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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-09-19 Daily Xml
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Housing Trust Rent

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:28): Thank you, Mr President. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding Housing Trust rents.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: Felicity, a 69-year-old Housing Trust tenant who lives in a one-bedroom cottage at Noarlunga Downs, recently contacted her local member of parliament with a message for the government:

Can you please ask what should I do?

Become homeless, stop eating or not buy my medication in order to avoid paying the increase in my Housing SA rent?

I do not have heating or cooling, so cannot save money that way. I do not smoke or drink either. I already live below the poverty line.

My question is: can the minister justify to Felicity how she is expected to pay for the government's rent increases?

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:28): I am not worried about that.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, through me.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I am sorry, Mr President. I am not worried about Labor Party rhetoric. I mean, really, there are a number of people who are in exactly the same circumstances who are paying 25 per cent of household rent. Once again, the honourable member in her question referred to a one-bedroom cottage, so it's not clear whether Felicity is within the scope of the change to rents or not.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: Felicity is. That's why she contacted her MP.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Well, she may well not be.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven: Just answer the question. How will she pay for this increase?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I thank the honourable member for her advice on how to answer the question. But can I say this: the most vulnerable people are not the people who have Housing Trust properties. The most vulnerable people are the people who are living in cars, sleeping rough in the city on our streets, and a number of people who are in crisis and transitional accommodation.

Those people cannot get into public housing. Why is that? Because the Labor Party, that great bastion of underprivileged people who can't provide for themselves, sold thousands and thousands of Housing Trust properties to prop up its budget. I am amazed that the Labor Party, having done what they did to the Housing Trust asset base, would even dare to raise the topic of public housing in South Australia after they sold Housing Trust properties for vanity projects—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —after years and years and years. Three things—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: A mean-spirited, cold-hearted, lack of empathy.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Back at you, Ian.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, restrain yourself. You are on the verge of being unparliamentary. Minister, continue your answer.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Three things members opposite in government did when they wanted money from the Housing Trust: they sold assets, and we are dealing with the legacy of 16 years of your failure.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Minister, sit down. The Hon. Mr Dawkins, you have the call.

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