Former federal SA Senator Mary Jo Fisher says residents in apartment block face potential $45k cladding repair bill

A former politician has revealed she is also living in a building covered in potentially flammable cladding – which will cost each owner up to $45,000 to fix.

A former senator is calling on affected property owners to join her in lobbying the State Government to help pay for repairs to buildings covered in potentially flammable cladding.

Mary Jo Fisher has revealed she is a resident and presiding officer of an apartment block which a government-led audit has identified as containing the dangerous material.

She said the 70 mostly owner-occupiers now faced a preliminary cost of up to $45,000 each to rid the buildings of the Alutile-brand aluminium composite panels in the 11-year-old property.

The former Liberal MP, who has declined to reveal the location of the building or council area, said the government must help fund the repairs.

“The government is allowing the MFS to tell us to get rid of the cladding and eliminate the risk, and that’s why we think that the government should come to the party,” said Ms Fisher, who lives in the apartment with husband John Crosby.

“I think it is only reasonable to expect that the government would provide some financial assistance.”

Mary Jo Fisher and husband John Crosby

The government is refusing to follow the lead of Victoria and NSW in providing funds or loans to assist in repair costs.

The Advertiser revealed this month that 166 apartment owners in New Port, near Port Adelaide, are facing a potential $1.6m repair bill to strip twin seven-storey buildings of cladding. The residents have demanded help from the council and the government to fix the problem which they argue is not their fault.

Ms Fisher wants similarly affected property owners to contact her, so they can make a “united approach” to government. She said residents in her building had felt unsupported and “stuffed around” by authorities in trying to manage the cladding issue.

The two New Port apartment buildings identified as having potentially flammable cladding.

Ms Fisher said the first time the council and MFS had inspected their building was in February. She said the MFS determined the only option was to remove the cladding, despite the community corporation being “led to believe” they could partially remove the material.

She said the council initially required the community corporation lodge a planning application by March this year and to have work done within four months of council approving the work.

But Ms Fisher said the council had since agreed to give them 20 months to do the work, which she said was “doable”.

But she said there was a lack of expertise and shortage of fire engineers and building companies to undertake the work.

The government is refusing to reveal the locations of buildings identified with potentially flammable cladding arguing it could encourage arsonists