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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-05-18 Daily Xml
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Social Housing

Ms PRATT (Frome) (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Human Services. What does the minister think is more important: posting photos to social media, posing with housing tenants or acknowledging and actually following up on urgent requests of vulnerable South Australians for access to housing? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms PRATT: On 13 May 2022, the minister posted to social media with housing tenants in front of their house, captioned, 'I am committed to ensuring our public and community housing is as good as it can and should be.' During this same period, her office was failing to respond to urgent requests.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services) (14:30): Thank you for paying attention to my social media—I feel really honoured.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: It's really good to know that the messages are getting out there, and it's even better to know that the messages are so positive. On Friday last week—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey is warned for a second time. The minister has the call.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: On Friday last week, I took time to go and spend a couple of hours in the member for Reynell's electorate at one of the public housing sites. This is a mixed site. There are dozens of detached and semidetached small single-storey homes across a number of streets, and there are also a number of walk-up flats—

The Hon. G.G. Brock interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —in that particular site. My priority, given that there had been fires occur at that site, was to make sure that I went down to visit the area to make sure (a) that the residents felt safe, (b) that the sites were secured, (c) that there was a plan in place for any residents who might not have felt safe or wanted alternative accommodation, and (d) how that site fits into the big picture in relation to the $180 million that we are investing.

On that day, I visited and I spoke to a number of residents. I won't say the gentleman's name, but there was a gentleman who lives there, and I know that our Premier, who has a very generous heart and a very big social heart, wants to make sure that refugees are safe—

The Hon. B.I. Boyer: That would be a foreign concept over there.

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Wright!

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —housed and looked after—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. N.F. COOK: —not just by bricks and mortar but by wraparound services that ensure that their life is able to improve from the situation when they arrived.

This particular gentleman I spoke to was very generous with his time. He told me about being born in one Middle Eastern country. He had to be displaced because of war and, then years later, in that next country, was again displaced because he was in fear of his life. He found himself tenanted about two years ago under the Liberal government in a situation where his trauma and his PTSD are completely triggered by being in a tight location where overnight he can't sleep.

I spent quite a bit of time talking to him about how scared he was, and I made a commitment at that time to come back with a housing officer, someone from my staff, bring him a meal and sit with him at night to see what was actually happening in that particular location. He was almost brought to tears, and he was very pleased that we would do such a thing.

We started to make arrangements and find out the type of diet he needed and set the time to visit him, but in the meantime, of course, the manager who was with me found the last Hove unit that was left vacant because all the residents were tipped out under the previous government and we have been scrambling to fill them. This gentleman has now been offered a beautiful, two-bedroom unit at Hove which he will move into and he is so very grateful, so that is my priority.

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