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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-30 Daily Xml
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Public Housing

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:16): A supplementary arising directly from the original answer: in relation to the new promise the Premier has made that all people in emergency accommodation will be found housing, how much extra or current money has been allocated for this new promise, or will money simply be slashed from other programs in the minister's area that support vulnerable people?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:17): I'm not sure that the Premier actually nominated a particular program.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: So how we need to nominate—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Can I just answer this question without being interrupted?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, sit down for a second. Honourable Leader of the Opposition, you asked a question, allow the answer. Minister for Human Services.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: We have a very extensive program of half a billion dollars that we announced last year, which is exactly to this point about providing the sort of housing that people who are not able to get accommodation, whether they are rough sleepers—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —whether they are other forms of homeless people—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Half a billion dollars announced in December last year. So we have started the program in terms of identifying sites for new builds—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the honourable Leader of the Opposition!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —and we will be progressing that. Can I just say that I do get genuinely shocked that the Labor Party comes in here and asks about these sorts of things because they did not even identify that there was this massive gap in affordable housing in South Australia. Their treasurer was quite happy to announce in the election campaign—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —a $300 million tram to Norwood. He would have funded that by doing things like selling off more Housing Trust properties. Labor sold a whole lot of properties in very lucrative areas just so they could cash themselves out and fund all of their vanity projects—did not give a stuff about what they were doing to people in this sector. Half a billion dollars we have announced. We announced money through the stimulus program in the budget last year—

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS: Point of order, Mr President: I sit right behind the minister, I am probably the closest to the minister, and I find it almost impossible to hear what she is saying because of the noise coming from the other side of the chamber.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, please continue, and I'm sure you will be heard in silence.

The Hon. J.E. Hanson: Stop snoring, Ridgy.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hanson! Minister.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: We have identified that there are a lot of people who, prior to this whole experience with COVID, were living in rental stress, were living in mortgage stress, so we are very keen on ensuring that there is stock both in the public and the social housing sectors available for people to rent and available for people to buy. It is something which is exercising all of our minds so that we can—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —assist people who are struggling to make ends meet, because these are the people who do. If the honourable member had actually spent any time talking to some people with lived experience, he would know that there are people who, one day they lose their job, can find themselves very rapidly homeless and rough sleeping.

The Hon. E.S. Bourke: You're not the only person who's spoken to someone that's living on the streets.

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Ms Bourke! Minister, please continue.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: So we are very keen to ensure that we have a supply. This is something that I was told continuously when I was in opposition from people who worked directly with people who they were trying to assist out of homelessness, that there is just not enough supply. So, while in South Australia a lot of people think that we've got relatively affordable housing, and that is true compared to the eastern seaboard, there are a lot of people who really do struggle.

Through this whole crisis we are very keen on ensuring that we are building new properties for people to move into, through whichever pathway they come, and that includes people who have been rough sleeping.

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