ABC News – Meth lab clean-ups in public housing cost Queenslanders $600k over three years

20 May 2015 – Author: Alyse Edwards – Source: ABC News

Cleaning up meth labs set up in public housing has cost the Queensland Government more than $600,000 in the past three years.

Queensland has the dubious honour of leading the nation in methamphetamine production, with more clandestine drug laboratories uncovered each year than anywhere else in Australia, police say.

The state’s Housing Minister Leanne Enoch said 51 drug labs had been uncovered in Government-managed public or community homes since January 2013.

Over the last three years, the State Government spent $649,000 cleaning labs discovered in Queensland.

“It’s a concern to the whole community, and I know the police service is also concerned about it – we take it very seriously,” she said.

“Fortunately this year we are seeing a decrease [in labs] and I’m hoping that is a trend.”

She said while most public housing tenants did the right thing, a minority ruined it for others.

“This year so far, our Government has spent somewhere in the vicinity of $59,000 [cleaning up labs],” she said.

“It’s a rare thing to find these drug labs, but when you do find them there are certain things you need to do to make sure the environment is safe to live in.”

But Opposition housing spokesman Rob Molhoek said taxpayers should not have to pay for tenants’ bad behaviour.

“Public housing is a privilege and I think the broader community want to know if people are getting help and they’re being provided with low-cost or free housing, then they’ve got a responsibility to look after it and treat it with respect,” he said.

Under current legislation, a public tenant deemed responsible for a drug lab or found to be aware of its existence can be evicted by the Department of Housing.

 

But Mr Molhoek said the laws were under review.

“Under the three strikes legislation introduced when we were in government, the departmental staff actually have the powers to deal with offenders over a period of time, which weren’t there before,” he said.

“Sadly the new Labor Government … are actually wanting to move those laws and go back to the good old days where you could virtually never evict someone from public housing, regardless of how badly they behaved or regardless of how much damage they did to the property.”

However, Ms Enoch said the Government’s review was about making sure all social housing policies were fair.

“Ultimately we’re talking about people who need roofs over their heads,” she said.

“However, in terms of the three strikes and you’re out policy, I’m not saying in any way that that’s not the right thing to do.

“If someone is caught with a meth lab and police are able to prove that to us, we pursue eviction immediately.”

National guidelines specify buildings that contained drug labs must be properly cleaned before new tenants move in.

Concern former meth lab houses not properly cleaned up

Jenny Boymal, from cleaning education company Jena Dyco, said without effective remediation, methamphetamine contamination could linger for years.

“There’s not a lot known about the toxins in the property, but they get into the walls, they get into the ceilings – they get into everything and then they just keep leaching out of plasterboards,” she said.

Ms Boymal said it cost about $5,000 to clean up a house that had been a meth lab.

Queensland Health also recommends a $1,300 swab test after cleaning to guarantee the property is safe, but there is evidence this is not happening.

While more than 260 labs were detected by Queensland police last year, only 50 swab tests were submitted.

Superintendent Jim Keogh said police did not have powers to enforce proper cleaning.

“When we do remove the lab or the product from the house, we do service notice on the occupier to indicate that dangerous chemicals have been removed from the premises, and we provide the advice that they should get the premises professionally cleaned,” he said.

“We don’t have the capacity where we go back and re-enforce the document that we left behind for the occupier to clean the premises.

“It’s generally left for the occupier or the owner to make sure that does take place.

“I don’t think they do follow the advice of the document in all occasions.

“There can be a situation there where we execute a search warrant, we arrest a tenant for production of amphetamine, they do go the watch house or go before the courts and they’re granted bail, and in fact they’re released back into the very same premises where they were cooking or making the amphetamine.

“Certainly the Government are to be commended for spending the money in relation to the public housing, but I’m not sure that the same happens in all private housing.”

 

What does ice do to your body?

Ice has been called the most destructive drug of our time. But what exactly does it do your body? ABC Health & Wellbeing investigates.