The Housing Authority is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of 36,600 properties located across the state. As a landlord, it is responsible under law for keeping properties safe, and specifically, for ensuring that its houses have the required number of working smoke alarms and residual current devices. This task is significant given the large number and spread of properties, but so too is the potential consequence of failing, especially when considering the vulnerability of many of Housing’s tenants.

I first audited Housing’s management of safety devices in 2010 following the tragic electrocution of a child in the Pilbara and a request from the then Minister. I found that Housing’s management of safety devices was ineffective, putting tenants and properties at risk.

Six years later, I found some progress and improvement, but not enough.

Housing has put in place most of the tools it needs to manage safety devices effectively. But gaps in baseline information, weaknesses in inspection and maintenance processes, and inadequate oversight means that Housing remains unsure if all its properties have working safety devices.

In my 2010 report, I estimated that Housing had spent around $12 million on retrofitting safety devices since 1997. In the last 4 years, it has spent a further $12 million and it has just started a $26 million, 3-year program to make sure its properties are electrically safe. It has already taken too long to address this important safety issue. Failure to deliver on this latest program would be unacceptable.