When temperatures are this extreme, Melissa Fisher is trapped in her bedroom – the only bearable spot in her home in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth Vale.
Fisher sweltered through South Australia’s hottest 26 January on record, with an overnight minimum of 31C. Now she faces a top of 43C on Tuesday as severe heatwaves continue across the nation.
Victorians are preparing for top temperatures to break records – as high as 49C in Ouyen and Mildura. And there is an extreme heatwave warning in place for New South Wales, with some areas expected to see temperatures in the high 40s.
In public housing, with no insulation, Fisher has only a small window air conditioning unit.
“It’s so old. I bought it from Cash Converters for about $30 eight years ago,” she says. “It basically does nothing. It will only cool one room down. In summer I literally have to stay in my bedroom.
“I don’t cook at all. I’m surviving on cereal and sandwiches. My house is concrete walls inside and brick walls outside, with a tin roof.”
She says once her house heats up, it “stays hot for days”.
Fisher also has a skin condition that reacts badly to the heat.
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The South Australian government and the federal government are facing calls to do more to help renters weather severe heat.
The organisation Healthy Homes for Renters says people are living in “glorified tents” that are too cold in winter and too hot in summer, which in turn forces them to spend more on energy.
Along with the Australian Council of Social Service, Better Renting and others, they want the federal government to fund and support the states and territories to enforce minimum energy performance standards in rental homes.
For years, advocates have called for insulation to be installed in all rental properties.
A 2024 report by Better Renting found homes were often hotter than outdoors, and could be higher than the World Health Organization’s safe limits.
In SA, non-government organisations – including the Anti-Poverty Network SA (one of the places where Fisher does advocacy work) – have been calling on the government to pass legislation guaranteeing minimum standards for renters.
It would mean rental homes would have to meet basic liveability standards, ensuring they are not too hot in summer or too cold in winter.
The network’s coordinator, Pas Forgione, says everyone should be protected from extreme temperatures.
“Across SA, renters, especially those on the lowest incomes and those with chronic health conditions, are suffering from unhealthy, poor-quality homes that are scorching in summer and freezing in winter,” he says.
“In the middle of an unprecedented heatwave, we worry about all those renters who are unable to keep themselves cool at home, and the significant impacts on their wellbeing.”
A spokesperson for the state government says it has “made both the most significant reforms to rental laws and the most significant investment in public housing stock in a generation”, adding that some public housing tenants may be eligible for “disability or other programs that fund cooling”.
“The government has delivered the first net increase to public housing stock this century, while at the same time, investing $35.8m to deliver energy-related improvements to over 3,000 public homes, all designed to make them cooler, safer and more energy‑efficient,” the spokesperson says.
“Many new builds meet a 7‑star energy rating, meaning better insulation, ventilation and energy efficiency for tenants.”
The Greens MLC Rob Simms, who introduced the residential tenancies (minimum standards) amendment bill 2024, says while it was mainly aimed at private rentals it would also capture social and public housing. The bill did not pass, with both the government and opposition voting against it, but he plans to reintroduce it after the March election.
“A lot of the things we were proposing were no-brainers, and things landlords would already do, you’d hope,” he says.
“In the market we have at the moment, with such a shortage of available rental properties, it is a landlord’s market and some aren’t meeting basic standards.”
Fisher says to offset the cost of using the air conditioner, she doesn’t run any heating in winter, and that all houses should have minimum standards for heating and cooling, and solar panels.
“I know some people who don’t have air conditioning at all,” she says.
“I’ve said ‘come over and sit in my bedroom’.”
Guardian Australia has contacted the federal government for comment.
