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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-07-04 Daily Xml
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BRIGHTON CARAVAN PARK

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for State/Local Government Relations on Brighton Caravan Park.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I refer to comments of the state government in support of the residents of the Brighton Caravan Park. My questions to the minister are:

1. Will the government support the residents by funding a legal challenge to their eviction?

2. Will the government provide compensation to help residents relocate?

3. Will the government provide social housing support and coordination to help the residents relocate?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions on this quite sad predicament. We have seen the Holdfast Bay council making changes to its local caravan park that involve somewhere between 30 and 40 long-term residents of the caravan park. We see that, in relation to the changes they propose, the council has made a decision not to continue with the long-term leases in and under the new arrangements and so therefore intend to remove or evict those tenants from the caravan park.

They have indicated that they will attempt to assist them to find suitable alternate accommodation, but the reports I have received back is that very little has been done by the council in relation to that. This is a matter for the local council; they are the ones who have the power and authority to deal with this matter and, as I have made very clear to that council and to other interested people, as Minister for State/Local Government Relations I have no power or authority to intervene in the matter. I do not have the power to overturn their decision or to intervene in any way in the decision they have made.

The decision they have made, I am advised, is in accordance with the legislation, so unless they are in breach of the act in some way I do not have powers to intervene. I have been very clear and up-front about that. When I wrote to the council after it had made a decision to extend the time arrangements for those tenants in relation to changes to their leases, they extended that and within a matter of almost a month they reconvened and rescinded that motion and put the original time frame in place, which only gave those tenants a short period of time to respond.

The council has a moral obligation to these tenants. Some of these people have lived there for many years: this is their home, this is their local neighbourhood, their community. They have very strong attachments to the people and to the place. They have invested considerable amounts in their vans and also the annexes around the vans—they are, if you like, permanent and semipermanent structures.

For many, this is their life's asset. Many of them are on limited fixed incomes and would find it very difficult, for instance, to sell their current home to provide funds to invest in alternate accommodation because their current accommodation would not be a significant asset when converted into monetary terms. However, it is their home, and it has been, for many of them, their home for many years. The council has a moral obligation to look after these people. I have made it very clear that I believe the bottom line is that at the very least this council genuinely work with this group to assist them to find alternate accommodation.

Apparently, there was a resolution put at its last meeting (an oddly worded resolution) that was basically that they would call on me, the minister, not to intervene but to act as a negotiator or conciliator, or to have a role in assisting them to move forward, and it was voted down. That is how much this council wanted any assistance from me: they voted it down. It is nothing short of a disgrace. Clearly, the council does not want me there in that space to assist in any way, shape or form.

I will continue to say publicly that I think their behaviour is disgraceful. As I said, the reports I have received are that very little has been done by the council to assist these residents to find alternate, suitable accommodation.

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