Opposition housing spokesperson Michelle Lensink must apologise to a public housing tenant after an embarrassing gaffe whereby she held a media conference outside the tenant’s home and falsely claimed it was vacant.
Ms Lensink invited media and posed for photos at the home and then claimed a neighbouring property was also untenanted, which it was not.
This latest embarrassing backfire is another serious blow to Ms Lensink’s credibility.
Minister for Human Services Nat Cook said Ms Lensink should know better having once held the portfolio and called on her to apologise for using the tenant’s home as a prop to peddle disinformation.
Ms Cook also called on Opposition leader David Speirs to speak to Ms Lensink about her ongoing behaviour in relation to public housing tenants.
Ms Cook recently wrote to Ms Lensink urging her to respect the dignity and privacy of public housing tenants following similar stunts.
SA Housing Authority’s homes in the area have a 98.5 per cent occupancy rate. In late 2021, when the Liberals were in government, the number of vacant properties was around 2,000 compared to the current 1,774. These numbers fluctuate as people move in and out, homes are upgraded and properties are redeveloped.
The Malinauskas Government has committed an extra $260 million to public housing and homelessness services since it was elected in March 2022.
This new investment will build an extra 564 new homes and support major upgrades to 350 vacant homes that would otherwise have sat empty or faced demolition. We also stopped the sale of 580 homes.
South Australia secured an extra $135.8 million from the Commonwealth for social housing that will deliver hundreds of new homes for those in need.
As put by Nat Cook
As a former minister for housing, Michelle Lensink should really know better.
I know the Liberals have never supported public housing or respected public housing tenants, but this behaviour has to stop.
There is a national, international, housing affordability and availability crisis and the Malinauskas Government is doing all we can to build more new homes and bring vacant properties back online.
Stunts like this just further marginalise already vulnerable people and do nothing to address the issue.
