❓ Mr. Tinley questions the Minister for Housing about a potential overspend in the housing maintenance budget, citing an email. The Minister acknowledges budget prioritisation and past issues with the maintenance contract but refuses to comment on the email without reviewing it.
AnsweredQoN 149Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PUBLIC HOUSING — MAINTENANCE
CONTRACT
149. Mr P.C. TINLEY to the Minister for Housing:
On behalf of the member for Forrestfield, I would like to
acknowledge the students from the Woodlupine Primary School in the public
gallery. I hope they enjoy their visit.
I refer to the failed prioritisation of Homeswest housing
maintenance and draw the minister's attention to a Department of
Housing email that I received, dated 6 March this year. It says that at present
the housing maintenance budget in the state budget is $11 million overspent to
date.
(1) Given that
the minister is on the public record as denying the housing maintenance budget
is overspent, does he still maintain that the housing maintenance budget is not
overspent?
(2) How does the
minister reconcile his ongoing denials that there is no problem with the
housing maintenance budget with the information that is coming from his own
department?
CONTRACT
149. Mr P.C. TINLEY to the Minister for Housing:
On behalf of the member for Forrestfield, I would like to
acknowledge the students from the Woodlupine Primary School in the public
gallery. I hope they enjoy their visit.
I refer to the failed prioritisation of Homeswest housing
maintenance and draw the minister's attention to a Department of
Housing email that I received, dated 6 March this year. It says that at present
the housing maintenance budget in the state budget is $11 million overspent to
date.
(1) Given that
the minister is on the public record as denying the housing maintenance budget
is overspent, does he still maintain that the housing maintenance budget is not
overspent?
(2) How does the
minister reconcile his ongoing denials that there is no problem with the
housing maintenance budget with the information that is coming from his own
department?
AnswerView source ↗
Mr Speaker —
Mr
B.J. Grylls : What happened to the email?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : That is an interesting point. During my short time in this
place, I have found that it is often fraught with danger to believe everything
members of the opposition say when they interpret an email.
Mr
E.S. Ripper : I certainly found that in government.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I am sure the member for Belmont was not reflecting on me
when he made that interjection.
(1)–(2)
I have not seen the email. I am happy to look at it later. I go on the advice
that I get from the department, not the member for Willagee's
interpretation of emails because I have found in the past that some of his
interpretations of emails have been a little off the mark, for lack of a more
polite statement.
The advice I have from the
department is that as of February this year, it had spent $82 million of a $106
million maintenance budget. It is the case that we have had to prioritise our
spending on maintenance to ensure that we fit within that budget. That means
that some non-urgent work will be delayed. I think it is entirely appropriate
that the department delivers on its budget expectations in and around
maintenance. It is not a new outcome. This has happened in previous years; that
is, the department has had to effectively control the maintenance work that
flows through to ensure that we deliver outcomes that are within our budget. I
am very comfortable with the advice that I have received. I have not seen the
email that the member for Willagee has and I am not prepared to comment on it.
I will comment more broadly on the
issue of the maintenance contract. There was a private member's motion
on public housing maintenance last week. I understand that the member for
Willagee was ill last week and could not participate. I am sorry about that as
I was looking forward to his input into the debate. For his information and for
the benefit of the house, I will reiterate what I said. There were major
problems with the implementation of the head contractor model. The
implementation was poor, management oversight was poor and risk management in
relation to projects was very poor. I have asked the auditor to do some
additional work around that, in particular around the robustness of the payment
structures and around methods to ensure that quality is being delivered. I am a
lot more comforted by what the department is doing in that space now than what
it was doing a couple of years ago.
The short answer to the question is
that I will be getting some more advice in and around the head contractor
model. I think it is appropriate for the department to manage its maintenance
budget. I am not really prepared to comment on the email that the member for
Willagee has until I have read it in its entirety.
Mr
B.J. Grylls : What happened to the email?
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : That is an interesting point. During my short time in this
place, I have found that it is often fraught with danger to believe everything
members of the opposition say when they interpret an email.
Mr
E.S. Ripper : I certainly found that in government.
Mr
T.R. BUSWELL : I am sure the member for Belmont was not reflecting on me
when he made that interjection.
(1)–(2)
I have not seen the email. I am happy to look at it later. I go on the advice
that I get from the department, not the member for Willagee's
interpretation of emails because I have found in the past that some of his
interpretations of emails have been a little off the mark, for lack of a more
polite statement.
The advice I have from the
department is that as of February this year, it had spent $82 million of a $106
million maintenance budget. It is the case that we have had to prioritise our
spending on maintenance to ensure that we fit within that budget. That means
that some non-urgent work will be delayed. I think it is entirely appropriate
that the department delivers on its budget expectations in and around
maintenance. It is not a new outcome. This has happened in previous years; that
is, the department has had to effectively control the maintenance work that
flows through to ensure that we deliver outcomes that are within our budget. I
am very comfortable with the advice that I have received. I have not seen the
email that the member for Willagee has and I am not prepared to comment on it.
I will comment more broadly on the
issue of the maintenance contract. There was a private member's motion
on public housing maintenance last week. I understand that the member for
Willagee was ill last week and could not participate. I am sorry about that as
I was looking forward to his input into the debate. For his information and for
the benefit of the house, I will reiterate what I said. There were major
problems with the implementation of the head contractor model. The
implementation was poor, management oversight was poor and risk management in
relation to projects was very poor. I have asked the auditor to do some
additional work around that, in particular around the robustness of the payment
structures and around methods to ensure that quality is being delivered. I am a
lot more comforted by what the department is doing in that space now than what
it was doing a couple of years ago.
The short answer to the question is
that I will be getting some more advice in and around the head contractor
model. I think it is appropriate for the department to manage its maintenance
budget. I am not really prepared to comment on the email that the member for
Willagee has until I have read it in its entirety.
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