Gippsland South electorate
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:57): (728) My question is to the Minister for Housing, and the question I ask is: what is the current public housing waitlist for inner and outer Gippsland regions? The minister will be aware of and was at the Homelessness Week event on the steps of Parliament this afternoon and would have heard, as I did, the issues that are coming from those in the sector – that public housing tenants, including sometimes double-income households, are unable to get out of public housing because they simply cannot afford or find private rentals or private accommodation. But there is very limited or almost zero public housing available and very limited or zero emergency housing available. There is a serious lack of maintenance that is occurring in the Gippsland region, and indeed as a result we have a number of vacant homes. It is all well and good for the minister to go out and speak to the event out there today, but she actually needs to address the problem and provide more public housing in the Gippsland region.