Grievance Debate

Public Housing

Ms COOK (Hurtle Vale) (15:28): Today, I will talk about a pretty appalling set of circumstances that some very good public housing tenants are currently experiencing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms COOK: These public servants—

The SPEAKER: Members who are leaving the chamber! Member for Hurtle Vale, I am so sorry to interrupt you in the course of the grievance debate and I will consciously allow additional time. Members who are leaving the chamber will do so in silence. The member for Hurtle Vale has the call.

Ms COOK: I would like to talk about a pretty average set of circumstances that some very good public housing tenants are going through. People may be aware in this chamber that over previous years there had been some questions regarding ceiling products that had been used, in particular some gyprock that had been used to repair ceilings in some public housing properties. I think they were used in the original build. Over time, there had been an order for some 100-plus of these to be replaced.

This sorry saga started for a gentleman called Shane in Hectorville towards the beginning of the year, around March or April. He was advised that his ceiling required replacement. He tells us the inspections were not thorough. Not once did somebody go into the manhole. He says it was an ever-changing story. He advises that there was no labelling on the ceiling plaster that needed replacement; you would have to go into the manhole to see this, but this did not happen.

He had an unannounced visit from a Housing SA officer and, despite no inspection, no sagging, no visual damage, he was told to pack all his belongings—we are talking April or earlier this year—and that his household possessions would go into storage and he would be moved to a caravan park. Winding the clock forward, he can confirm that this ceiling product does have a name on it: it is plasterboard branded Boral. He himself paid for a contractor to inspect the ceiling because this gentleman did not want to be moved to a caravan park and relocated if it was unnecessary.

What happened following that was that he reached out to the Housing Authority, he reached out to the minister and he reached out to our team and we started to investigate it for him to see what was going to happen to try to ease his mind—he was very distressed—but there were no answers forthcoming. I then used the estimates process to ask some questions of the minister, and I was advised by the minister that there was a commitment that she would update us regarding this process so that we could put this man's mind at ease. I believe in the interim he received a letter from the CEO of the Housing Authority, Michael Buchan, in regard to this plasterboard, the problems and the need for replacing the ceilings in these properties.

This gentleman also knew that his neighbours had been told that they were going to have to move out and have this done. So we have this very anxious man who is not getting any feedback but getting misleading information and a whole range of different answers. Then we have the neighbours. The neighbours are moved into a very nice city apartment and their stuff goes into storage. This happens for a period of a few weeks while all their internal fixtures are changed and updated within their house. Their ceiling is replaced.

Shane is petrified that this is actually imminent and that his property is going to be fixed because what happened to his next-door neighbours? Their property was left open while maintenance came and went and they had a beloved gift, a plant, stolen. After having eight years with no paint job in this house, they have Spakfilla filled holes not sanded back, no painting and cutting in done with different paint. It was filthy, dirty and it took over half a day to try to clean it up so they could get their property back. It was approved by an inspector as up to standard, no problems.

At the request of the property owner, we have asked the minister questions about this, and of course the minister says, 'Not acceptable on the surface, but Labor is probably making it up.' That is the answer we seem to get all the time. It is not good enough. These people have been left in an awful state. They have had property stolen. The fellow next door has been advised that he is now going to have to move out and get work done. He is not really confident.

I do not think it is up to standard and I do not think it is right. Apart from the mess, there were electrical faults, where if you switch on a light the fan turns on, so there are some safety issues that need to be addressed immediately. We would ask the minister to get that done today, tomorrow, as soon as possible.