fellow citizens to marry someone they don’t want to marry and jump through so many hoops to get something they should get.
They already receive the CDA component so why not the cash component? Let’s end the discrimination and provide single unwed parents with the cash component of the Baby Bonus.
Watch the speech here
Watch the response here