Public Housing

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:33): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding public housing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: On 6 November last year, a Kilburn public housing tenant who has an intellectual disability reported having no hot water. The plumber attended within four hours, but there was nothing they could do because the system needed replacing. The installation was not completed until 12 November, after the member for Hurtle Vale in the other place contacted the minister directly to intervene in the issue.

The lack of hot water supply appears to contravene section 11 of the Housing Improvement Regulations 2017, for which the minister is responsible. I quote:

(a) the residential premises must have a sufficient and continuously available supply of—

(i) hot and cold water plumbed to each bath, shower, hand basin, kitchen sink and laundry wash trough or basin…

My questions to the minister are:

1. Is hot water an essential service in a home?

2. What is an acceptable time frame to replace a hot water service?

3. What does the minister have to say to the other tenants who have no shower for a week and no alternative options provided by the South Australian Housing Authority?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for her question. We do have a tiered system, in terms of the required response times for the works that need to be done.

In terms of hot water services, I do know that in one particular case—I'm not sure if it's the one that she is referring to—there was a particular hot water service where it did take more than a week for that to be replaced, but that was quite a complicated matter because there were additional works because it wasn't just a straight replacement but one whereby the gas line needed to be moved and the like, so that was clearly much more complicated. I think in that particular instance this tenant may have been offered alternative accommodation, but we do try to rectify these things within the KPIs to ensure that people are not disadvantaged.