Housing Australia chair resigns before parliamentary grilling

3 hours ago 3

The chair of the agency charged with making Labor’s housing agenda a reality has quit two weeks after this masthead revealed allegations of incompetence and bullying in the senior ranks of the organisation.

This masthead reported on October 9 that Housing Australia’s chair, Carol Austin, was the subject of a bullying probe last year. It found she did not breach a code of conduct but did find “concerning organisational challenges”, which led in part to hiring a new chief executive and new processes in the organisation.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has thanked Carol Austin for her work at Housing Australia.

But on Friday, a fortnight before she was due to be examined by senators in a parliamentary estimates hearing, Austin announced her resignation in a statement posted to Housing Australia’s website.

She said she had informed Housing Minister Clare O’Neil earlier in the week she was quitting, and the board had strengthened governance and improved skills at the organisation during her tenure.

“Achieving this at pace and scale required a significant step change in organisational capability, sustained effort and genuine dedication from a wide range of people and partners,” Austin said.

“With the foundations now well established and Housing Australia moving from transformation to delivery, I consider that the time is right to hand over to a new chair who can lead the board through the next phase of program implementation.”

Housing Australia is the key agency tasked with helping Australia meet the government’s ambitious target of building 1.2 million new homes by mid-2029 and reversing decades of low construction rates that have driven up house prices.

Austin attended her first estimates hearing of her tenure two weeks ago after Coalition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg used his power as senator to ask she attend. After the report on October 9, Treasury officials ducked a series of questions about claims of dysfunction inside Housing Australia and Austin’s role before the Senate estimates hearing ran out of time.

A spillover session is set for November 6, but it is unclear if Austin will attend. Her resignation is effective November 27.

Housing Australia chair Carol Austin has resigned.

The agency’s former general counsel and board secretary Rod Saville, who had complained to O’Neil about Austin, previously told this masthead the chair’s alleged behaviour had led to the departure of six of the eight top executives – including himself – over a 12-month period. His claims against her included not listening to expert advice and reducing executives to tears in meetings. The crisis at the top of the organisation, Saville argued, was thwarting Labor’s housing agenda, which is key to maintaining voters’ trust as the Albanese government has pledged to reverse decades of poor housing policy.

“It is exacerbated by the fact that most of the senior executives have left, so there’s no knowledge of how the organisation should function. And this is reflected in the poor conversion rate for [the Housing Australia Future Fund],” Saville told this masthead on October 9.

Austin, who is a long-time board director at organisations including the Future Fund, the Grattan Institute and HSBC Bank, was contacted for comment by phone and through Housing Australia. In her October estimates appearance, she said of this masthead’s reporting: “Many of the statements in that report are inaccurate, and I dispute them.”

O’Neil thanked Austin for her contributions. “She helped Housing Australia scale up and build its capability to deliver the government’s ambitious $43 billion housing agenda,” O’Neil said. “Ms Austin goes with my gratitude and very best wishes.”

Neither O’Neil nor Austin’s statement, issued on Friday afternoon, was proactively distributed to reporters.

Bragg said the agency was “a hellhole of waste and dysfunction”.

“Two weeks ago, we uncovered the existence of a secret report into the bedlam at Housing Australia. The government continues to cover it up,” Bragg said, claiming there were still unanswered questions including the existence of an “observer” to monitor the board.

“Housing Australia is amongst the worst performing agencies in the Commonwealth,” he said. “Under this minister, Housing Australia has failed to do its one job – build houses.”

In her statement, Austin cited achievements from Housing Australia during her tenure including delivering two rounds of funding towards 18,650 social and affordable homes, establishing a crisis accommodation program, and expanding support for first home buyers.

“I thank my colleagues on the board, the Housing Australia team and Minister O’Neil for their steadfast support,” Austin said. “I am proud of what we have achieved together.”

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