Public Housing

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:04): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Human Services regarding housing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: A recent freedom of information request revealed that there were 1,880 empty public housing properties. The same FOI showed that these homes have been empty for a collective total of 421,773 days. Twenty homes have been empty for more than 1,000 days, 191 had been empty for at least 500 days and 1,267, which is two-thirds of the total, had been empty for at least 100 days. My question to the minister is: how does the minister explain to people living on the street that she has presided over homes that have been empty for more than a total of 420,000 days and nights?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for his question. In part I have already provided some responses in relation to the state of the portfolio that we inherited, which Labor—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Order, leader!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Which Labor had no idea about—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The opposition has asked a question. At least give the minister the opportunity to answer it without interjections.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Which the Labor Party had no idea what condition they were in. Some of them are in questionable habitableness. As I have already stated there was some $30 million that needed to be spent, which clearly the Labor Party doesn't think we should have spent money on bringing houses up to standard. They would rather that—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: Clearly, the Labor Party doesn't think we should be—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Opposition Whip is out of order. Minister, continue, please.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Leader!

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order, order! I won't tolerate this.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. K.J. Maher: And she laughs about homelessness.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I'm just—

The PRESIDENT: Order! The minister will continue.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: It is remarkable, isn't it, that we've got a party in this place that asks questions and doesn't want the answers, clearly.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I don't think they like the answer. In relation to those properties we spent some $30 million actually bringing a number of those up to speed that were just completely in need of a great deal of work. We've spent $168 million in the previous financial year to upgrade a range of properties. We've got a new policy which means that we're accelerating those properties which are very hard for us to let in the system, a policy which, apparently, Labor opposes, and we continue to work through the ageing stock we are managing.