Class action filed by Slater and Gordon over housing justice for Aboriginal tenants living in remote Western Australia

Leading law firm Slater and Gordon has filed a class action on behalf of thousands of Aboriginal tenants living in substandard public housing across remote areas of Western Australia.

The class action, filed in the Federal Court, accuses the Housing Authority and State of West Australia, as lessors of public housing in remote Aboriginal communities, of breaching multiple residential tenancy, contract and consumer protection laws between 1 July 2010 and 19 August 2024, including failing to:

• adequately maintain, repair and carry out structural and other improvements to public housing rental properties, and/or to do so within a reasonable period of time;
• provide public housing that was reasonably secure;
• provide public housing that was reasonably comfortable; and
• ensure that public housing rental properties complied with basic health and safety laws.

It is alleged that residential properties were often without working toilets, showers, cooking facilities, lights, safe drinking water, doors, functioning locks, reliable electricity and/or inadequate heating and/or cooling.

Many tenants are also alleged to have been forced to live in properties with broken windows, blocked pipes and inadequate hot water, exposed electrical wiring, widespread mould and insect and/or rodent infestations.

The class action also asserts the Housing Authority and State engaged in unconscionable conduct towards Aboriginal tenants. As they were often the only providers of housing in remote Aboriginal communities, it is alleged that the respondents knew, or ought to have known, that Aboriginal tenants had few alternative options, lacked negotiating power and information about their rights, and were therefore particularly vulnerable.

The class action alleges the Housing Authority and State took advantage of tenants by charging them high rents for poor-quality properties, and that the amount of rent charged varied without sufficient explanation.

The class action is directed at thousands of public housing premises leased by Aboriginal tenants across remote communities in the East Kimberley, West Kimberley, Pilbara, Wheatbelt, Mid West, Gascoyne, and Goldfields-Esperance regions of WA, with those who leased the properties between 1 July 2010 and 19 August 2024 automatically members in the class action.

Through the class action the applicant and group members seek:

• financial compensation for the losses and damages they have suffered, including repayment of rent where the property was without basic working amenities, and for inconvenience, disappointment and distress that housing-related concerns have allegedly caused; and
• repayment of expenses they have incurred to rectify housing defects and issues, such as buying and installing air conditioners, door locks, increased power costs among other costs.

Slater and Gordon Class Actions Principal Lawyer Gemma Leigh-Dodds said public housing tenants deserved better.

“Every person, regardless of where they live, deserves safe and reasonable housing,” Ms Leigh-Dodds said.

“For too long Aboriginal people living in remote communities have been expected to ‘put up and shut up’ in relation to their housing rights. By filing this class action on their behalf, we are demanding better housing justice for Aboriginal Western Australians.”

Ms Leigh-Dodds said almost 200 public housing properties in several remote communities across the state were surveyed earlier this year as part of the law firm’s investigations. She observed that in many instances, repeated requests for repairs had been ignored by the Housing Authority or State, were inadequately fixed, or not remediated within a reasonable timeframe.

Members of remote communities and activists have been advocating for years for these homes to be fixed, with little traction.

“Aboriginal Australians are paying hundreds of dollars a fortnight to live in houses that don’t provide even the most basic needs. Through this class action, we’re holding those responsible for WA’s public housing accountable. We’re saying, you can’t collect rent and not uphold your end of the bargain.”

Many property defects have also left tenants vulnerable to health problems, while a lack of adequate perimeter fencing and holes in walls and doors has resulted in animals – including venomous snakes and large cattle – entering premises and potentially putting tenants’ lives at risk.

“There are some communities where the water from the tap is not safe to drink due to high levels of nasty contaminates like nitrates and uranium. As a result, some community members are forced – and have been for years – to rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking,” she said.

“It’s as if the State has decided, ‘that’ll do’ when it comes to Aboriginal Australians. This class action will establish, among many other things, that the supply of safe drinking water is a basic legal entitlement that every tenant should have access to in Australia in 2024.”

Ms Leigh-Dodds said the class action was believed to be among the first group proceedings in Australia linking the State’s responsibility to uphold tenant’s rights amid evolving environmental and living conditions. Many tenants had allegedly been forced to buy and install their own air-conditioners because the lack of insulation made their rental properties unbearable for many months of the year “in a state that reaches some of the hottest temperatures in the world”.

“In one house we visited, there was a child who suffered seizures when it got too hot. The family would keep the air conditioner on, but the electricity regularly cut out when it rained, which made it incredibly hard for his family to help regulate his temperature,” she said.

The class action follows a landmark High Court decision relating to housing rights of Aboriginal tenants in the Northern Territory run by Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights (ALRAR), which has teamed up with Slater and Gordon for this class action.