TEACHERS —
GOVERNMENT REGIONAL OFFICERS' HOUSING
516. Hon STEVE MARTIN to the Minister for Education and
Training:
I refer to the government's
decision to sell off over 200 homes in the Government Regional Officers'
Housing scheme and the recent revelation that teachers are now living in shared
accommodation and caravans.
(1) How many teachers are living in
temporary accommodation?
(2) What is the breakdown of those
teachers by region?
(3) What is the longest amount of time that any
individual teacher has been housed in temporary accommodation?
Hon SUE
ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The premise of the question is incorrect. In 2015,
the previous Liberal–National government introduced an aggressive sales
program of GROH homes to cover a $180 million
debt that it had accrued in the program. Because of its financial
mismanagement, more than 600 GROH homes were sold in the preceding years
to cover this significant debt. By contrast, the McGowan government's
management of the state's finances has allowed it to stop this
aggressive sales program, and in the 2020–21 financial year it was able
to increase GROH stock by 129 new properties.
(1)–(3) As
at 16 August 2021, there were six teachers in caravan park accommodation. One
was in their own caravan in the goldfields by choice for two nights while the
allocated GROH house was being cleaned prior to occupation, and five were in
fully furnished, self-contained chalets or cabins. Three—one in each of
the Pilbara, south west and midwest—will be moved into GROH
accommodation. Two of the teachers in the
midwest are short-term appointments and therefore require furnished
accommodation, while GROH accommodation is unfurnished.