Maintenance work on public housing should be completed by government workers because contracting the work out has wasted taxpayers' money and eroded working conditions, the ACT Greens say.
The party said the community got better outcomes when governments took charge of essential services and abandoned "ideologically motivated" outsourcing.
"We need to reverse the rot caused by privatisation and start taking charge of addressing big issues," a party spokesman said.
Zach Smith, the ACT branch secretary of the powerful CFMEU, on Saturday called for Housing Minister Yvette Berry to insource the provision of maintenance services in government-owned housing.
"We're seeing life-threatening issues like collapsing retaining walls, faulty smoke detectors and exposed wiring being left for months without any sign of being fixed," Mr Smith said.
"Every Canberran should be shocked and appalled by what the ACT government has done here."
Mr Smith said tenants were living in "Third-World conditions" and called on Ms Berry to urgently intervene.
"Anything less would be a serious failure of her duty," he said.
An ACT government spokesman last week acknowledged there was room for improvement, adding: "The ACT government will continue to look at every option to improve the public housing experience for tenants, ensure the best value for money and work in good faith with stakeholders and tenants."
Ms Berry in December wrote to the CFMEU to say the government was considering the future of its housing maintenance contract, in line with a policy to avoid contracting work out when it could be completed by government workers.
"The work to consider insourcing will require a comprehensive review and I have asked the Community Services Directorate to work with key stakeholders, such as yourselves, in understanding potential for insourcing, development of models and understanding broader impacts and benefits," Ms Berry wrote in a letter seen by The Canberra Times.
Mark Parton, the opposition spokesman on housing, said the ACT's housing ministers had absolutely failed and it was clear a new approach to maintenance was needed.
"Public Housing maintenance in the ACT is a complete disaster and everyone from the tenants, through to the subcontractors, the union and the minister knows it," Mr Parton said.
Mr Parton said much of his portfolio work was centred on forcing the government to address housing maintenance failures brought to his attention by tenants.
"This long-term negligence has severely impacted the lives of thousands of Canberrans who deserve so much better and I will continue to fight for those people," he said.
"Minister Berry speaks of Housing ACT as being a model landlord and they are in reality the worst landlord in Canberra.
"The Canberra Liberals will have a lot more to say about the way forward once the Chief Minister and Treasurer has confirmed our financial position in the upcoming budget."
The ACT Greens said the experience of public housing tenants in the ACT would improve if they could speak to a single person about tenancy and maintenance issues.
"At the moment, public housing tenants have to speak separately to either ACT Housing or a private company depending on what they want to talk about - this process can be immensely confusing and frustrating," a party spokesman said.
