Housing Authority

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:24): My question is again to the Minister for Human Services. Does the minister's office have a protocol to apply when it is alerted to media attendance at public housing properties? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr COWDREY: On 18 October, Channel 7 attended a property at Davoren Park. Maintenance workers attended the property within hours of the notification on the same day the minister was alerted to an opposition press conference at a property in Paralowie. Clean-up crews were sent urgently to attend to the property just prior to the press conference commencing.

Mrs Hurn: Shut it down!

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:25): The opposition interjects, 'Shut it down'. I am not sure what they're referring to.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. N.F. COOK: Yes, potentially. I thank the member for the question. Again, if there is a media inquiry that's made to my office, we reach out to the department via their channels to check—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: We care very deeply about public housing tenants and, in fact, the amenity of the neighbourhood, so we reach out to get advice, as I did the other day, to be told that we actually had nothing to do with the management of that property.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Treasurer is called to order. The member for Hartley is on a final warning.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: We also reach out to double-check in regard to what may have happened to lead up to such an issue and see if there are any specifics around that tenancy. I might like to talk a little bit about what has been happening over the past few weeks with tenancies that the opposition have seen to objectify and actually bring attention to.

Following the first incident where a person's belongings, including toys, were shown in the media—toys belonging to a child who came to a home on a background of enormous trauma, a family that had been through enormous trauma and had been subject to leaving that property—the opposition chose to use that property and that example—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order, which I will hear under 134.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Florey is on a final warning. The member for Chaffey is also warned.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The question was directed to the minister in relation to protocols her office has about cleaning when there is a media attendance at—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —public housing properties. The minister's characterisation of what the opposition did or didn't do is utterly irrelevant. It is debating.

The SPEAKER: I bring the minister to the question.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: We do reach out to our department to find out if there is any history to do with the tenancy. As described, a traumatised family had been in at least one of these properties, if not more. There was vision of a child's toys then being shown on the television that night in print media. I did write to the shadow minister to actually highlight this. We reached out and advised the media that this was the background of the house and that it was quite sensitive. I wrote the following, 'I write to raise my concerns with the media conference—'

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: '—you held this morning.' This is difficult to listen to, I understand, but I would like to place it on the record.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Chaffey, order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: I would like to place this on the record:

I write to raise my concerns with the media conference you held this morning at Campbelltown—

This was written to the shadow minister in the other place, Michelle Lensink—

A critical role of the opposition is to hold the government to account and I welcome you raising concerns about policy and services. While I wouldn't normally invest time in responding to your media statements, your conduct today raises serious questions—

Members interjecting:

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

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta, under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The standing orders apply to all ministers, standing order 98 included. The minister is debating.

The SPEAKER: It is a little difficult to determine because I am not certain exactly what bearing the portion of written text will ultimately have.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We haven't come to the conclusion of that portion of the contribution. However, I will listen very carefully and do bring the minister to the question.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order on the point of order, then: the minister has referred to a property. It's not a property that was relevant to the question. It's not relevant to the protocol of the minister in addressing public housing concerns. It is irrelevant to the question. It is criticising a member of the Legislative Council for the minister's own joy. It is debate.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I bring the minister to the question.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: This is exactly pertaining to the property at Campbelltown.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: The property at Campbelltown—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hartley is on a final warning and will depart under 137A. The member for Florey will join him for the remainder of question time.

The honourable members for Hartley and Florey having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. N.F. COOK: This particular house started a trend. There have been a number of these. I said:

While I wouldn't normally invest time in responding to your media statements, your conduct today raises serious questions about your judgement—

An honourable member: This is what you use your ministerial resources to do.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —that I cannot allow to go unchallenged. When questioned by journalists about the government's response—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —to rubbish and belongings on the side of the road, you responded, 'it's not for lack of them knowing, because they've been advised about it.' When further questioned—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: We're not even talking about the same properties.

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —about how long the local MP had been receiving complaints about this matter you responded that this had been 'for a matter of weeks'. To be clear, my office received correspondence—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Frome!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —about this matter from the local MP at 4.05pm on Monday 9 October and it was referred to Housing SA for advice and action. In comparison, your media conference occurred 9 office hours after the correspondence was sent and this raises much more serious questions about why—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: I will come to the point.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer is called to order. The member for Frome is warned, the member for Chaffey is warned and the Treasurer is warned. The member for Morialta under 134.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: With 15 seconds to go, the minister is yet to address either of the properties that were raised in the question.

The SPEAKER: Minister, your time has nearly expired.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: That's a shame, sir. To continue:

While this is disappointing, it reflects common practice from the Opposition to send correspondence and then almost immediately raise the matter in the media or Parliament. As happened in Parliament recently, this tactic has a risk of backfiring.

The SPEAKER: Very well. I call the member for Mawson.