Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas says housing problems are No.1 issue in Goldfields

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas says housing problems are “top of the list” of concerns he has heard from the Goldfields community during his trip to the region this week.

Mr Zempilas was in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Thursday and told the Kalgoorlie Miner he welcomed the Cook Government’s ambition to build 113 new Government Regional Officer Housing homes in the city as part of the Seven Cities initiative, but would “believe it when we see it”.

“We welcome the ambition to build 500 GROH houses, but we welcome it with some scepticism,” he said.

“In Kalgoorlie, they’ve talked about delivering 113 GROH houses in four years.”

“When you compare that with their delivery of GROH houses over the 10 years that they’ve been in government — they have only added 78 new GROH houses Statewide in 10 years.

“Now they’re telling us they want to deliver 500 in four years, so we’ll believe it when we see it.”

He said the “No.1” issue he had heard about in his 2½ days in the Goldfields was a “critical” lack of housing supply.

“I’ve been touring the regions now with my colleagues for more than 12 months, and everywhere we go, every single regional centre, they talk about not enough government housing for those essential workers,” he said.

Mr Zempilias visited Laverton, Leonora, Coolgardie, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder on his tour, and was accompanied by Upper House Liberal members Phil Twiss and Neil Thomson.

Mr Thomson said during his Leonora visit he saw a social house that had burned down two years ago.

“It’s a situation where the shire has had to put a demolition order in against the State Government . . . the shire was so frustrated they have to now force the Government come and do something about it,” he said.

“We know there’s social houses, or former social houses, boarded up right across Western Australia and regional towns when people are crying out for housing.

“It plays into the issue raised by leader Basil Zempilas in relation to the delivery — they can’t even look after the houses they have.”

Mr Zempilas said he had heard concerns in Leonora that the housing situation was affecting tourism.

“The lack of accommodation, the lack of housing, means many of the big mining companies are using the hotels that are in Kalgoorlie and surrounds for their workers,” he said.

“We understand their need to do that, we get it, but that means people who might be wanting to come up for a holiday from Perth for a week with their family, or even a business trip, can’t get accommodation.”

Mr Zempilas said he would continue to advocate for the Government to “straighten up their priorities” after his visit.

“There’s a great spirit and optimism about Kalgoorlie, and speaking to a group of business operators last night, times in Kalgoorlie for a good deal of the community are as good as they’ve ever been,” he said.

“The price of gold has brought a real buoyancy to sections of the community, but that adds pressure in housing and in other services.

“It’s been a great pleasure to see the town feeling so good about itself, albeit they’ve highlighted and raised, many people, those issues that need urgent attention.”