Residents in ‘most policed area of Perth’ enraged by minister’s response

Enraged Inglewood residents near a trouble-plagued public housing complex have warned anti-social behaviour could escalate unless the West Australian government steps up efforts to clamp down on the issue.

Housing Minister John Carey was grilled about the Ninth Avenue complex during question time in parliament on Wednesday as residents watched on and at times heckled from the public gallery.

Inglewood resident Melissa Molinari.Credit: Hamish Hastie

The 24-unit complex was bought by the WA government last year for public housing, but anti-social behaviour has become so bad that Police Minister Reece Whitby said it was now one of the most policed areas of Perth.

Speaking outside parliament after question time, Inglewood resident Melissa Molinari detailed some of the behaviour allegedly witnessed over the past five months, which included a jogger being chased with a butcher’s knife; children being abused by tenants; bottles thrown at passers-by; and an Uber driver being bashed and having his car stolen.

Molinari said the government’s response to date was not good enough, and the issues were escalating.

“It is distressing to see families and parents of families here right now whose children have been attacked on our streets, and [the minister] stands there and does nothing. It’s disgusting,” she said.

“How many more people need to be attacked on the streets of Inglewood? How many more people have bottles thrown at them, chased with knives, before this government and this minister actually does something about it and hears our voices?

“What’s going to happen when someone is killed on the streets of Inglewood? What then?”

Molinari said the Inglewood community was not against social housing, and many tenants in the complex were doing the right thing and were also victims of the small number of bad eggs.

“There are so many people on a housing wait list for this state that would be so grateful to live in our beautiful community, yet this government has housed criminals and people who are completely disrespectful and undeserving to be there,” she said.

In response to questions from opposition housing spokesman David Bolt, Carey warned the government becoming involved in individual tenant evictions that were under way may risk them failing in court.

“I understand that the impacts of behaviour, whether it’s particularly criminal behaviour or other behaviour that affects other social housing tenants and of course, the nearby community,” he said.

“For the record … any matters of criminality are for WA Police to investigate and take action, but the Department of Communities, of course, works in tandem with WA Police on these complex issues.

“I must be clear on this: I cannot go into the individual tenancies, and we have a legal due process to follow, because if we don’t follow that process, then any attempt of eviction may fail before a magistrate.”

Carey noted his department had issued banning notices to visiting troublemakers, liquor restrictions in common areas, and planned to install more CCTV.

When Bolt asked whether Carey would meet with the residents, the minister said he would, but accused Bolt of trying to pull a political stunt.

That prompted jeers from the residents in the gallery and a subsequent warning from Speaker Stephen Price that they may be ejected from the gallery if they interrupted again.

Carey said complexes with 20-plus public housing units were not uncommon.

He accused the opposition of not supporting public housing after a question about a planned purchase of a complex for public housing of over-55s close to the Inglewood complex.

“[The opposition] don’t support new housing projects for ageing populations, for our most vulnerable. That’s fair, and I think it’s becoming quite explicit right now,” Carey said.

157 Ninth Avenue Inglewood.Credit: Google Maps

“There is this idea that 20-group housing is somehow unusual ... it is not.

“You have never had a serious commitment to social housing ... we are serious. We are delivering social housing to meet the needs of vulnerable people.”

Whitby told parliament on Wednesday a specific police operation was ongoing around the complex, making it one of the most policed areas in Perth.

“[Operation Saya] is a dedicated operation to this issue by police, that has involved patrols and specialist support units, including the mounted section, including the Regional Operations Group, including the air wing, including road policing group and the City of Stirling rangers, all concentrating their efforts,” he said.

“I think it’s one of the most policed parts of Perth at the moment, which is a good thing.

“In the last week alone, six individuals have been charged with a range of offences, 14 offences, four of those individuals of the six are actually tenants of the address, others have been visitors.”

“We will continue to operate to keep the community safe in Inglewood.”

Bolt said the government needed to look at legislative reform to give them greater ability to deal with problem tenants in social housing.

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