Legislative Council: Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Contents

Public Housing

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): Supplementary arising from the answer: the minister says there are processes in place. Minister, what are they? Come Friday, when this woman is turfed out because of an application that your agency made to SACAT, where does she go? What are these processes?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for his supplementary question. The agency looks into the facts of every individual case before it makes a decision to take somebody to eviction. Part of the SACAT process is actually to enforce existing tenancy agreements, so because somebody receives an eviction order from SACAT, it doesn't mean that they will be left homeless. They are sometimes placed in alternative accommodation which is more appropriate for their circumstances.

For the Labor Party to allege that, on the facts it has presented—not facts; I don't accept them as facts, to start with—or on the story it has outlined, this is automatically going to lead to an eviction that will result in homelessness is not necessarily the case, because the South Australian Housing Authority is mindful of these sorts of mitigating issues. It may well be that the tenancy is not suitable where it is or that some alternative is being arranged, but without having those details before me, I will need to take this question on notice and come back with a response.