“PINJARRA is about to erupt,” wrote Murray-Wellington MLA Murray Cowper in an email to Department of Housing and Works District Manager John Pynes on March 8, 2010.
“Local shop keepers are being threatened with bodily harm, but are too afraid to make statements, police are feeling abandoned by other Government agencies,” Mr Cowper wrote.
“Police have been called dozens of times in the past week, including a complaint from me of juveniles sniffing glue at the front of the house.
“There are at least 15 people occupying this house.”
The house in question is a Department of Housing duplex on Pinjarra-Williams Road, occupied since December 2007 by a family well known to police and housing authorities.
The property is believed to be occupied by as many as 30 extended family members, although eight are registered to the address.
“There are up to 30 people living there on any given day,” Mr Cowper said.
“[There are children] registered at the local school using that address and they’ve knocked through the wall and are now occupying both residences.”
Despite years of police visits and continuous complaints, including from two separate residents who claimed members of the family were trespassing on their property, throwing rocks at their homes and using public parks as toilets, Mr Cowper said the Government would not intervene.
“The tenants involved are the same family that has been in the centre of serious disputes in Pinjarra, and who the previous Minister [for Housing] Troy Buswell declared would never be able to set foot in another [Department of Housing] property after damage to a rental in Armadale,” Mr Cowper said.
In August 2011, then-Minister for Housing Troy Buswell wrote to Mr Cowper, stating his “concern” over the tenancy.
“The Department is monitoring the situation and if further complaints are received in the future which can be proven, action will be taken.”
Today the Department of Housing's Director of Client Services, Steve Altham said the tenants had no active strikes under the Disruptive Behaviour Management Strategy.
"The Department has had significant engagement with the tenants and has visited the property on a regular basis," Mr Altham said.
"The registered tenants currently have no active strikes under the Disruptive Behaviour Management Strategy (DBMS) against their tenancy."
Mr Altham also said that, following an inspection this month, there was no evidence of a dividing wall having been removed.
In a letter from Minister for Housing Bill Marmion to Mr Cowper, dated October 16, Mr Marmion reiterated the Department’s concern and said it was “currently managing issues of overcrowding, disruptive behaviour and property standards at these properties.”
Mr Cowper had written to Mr Marmion suggesting that the Government evict the tenants, demolish the duplex and purchase the privately-owned adjoining land to build new multiple dwellings.
Mr Marmion replied, “given its size [and] location…the Department is not interested in purchasing it as it does not represent a prudent investment.”
The family, some of whom were involved in a brawl in Pinjarra Junction Shopping Centre that saw a 77-year-old bystander hospitalised in May, have lived in two Department of Housing properties in Pinjarra prior to their current home.
Mr Cowper said each one had been trashed with “countless complaints” from surrounding residents.
He said 60 per cent of all police call-outs were traced to their addresses.
The family has also been in serious disputes with other families in the area.
In Facebook posts dated this month, a member of the family wrote of being “on the run” and boasted how he would soon pair up with another family member once he was released from prison, so they could enact violent revenge on others who he called “black dogz”.
Knock-on effects
But there is perhaps one Pinjarra resident who has suffered more than most at the hands of the family in question.
The resident, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, owned the historic cottage on Pinjarra-Williams Road when his family bought it in 2005.
In a letter to Mr Marmion dated September 4 this year, the resident’s father explained they were unable to rent out or sell the property - valued at $365,000 in 2009 - due to ongoing anti-social behaviour from tenants at the adjacent Department of Housing property.
Over time the cottage was subjected to repeated bouts of vandalism including smashed windows, ripped walls and doors, fires and stolen furniture.
In the letter to Mr Marmion, the resident’s father explains how he reported these incidents to the police after other neighbours “witnessed [the family] coming from next door to vandalise our property.”
Police were not able to identify the vandal/s.
Following an inspection by the Shire of Murray on January 24 2011, the property was found to be in “an extreme state of disrepair”.
The property has now been demolished by the Shire and a bill for around $15,000 sent to the owner, who told the Mail he had been left feeling "traumatised" by the experience.
Mr Cowper said the Government should compensate his constituent or it could risk a lawsuit.
"We have a situation where, through no fault of his own, my constituent has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of poor decision making by the State Government," he said.
"I believe it's only right that the Government purchase this property, demolish the adjoining house and set up some units for deserving tenants."
