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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-13 Daily Xml
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Social Housing

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (14:40): In relation then to the 50,000 unmet demand for homes—social housing and public housing—how much of this unmet demand, how many South Australians, does the government plan to provide for in this term of government?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:41): As I have tried to explain to this parliament many times, it is a partnership. It is a partnership that is not just the state government's. The solution to this is not just the role of government. I think one of the problems the Labor Party often falls into is that particularly when they are in government they like to be on the white charger, coming in to rescue everyone, and they have some thought, which is not shared by a lot of people—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, through me.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Mr President, it is very hard to talk when I am constantly being interrupted by members opposite. It is a partnership. It is not just up to the government to play a role in this.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: That's fine, but tell me how many you're going to provide.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Mr President, I don't wish to have a conversation with the member across the chamber.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Well, answer the question.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: He is constantly going—

The PRESIDENT: Through me, minister. The Hon. Mr Hunter, restrain yourself.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —backwards and forwards and interrupting me and not actually letting me get to the answer. I mean, I can take the rest of question time, if you will, but I am sure that would not please the President.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: I just want an answer. How many of those 50,000 are you going to provide for?

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hunter, you asked the question. Let's see what the minister has to say.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: So in terms of affordable housing we know that there are a lot of people who would like to be able to purchase a home who are not able to because there are not a lot of properties available in that affordable space. That is therefore something where within our strategy we have brought in the private sector onto the task force group to assist us with that particular strategy, because it is all part of the mix. What happens when people can't afford to maintain their mortgage or maintain their private rental is that they come back to the public and social housing system. That is unsustainable.

I would urge all Labor members to read the triennial review, which I tabled on 5 July last year. If they had any illusions that they give a damn about people who are in disadvantage, they should disavow themselves of that immediately, because they left the public housing system in a complete shambles. It was broken, it was unsustainable. We have a range of stock which is run-down. When they ran out of money their former treasurer did three things: he reduced the maintenance budget, he sold properties and he ran down the cash. So the Labor Party have no place in any feigned outrage on this particular issue.

In terms of trying to restore this broken system that the Marshall Liberal government inherited, we have been reaching across the spectrum, because people don't just necessarily want to live in the public housing system. It is there as a safety net, and we need to provide across the system for people who wish to rent and for people who wish to buy. So that is the focus of the strategy which will be released later this year.

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