Shadow housing minister hits back at WA Government over regional housing ‘cop out’

The Opposition has hit back at WA Housing Minister John Carey for blaming a Statewide regional housing shortage on an “aggressive sales” policy implemented by the former Liberal National Government. Mr Carey made the comments after the Principals Federation of WA took aim at the McGowan Government over limited availability of Government Regional Officer Housing. As reported in Countryman last week, PFWA president Bevan Ripp claimed regional schools faced a “huge struggle” to attract staff amid a dearth of suitable accommodation. From 2016 to 2020, the number of available GROH houses shrank by about 600, with the South West and Mid West regions recording the biggest drops. Mr Carey said about half of those properties were sold during the final two years of the Colin Barnett Liberal National Government, to cover a $180 million debt it had accrued in the GROH program through “financial mismanagement”. But shadow housing minister Steve Martin has labelled Mr Carey’s excuse a cop out. “For the minister to be blaming what the Liberal National State Government did nearly seven years ago now is extraordinary,” he said. “The McGowan Labor Government was elected in early 2017; they have had years to fix this issue with GROH housing and they simply haven’t.” Since 2020, the number of available GROH properties has been slowly rising. Registered properties from Harvey to Pemberton shrank from 242 in 2016 to 186 in 2020, with the figure now sitting at 210. In the Mid West and Gascoyne, the number of GROH houses fell from 687 in 2016 to 536 in 2020, and has since risen to 569. Across WA, the total figure fell from 5488 in 2016 to 4879 in 2020, but now sits at 4992. Mr Carey said over the past two years the State Government had been steadily increasing the GROH program to meet demand, but Mr Martin said more needed to be done. “The numbers simply reflect a lack of concern for this issue,” Mr Martin said. “Mr Carey has now had some time as the minister in this role, and an enormous Budget surplus provided by the iron ore royalties in this State, for his Government to address this situation, and at the moment they appear unwilling or unable to make much of a dent in it.” Mr Carey dismissed the criticism, saying the Member for the Agricultural Region was “clearly uncomfortable with the facts”. “The fact is, the disgraceful economic management of the previous Liberal National Government left our state with a mountain of debt, including nearly $200 million in the GROH portfolio,” Mr Carey told Countryman. “To cover the debt, the previous Liberal National Government were forced into an aggressive sales program, which included selling-off around 70 GROH properties in the Wheatbelt in the last two years of their Government. “(Mr Martin) neglects to acknowledge the massive impact COVID has had on our housing system.” In response to COVID-induced “challenges”, Mr Carey said the State Government was investing in measures that were “delivering a significant boost to housing supply”. “Our $20,000 Building Bonus Grant has supported huge growth in new home building which will create new leasing opportunities for the GROH portfolio,” he said. “At the same time, we are investing $2.1 billion into social housing and $200 million on GROH which will include expanding and improving the portfolio.” Mr Carey said bout 4000 new homes were approved for construction across regional WA last financial year, an increase of about 120 per cent on the previous financial year. “As these thousands of homes are delivered, there will be further opportunity for the State to lease properties from the private market for the GROH portfolio,” he said Neither the Department of Education nor the PFWA would not reveal which communities were worst affected by school staff shortages. But Mr Martin, who farms at Wickepin, said the problem was widespread. “I have had conversations with a number of people involved in the schools in those country towns, but it’s been made clear to me that they can’t express those concerns publicly,” he said. “But those concerns are very real, from Esperance to Northampton and everywhere in between. “There is simply not enough good quality accommodation to meet the demand in the GROH market.”