Homelessness

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:44): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Human Services a question regarding homelessness.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: On Thursday 4 February, the minister was asked questions about the eviction of an elderly, poor, single woman with a disability from public housing due to property condition issues. She was evicted the next day into the pouring rain and the opposition had to work with housing staff over the phone to ensure that the tenant had a place to go for the weekend.

The minister's response to these questions was highly concerning. When asked about whether the Housing Authority would take action that resulted in an eviction into homelessness, the minister's reply was, 'It depends on your definition of homelessness.' The minister went further and began ranting about meth labs, despite there being no link whatsoever to the case at hand. This was a disgraceful slur against someone who had lived in public housing for 38 years.

My question to the minister is: exactly what assurances has the minister sought about the safety and wellbeing of this older single woman with a disability and on a low income who was evicted from public housing?

The PRESIDENT: Before I ask the minister to respond, the honourable member would realise that his explanation was laden with opinion and that shouldn't be the case, so I ask him to take note of that in the future.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:46): I thank the honourable member for his question and for the opportunity to place on the record some comments in relation to these processes. As I have said in this place before, the South Australian Housing Authority takes its responsibilities to tenants very seriously.

There are processes in relation to evictions and there is a range of reasons why people who are resident within our properties are taken to SACAT, not just for evictions but to enforce particular orders that have been made in the course of things that I think people would completely understand. People might need to clean up their properties. They might need to be reminded of their obligations to pay rent and the like. So there is a range of reasons why our tenants, as they do in the private sector, can appear before SACAT on these matters.

When I was responding to the particular question the Labor Party put to me that day, they hadn't actually outlined the full details of the case—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Well, I was reminding them—

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I was reminding them of the fact that under our policy—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the leader!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —that our policy includes—

The Hon. J.E. Hanson interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: No, the Hon. Mr Hanson is not helping. The minister has the call.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I didn't actually accuse—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! If the opposition don't want to hear the answer, we will move on to the next question. Minister, I am listening.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Thank you, Mr President. Having not been fully apprised of the particular details of the case, it's very hard for me to make inferences about somebody—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The leader will come to order.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —when I don't know who they are and I don't know what their circumstances are is the point that I am trying to make.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: So there are circumstances in which, in the worst case scenario, the Housing Authority will seek eviction for things like somebody having a meth lab in their property. They also will need to take people to the tribunal, as I have said, to enforce the conditions of their tenancy. There are also situations, particularly with antisocial behaviour, where people have been placed on a series of warnings that they have not adhered to, so we have had to take them to the tribunal. What I was able to outline the next day when I was able to gather the facts, which had not been presented to the parliament, as usual I might add—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —is that the tenant—and I will just remind members that we have 34,000 properties that we manage. I am not aware of the exact circumstances of every individual in those 34,000 properties. If I may continue, in this particular case, as I said—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: And the Leader of the Opposition is incorrect in his interjections when he says that we evict people to homelessness.

The PRESIDENT: He shouldn't be interjecting. He should be listening to the minister.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway is not helping.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: This particular client was living in unsafe conditions due to hoarding and the Housing Authority determined that it was unsafe for her to remain there. She had been offered alternative properties, and she had also been offered emergency accommodation. The Housing Authority has continued to provide support. I understand that the Labor Party has inveigled themselves in this situation. I hope they have been attempting to—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition will remain silent.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: The Leader of the Opposition continues to claim that we were evicting someone into homelessness, and that is not correct.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It is not correct. If the Housing Authority offers someone alternative properties as well as emergency accommodation, how is that evicting someone into homelessness?

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will remain silent.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: As we see continuously, the Labor Party come in here with false—they either omit facts or they fabricate facts, as the deputy leader did a couple of years ago—

The Hon. R.P. Wortley interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Wortley will be quiet.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —and they do not present the reality of these individual situations. What my agency does is it follows them up, and it continues to provide support. My understanding is that they continue to be engaged with this case for a good outcome.