Minister branded a ‘communist’ in meeting with Perth public housing neighbours

Housing Minister and Perth MP John Carey was labelled a “communist” and told he had lost voters during the first round of consultation sessions following the $105 million purchase of the Fraser Suites building in East Perth for public housing.

Carey met with groups of residents over 12 sessions on the weekend to discuss the state government’s plan to convert the 19-storey Fraser Suites tower and its 236 luxury apartments into a mix of 70 per cent affordable and 30 per cent social housing.

Fraser Suites and Queens Riverside buildings in East Perth.Credit: Hamish Hastie

Residents in the Queens Riverside apartment complex next to Fraser Suites opposed the project and voiced their concerns at the first of two consultation days led by Carey on Saturday.

On Monday, Carey said the reaction was “mixed”.

“I’ve got to be upfront. There was people who had understanding and were supportive. There were people that were apprehensive, and I understand that, and then there were people that were clearly hostile and absolutely did not support it,” he said.

“I was called a communist, all these things. People would never vote for me again. I get it, and I respect people’s different views.

“My job as the minister for housing is to get supply and to do it as best as we can, and whatever the view of local residents is, this is my commitment.

“I am giving it my all, driving to make sure that that project is successful, remembering that 70 per cent of the tenants will be affordable rentals.”

Residents plan to hold a protest outside the building on Saturday while Carey hosts his next lot of consultation sessions.

Carey said feedback from the sessions was being considered, and the state would look at what it could do to address issues including car parking and concerns over anti-social behaviour.

He said the government would also establish a reference group with residents of Queens Riverside as work continued to convert the hotel to welcome new residents by early next year.

Queens Riverside resident and rally organiser Ben Stephenson said he didn’t support Carey being labelled a “communist”, but said residents felt upset they weren’t being listened to.

“I think what we’re looking for is a trusted, collaborative conversation and our concerns addresses rather than dismissed,” he said.

“I think you’ve got to be empathetic to the fact that this is our lives, our families. You’ve got 2000 people already here.

“Obviously, yes, we want to help 500 vulnerable people, but there’s also 2000 people that are losing sleep at the moment or having family issues and selling up because you’re ignoring us and shutting us down.”

Stephenson said the group was not anti-social housing but opposed the project because a hotel was not an appropriate building for social housing.

“The hotel rooms are not proper, livable long-term spaces,” he said.

Carey and WA Premier Roger Cook unveiled the preferred proponents for hundreds of new social and affordable homes in the suburb and in Fremantle under a partnership with the federal government on Monday.

Under the project, part of the Housing Australia Future Fund, 480 affordable and social homes would be shared across Court Place in Subiaco and East Street in Fremantle.

Carey said the homes would be managed by Community Housing Limited. The 447 in Subiaco would be a “critical boost to rentals and the rental market”, while the 34 social homes in Fremantle would provide “additional and critical supply”.

Shelter WA chief executive Kath Snell said she was always sad when she saw pushback on social housing projects.

“I think one of the things as well, is people sometimes fear the unknown,” she said.

“If people are living in social housing and they have complex needs, then there needs to be support systems in place.

“However, lots of people live in apartments, and we see that right across our state and particularly in our city, and people do that with very little problem.

“Thousands of people live in social housing, and many people, most people, have a really positive experience of that.”

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