Thursday, 28 August 2025

North-Eastern Metropolitan Region

Richard WELCH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:53): (1793) My constituency matter is for the Minister for Housing and Building. A local constituent, Mr Talbot of Vermont, has raised concerns about what is a nearly three-month delay in repairs to a heating system at his Housing Victoria home and the difficulty he has had navigating the department’s complaints system. Mr Talbot lives with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia and relies on heating in order to manage his health. He lodged a repair request in early June and genuinely attempted to follow established processes to the letter, with follow-up phone calls, lodging a complaint with the department’s online form, waiting two weeks for a call back and seeking firm pledges of action, all to no avail. As of the start of this week, it still has not been resolved. Could I ask the minister to please look at this situation to ensure Mr Talbot’s home is fixed and see if the Housing Victoria customer feedback and complaints service is still fit for purpose?