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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-23 Daily Xml
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Homelessness

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:13): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding housing.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.E. HANSON: The minister has made repeated claims about helping more people and helping vulnerable people in housing and homelessness. In contrast to those claims, the most recent Report on Government Services from the Productivity Commission shows that the SA Housing Authority housed the lowest number of new people in public housing in 2019-20 of any of the past five years.

There was a drop of more 450 people, that is 20 per cent, from the previous year alone. The same report shows that the proportion of people housed who had the greatest needs, including low income, disability and very old age, was the lowest rate for around a decade. For the minister's benefit, these figures are in tables 18A.5 and 18A.15 of the 2021 Report on Government Services. The report is compiled using data that the minister's own agency provides. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the minister misleading this place or is the minister's agency providing false data to the Productivity Commission?

2. Why exactly has the proportion of people assisted with the greatest need dropped to such worrying lows at which it now sits?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:15): I thank the honourable member for his question. Of course, I don't carry around a copy of the Productivity Commission's report with me to be able to—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I would like to listen to the minister, and I would have thought the opposition would too.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Leader of the Opposition is out of order.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —analyse his argument and refute it.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It is the same honourable member who yesterday clearly had a bit of trouble with basic arithmetic, or at least the person who gave him the question—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hanson will cease.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. J.E. Hanson interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hanson is out of order.

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: And the leader is too. The minister will continue in silence.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It might be entirely out of order for me to make this comment, but bellowing loudly or speaking aggressively—

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Point of order: I think you ruled earlier this week that answering or reflecting on interjections is not in order, and that appears to be what is happening again.

The PRESIDENT: It is out of order, but I think there is a saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Hear, hear, Mr President; I agree with you entirely.

The PRESIDENT: Continue, please, with your answer.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I would be delighted. I know it does pain the Labor Party to be told—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It is a cause of great pain.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: Point of order: there is absolutely no relevance whatsoever to reflecting on the Labor Party in relation to answering this question. It has nothing to do with the question asked whatsoever.

The PRESIDENT: One ought to be careful to dip back into your memory as well. I am sure the minister will continue to address the question from the Hon. Mr Hanson.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: We could almost play bingo in here, but it does give the Labor Party great pain to be told that, when it comes to public housing, which they like to portray themselves as the party that looks after the vulnerable and cares about people more than the Liberal Party, and then when they are presented with the evidence—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Hunter!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! We haven't got long to go, and I would like to hear the rest of this answer. I can't hear it at the moment, and the birthday boy is being very out of order at the moment.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It causes the Labor Party great pain to be advised of the facts.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I can't hear the minister.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: When they are told of the statistics of how high the category 1 register was, that they were the party that changed—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —that they were ones that changed the definition from category 1—sorry, are you sitting me down?

The PRESIDENT: Order! I am going to move to the Hon. Dr Centofanti.

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