Tuesday, 7 March 2023

 Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (19:17): (75) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing, and the action that I seek is for the minister to authorise his department to meet with me so that I may convey the concerns of the Bayside District Public Tenants Association, especially concerning necessary rectification works at the Dunkley Fox estate in Highett. Last week public housing residents from the Sandringham electorate met with me to bring to my attention the lack of care and maintenance that has been afforded to this estate. Residents presented me with a petition signed by more than 50 tenants calling for the local housing office to address the unsafe and dilapidated state of the children’s playground. This petition also calls for the existing surfaces of the playground to be replaced with soft rubber and the instalment of sunshades above the playground. Parents, sadly, are too scared to allow their kids to spend time using the existing facilities due to the presence of syringes and regular drug use in public areas.

Residents have made numerous calls to Victoria Police to report the presence of squatters who are making use of the abandoned units for drug production and other illicit activities. These matters have also been brought to the attention of the responsible housing officer time and time again, and yet the concerns of the residents consistently fall on deaf ears. Often residents receive the advice that they must take their matters into their own hands by intervening in these dangerous situations and calling police themselves. Everybody has the right to live safely without fear for their own personal safety or the safety of their neighbours.

I am also aware of residents from other local public housing estates in my electorate who are desperately seeking a move into the Dunkley Fox estate; however, with limited suitable accommodation to meet their specific accessibility requirements, there is clearly more attention that is required for the public housing tenants in my community. I thank sincerely the Bayside District Public Tenants Association for making me aware of these issues, and I urge the minister, who I consider a good person and a good minister with their heart in the right place, to take the matters that I have raised this evening and to urgently action the request that I have made on behalf of my constituents.