Question to the Minister Housing and Urban Development on Mount Gambier Housing Trust Properties

Mr FATCHEN (Mount Gambier) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Housing and Urban Development. Minister, how many Housing Trust properties in Mount Gambier are currently vacant, awaiting maintenance or repairs?

The Hon. N.D. CHAMPION (Taylor—Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Housing Infrastructure, Minister for Planning) (14:59): I thank the member for his question and his interest in the South Australian Housing Trust. It gives me an opportunity, first of all, to outline the fact that the Housing Trust has grown its numbers since we have been in government. That is in no small part because of the Premier's personal interest in public housing. He is very committed to it, as is the whole of the government, because the Housing Trust fulfils such an important role in our community, both in the city and in the country.

We have increased numbers overall. There are some 33,309 properties as of the last official RoGS figures. That is growth on the year before that. Of course, the average age of those 33,000 properties is 44 years. That is the average, so we have an ageing housing fleet. That means that when properties become vacant because a tenant has moved out or passed away, we often take that opportunity to fully renovate properties—kitchens, bathrooms. Other significant maintenance often needs to be done, and that takes time.

To give the member a picture across the state, we have 370 homes waiting allocation, which is just 1.1 per cent of the stock across the state. Another 1,227 are undergoing significant maintenance—kitchens, bathrooms and the like—and that's 3.7 per cent of the total number of properties. In Mount Gambier, 27 homes are vacant, which is about 2.5 per cent of the 1,061 properties in Mount Gambier. Of those 27, nine are ready for allocation. That normally means that they are in the process of the local Housing Trust office finding the right person for the right home, which often takes some time to do. The remaining 18 are being renovated, having those significant works done, and that is an important thing to do.

I would take this opportunity to thank the Housing Trust staff, a particular group of people in the trust who have taken the additional maintenance money that we have put in over our time in government. You, Speaker, when you were on the front bench, were certainly part of that. They have worked very hard to get these numbers down, worked very hard to get the renovations done as quickly as possible. They haven't made the perfect the enemy of the good—that is the important thing. They have put people in those homes as quickly as possible.

Importantly, we have also built more homes even in Mount Gambier. There have been 22 new builds under this government in Mount Gambier. That is a very important thing to do. We want to not just improve the numbers of public housing, we want to renovate and modernise a fleet. Sometimes that means new kitchens and bathrooms, insulation under the SHEPI program and a range of other things that can give us more longevity of homes. Sometimes it is a better thing to demolish and rebuild and sometimes it's better to build new on separate allotments. But whatever we are doing, we are doing with a commitment to public housing. That is an important thing for us to do as a community and a society, but it's especially close to this government's heart.