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- 9 May 2006
Unlicensed Boarding Houses
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Page: 22760
The Hon. JOHN RYAN [10.39 p.m.]: I wish to report to the House a number of concerns I have about the regulation of unlicensed boarding houses. Today I received answers from the Minister for Disability Services to questions I placed on notice about 10 unlicensed boarding houses. Those answers confirm everything I have been concerned about. It is an offence under the Youth and Community Services Act 1973 for a person to operate a boarding house accommodating more than two people with disabilities without a licence. The New South Wales Ombudsman regards that Act as outmoded and unenforceable. I am concerned that the Act is barely enforced at all. The Minister admitted that in five years the department has conducted a mere 18 investigations into unlicensed premises. The department's investigation of the 10 premises that I referred to it will amount to 50 per cent of its effort in five years. Departmental officers can enter a suspected unlicensed boarding house only if they have a warrant from a magistrate.
The Minister has informed the House that prior to 1998 the department had obtained two warrants and none since. Boarding houses are expected to comply with fire standards set out in the Building Code of Australia. While the assessment of these matters is complex, in simple terms we should expect to see certain essential fire safety provisions in a boarding house. They include items such as a back-to-base fire alarm system, smoke detectors, portable fire extinguishers, illuminated exit signs, solid core doors to each room, and an adequate means of exit from the building including soundly built stairs. I complained about a boarding house in Crystal Street, Marrickville, which clearly does not comply with those minium standards. It has a narrow and rickety set of stairs leading to a number of upper levels in the house.
The doors to the rooms are obviously not the appropriate solid core doors. I did not see one portable fire extinguisher, or evidence of illuminated exit signs. The passageways leading to both the front and rear exits were cluttered with junk including abandoned shopping trolleys and the remains of discarded white goods. An answer I received from the Minister for Disability Services stated that a departmental officer:
…inspected premises at 117-119 Crystal Street, Petersham, on 2 March 2006, as a result of its concerns regarding fire safety issues and poor health standards at the premises. On 21 April 2006, the Council advised the region that the fire safety at these premises now complies with the requirements of the Building Code of Australia.
I visited that boarding house to be photographed for an article published in the Glebe newspaper on 27 April 2006 in the same week that Marrickville council provided that advice. While I am no expert in the finer points of fire safety assessment, it was clear to me that the boarding house did not comply with essential fire safety or health standards. I notice that the Minister made no reference to the department's concerns about health standards. In regard to another seven unlicensed boarding houses I referred to the department for attention, the Minister's answer confirms my concerns about both fire safety and health issues. He said:
… referrals have been made to the local council where issues have been identified that relate to the Building Code of Australia.
In regard to another boarding house that I was concerned about at 300 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst, where a more detailed inspection took place on 20 April, the Minister reported:
The co-owner agreed to a process where providing the residents gave consent, regional staff would undertake an assessment to determine if any of the residents met the criteria for a "handicapped person", and he reported that of those residents who consented to this assessment, none met the criteria under the Act.
Unfortunately, the investigation could take place only with consent. We have absolutely no idea how many of the 25 residents reported in the media to be living there were assessed. I was informed that during the investigation a person tried to inform the inspectors that action had been taken by the owners to prevent some of the residents from answering questions by telling them to not open their doors. Additionally he wanted to report that a pet cat had been transferred to a local laundromat to prevent the inspectors becoming aware that the cat shared a room with one of the residents under the filthiest of conditions. Apparently the investigation was also disrupted by a fire alarm going off, caused by a room being fumigated for cockroaches.
Unfortunately the departmental officer refused to act on that useful information; and probably could not, under the law. I can only imagine that that boarding house barely passed the appropriate public health requirements. The boarding house is one that has been publicly identified as being owned and operated by the member for Pittwater. The Youth and Community Services Act needs to be reviewed and reformed because its provisions are outmoded, its standards are inadequate, and enforcement of them is a demonstrable joke.
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