South Australian Housing Authority

In reply to the Hon. S.L. GAME ().4 June 2024).

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries): The Minister for Housing and Urban Development advised:

Maintenance of South Australian Housing Trust homes is currently provided through external service providers under service contracts which commenced in January 2023 after a public tender process and following extensive pricing consultation with sub-contractors.

SA Housing Trust tenants can ring the maintenance call centre and all repairs are prioritised so that no one is left in an unsafe position, and all progress is tracked.

The Trust receives around 152,000 requests for maintenance every year or an average of 3,000 every week. These are categorised from priority 0 to priority 4 depending on the urgency of the work.

The Trust's maintenance model has a management fee component paid to the head contractor for managing the works requests, and a payment to subcontractors based on schedule of rates.

Downer (Spotless) pass-through, in full, agreed scheduled rates to their subcontractors.

This model ensures transparency of rates being paid to subcontractors who are completing the work.

From contract inception on 1 January 2023 to 31 May 2024, total expenditure incurred for Spotless Facility Services is $79.8 million GST inclusive. This includes Spotless' Management fees of $11.9 million, and maintenance works of $67.9 million GST inclusive.

To our knowledge there are no delays holding up of valid payments between contractor and sub-contractor; however, reports over issues with payment by the head contractor have recently come to light.

Any instance where subcontractors are not being paid for completed works which meet the service delivery standard is unacceptable. The government has commenced a review of the South Australian Housing Trust Maintenance Contract following these allegations. The review is being conducted by the chairs of the government's independent statutory authorities, the Urban Renewal Authority, SA Water Board, the South Australian Housing Trust Board and acting chief executive.

It is a requirement of the state government that suppliers must provide specific documentation evidencing completed works before public funds can be disbursed.

The review will also consider appropriate and effective dispute resolution mechanisms and any improvement models that could improve and enhance the maintenance outcomes for the Trust and its tenants.

The review will provide a report to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development by September 2024.

We take our responsibilities to our tenants seriously and their health and safety is our priority. We are working hard with our head contractors to improve outcomes for our tenants and prioritise all maintenance requests so that those with more urgent works required are managed faster and are given the highest priority.