Homelessness Services

Mr SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): My supplementary is to the Premier. How long does the Premier think that a vulnerable South Australian should have to wait to receive even an acknowledgement from a minister that they have received an urgent request for access to housing?

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:11): Thank you very much for your question. Of course, nobody should be left without a home and nobody should be left without a shelter, without a roof over their head. It is absolutely unacceptable.

During the COVID pandemic, the then Liberal government decided to reform homelessness and home-finding services and structure them into a number of alliances. Previous to that there was—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: There is a point of order. I will hear the member for Morialta on a point of order.

Mr GARDNER: Standing order 98. The question was pretty direct in relation to the length of time for a minister's office to respond or to acknowledge a request for support, and the broader policy concepts I do not believe are germane.

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is very quick on the trigger. We are listening carefully to the minister's answer, and if there are matters that raise concern with respect to standing orders they can be dealt with in the course of the answer.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: As I was explaining, during the COVID pandemic the then Liberal government decided to restructure the housing and homelessness system for people who were found wanting when it came to shelter. We know that the demand increased incredibly during that time. As we were facing a situation where people could transmit or succumb to COVID, we wanted to make sure, obviously, as a state that we were treating them well and that we were not leaving them on the streets.

At that particular time, hundreds of people were placed into hotels. That also then put pressure on the emergency system. During the same time, as I explained, the whole service was reformed as such and restructured so that the services were put into alliance sections across not just the metropolitan area but through the regions.

This was done without adding any extra money to the system, so it has put the not-for-profits under enormous stress and strain, and that has backlogged into a situation where we find people are waiting for quite a long time to get attention. In fact, I understand that there are around 400 contacts—and I think that is per day, to be honest—from people who are struggling to find homes.

I know that many members both on our side and on the other side of the chamber have actually found that their offices have received a lot more contact in relation to people who are under stress—housing stress. We see every day that there are people reaching out for help, help that at the moment is very hard to find because we've got a situation where we've got both a hot market from a real estate point of view and we've got very few rental properties available. In fact, I think the vacancy rate on rentals was something like 0.2 per cent. So out of tens of thousands of those it becomes very hard for people to find any accommodation.

What we've got is a system that was reformed under a time when demand was greater, and homeless numbers have actually increased over the past four years as well.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. N.F. COOK: Sorry, have you got something to say, have you?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.F. COOK: Have you got something to say? Actually, I think the—

The SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated. I will hear the member for Morialta on a point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister is called to order.

Mr GARDNER: Sir, 98: the minister has a minute to go and is yet to identify what a timely response from her office would be.

The SPEAKER: There is some force in the point of order. Minister, I draw your attention to the question and bring you back to a closer line on that question.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: No problems. I actually also think that the opposition leader's question should probably be to the member for Dunstan, about why he oversaw such reforms—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Hartley!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —that made the housing system so hard to—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Florey, the member for West Torrens, order! There is a point of order. I will hear the member for Morialta on a point of order.

Mr GARDNER: Sir, she defies your ruling and should be brought back to the question.

The SPEAKER: I am listening carefully—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for West Torrens!

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The house does not permit quarrels between members across the chamber. The minister has the call. The point of order has been emphasised. There is only a brief moment remaining in the answer, as I understand it.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: If there is a concern that is being raised with the minister's office in respect to any situation where somebody's life is at risk or their health is being jeopardised, we answer as soon as we can, which is often straightaway. However, such is the contact we receive from people such as the shadow minister in the other place, at five minutes to five on a Friday, that it is very difficult to actually activate assistance. We make every effort to provide assistance as soon as an inquiry gets in but, as you can understand, they get triaged. They get triaged according to severity.