Australia’s highest court is deciding whether to award compensation to public housing tenants for disappointment and distress over dilapidated and poor housing, in a case their lawyers say could have ramifications for tenants around the country.
Residents in the remote community of Ltyentye Apurte or Santa Teresa, 85km south-east of Alice Springs, lead by claimants Enid Young and the now deceased Mr Conway, have been engaged in a series of long-running legal battles with the Northern Territory government over the poor housing, with the supreme court and court of appeal finding in their favour.
Now the high court is set to rule on whether the residents are entitled to compensation.
Annie Young, a resident of Santa Teresa and claimant, said she hoped the court case would mean that residents would have safe and comfortable homes to live in. She said the stress and discomfort for many residents was extreme and that many had no air conditioner, known as a “swampy”, despite the soaring heat in summers.
“We live in like in prison, no proper windows, no circulation, no swampy in the house,” Young said.
She said many in the small remote community were frustrated with homes which were overcrowded, unsanitary or in very poor condition, with long waits for urgent repairs, including for residents who were elderly and in ill health.
“We are just 80km from Alice Springs, which is the closest for electricians to come, and we have to wait two, three weeks or even a month for urgent repairs like blocked toilets. How can they expect [a] renal patient to be there? That’s not right.”
Some claimants lived with a blocked toilet and a leaking shower for 269 days, while Enid Young, Annie’s aunt, had no front door to her home, leading to fears that snakes or intruders could come inside. She also went without an air conditioner for 540 days in temperatures that regularly exceed 40C.
Other residents had homes with leaking sewerage.
Young spoke to Guardian Australia from her five-bedroom home which she shares with her adult daughter, her six children and partner.
“Overcrowding is also a main priority. It is still bad even though they renovated … they just put Band-Aid jobs on housing so not much is being done to keep us up to a good standard for better housing for the future.
Dan Kelly, a solicitor for Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights who is representing the residents in the high court, said the court will now decide if public housing tenants should receive compensation.
“This is the culmination of a seven-year fight by the community of Santa Teresa for better housing in their community … our client was left without a front door for a period of five years that obviously creates a sense of anxiety and distress and we say she deserves to be compensated.
Kelly said that the decision in favour of the community residents could have implications for tenants across the country.
“This is a once-in-a-generation case today that will influence the way residential tenancies are carried out across the country,” Kelly told reporters.
“If landlords provide decent, safe and comfortable housing this won’t mean anything, but where landlords do not provide proper housing for their tenants, this will be another way to hold them to account.”
Isabelle Reinecke, executive director of Grata Fund that is financing the litigation, told Guardian Australia the state of housing would be unacceptable anywhere else: “I don’t believe that this situation would have been allowed to continue if it wasn’t in remote First Nations communities.”
Annie Young hopes the high court will again find in her and the community’s favour after a long legal battle to improve their standards of living.
“We are entitled to win, the whole Santa Teresa community … It will make a big change for the community.”
Territory Families, Housing and Communities said in a statement it was committed to ensuring remote public housing was safe, habitable and appropriate but declined to comment further.
AAP contributed to this report
