Shadow Minister for Housing Mark Parton has circulated a petition calling on the ACT Government to ensure that maintenance requests from public housing tenants are dealt with within the required time frame.

The petition, which also calls on the Labor-Greens Government to bring all ACT public houses up to health and safety standards, was prompted after the Canberra Liberals were inundated with emails and images from tenants living in unsafe conditions across the city.

Mr Parton said over 150 people have signed the petition in its first week and he expects that number to grow over the next month.

“Public housing tenants in the ACT are begging for the government to fix issues such as broken locks, mould infestations and collapsing ceilings,” Mr Parton said.

“It is clear Labor and the Greens are abandoning some of the most vulnerable people in our city; it’s not good enough.

“Public housing tenants who are regularly contacting my office feel as though they are being ignored by the government when they attempt to seek help to fix the poor condition of their home.

“It is just not acceptable, especially for those tenants who are currently living in substandard circumstances and are risking their health and safety just to have a roof over their head.

"In April this year Labor and the Greens voted against fixing dwellings that are in breach of health and safety standards within a timely fashion.

“The government needs to act urgently. They have the power to fix this miss, and they should,” Mr Parton concluded.

The petition closes Sunday 29 August and can be found here: https://www.markparton.com.au/housing-petition

Quotes attributable to HousingACT tenants:

"No one is helping us and we all feel scared. We all want and deserve to feel safe, and Housing's treatment of us is not commensurate to what we deserve."

"I have made countless reports and phone calls, to only fall on deaf ears and be told to 'move on', 'get over it', 'nothing I can do'."