Public Housing

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:07): Just a clarification on the $10 million that the minister mentioned in regard to the COVID maintenance stimulus: I want to clarify that that is new money and is not money that was announced previously as part of the land tax consideration through a bill that went through.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:08): No, it's not new money. It's money that was in the budget which we have then brought forward. I think it's important to—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Well, we have never made any secret of this. One of the things—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hanson asked a supplementary. He would like to hear the answer, and he can't hear the answer at the moment because of his colleagues in front of him.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Thank you, Mr President. It's about accelerating existing works that might have been otherwise waiting to be done at some future time. We have brought things forward so that we can keep tradies—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: No new money?

The PRESIDENT: Order, the leader!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —across South Australia busy. The honourable members, in their disorderly way, talk about no new money. They had their 1000 Homes in 1000 Days, which actually wasn't new money, but they kept on acting like it was. We have the benefit, in this Marshall Liberal government, of having a benevolent Treasurer. Rather than the Hon. Mr Lucas treating the South Australian Housing Trust as an ATM to reduce the cash budget, reduce the maintenance budget and sell hundreds and hundreds of—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: What are you talking about? He sold 3,000 the last time he was in government.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: We have received four years' worth of funding up-front, which gives the authority great certainty—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Leader of the Opposition should not be engaging in conversation.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —which has given the authority the great benefit of having funding certainty to be able to continue with programs that they otherwise may have had to cease partway through the financial year.

The PRESIDENT: I am very keen to move on because we have crossbench members who need to have a question. The Hon. Mr Hanson has a very brief supplementary.