{"id":"public-employees-housing-act-1987","name":"Public Employees Housing Act 1987","slug":"public-employees-housing-act-1987","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"sa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":106424,"registerId":"sa-public-employees-housing-act-1987-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Public Employees Housing Act 1987","content":"South Australia\nPublic Employees Housing Act 1987\nAn Act to provide for housing accommodation for public employees; and for other purposes.\n\nContents\n1\tShort title\n3\tInterpretation\n4\tProvision of housing\n6\tRegulations\nSchedule—Transitional provisions\nLegislative history\n\nThe Parliament of South Australia enacts as follows:\n1—Short title\nThis Act may be cited as the Public Employees Housing Act 1987.\n3—Interpretation\n\t(1)\tIn this Act—\npublic employee means—\n\t(a)\ta person employed by the Crown, whether in the Public Service or not; or\n\t(b)\ta person employed by a body corporate that is established by or under an Act and—\n\t(i)\tis comprised of persons, or has a governing body that is comprised of persons, a majority of whom are appointed by the Governor, a Minister or an agency or instrumentality of the Crown; or\n\t(ii)\tis subject to control or direction by a Minister; or\n\t(c)\tan employee in relation to whom a proclamation is in force under subsection (2).\n\t(2)\tThe Governor may, by proclamation—\n\t(a)\tdeclare that the employees of a specified body corporate are public employees;\n\t(b)\tvary or revoke a proclamation under this subsection.\n4—Provision of housing\n\t(1)\tThe Minister may provide suitable housing accommodation for the benefit of public employees.\n\t(2)\tThe employees to whom accommodation is provided under this Act will be determined by the Minister.\n\t(3)\tSubject to the Residential Tenancies Act 1978, but notwithstanding any other Act or law to the contrary the terms (including the rent and other charges) on which the accommodation is provided will be determined by the Minister.\n\t(4)\tRent and any other charges payable by an employee for accommodation provided under this Act may be deducted from the employee's salary, wages or allowances.\n6—Regulations\nThe Governor may make such regulations as are contemplated by this Act or as are necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act.\nSchedule—Transitional provisions\n1\t(1)\tAll property, rights and liabilities vested in or attached to the Authority immediately before the commencement of this Act will, upon the commencement of this Act, vest in or attach to the Minister.\n\t(2)\tA reference in an instrument (whether or not of a statutory nature) to the Authority will, where the context admits, be construed as a reference to the Minister.\n\t(3)\tThe balance standing to the credit of the Teacher Housing Authority Fund at the commencement of this Act must be paid into the Consolidated Account.\n2\tA person employed by the Authority immediately before the commencement of this Act is entitled to employment in the Public Service of the State on terms and conditions as favourable as those to which the employee would have been entitled if the employment with the Authority had continued.\n3\tIn this Schedule—\nthe Authority means the South Australian Teacher Housing Authority.\nLegislative history\nNotes\n\t•\tFor further information relating to the Act and subordinate legislation made under the Act see the Index of South Australian Statutes or www.legislation.sa.gov.au.\nLegislation repealed by principal Act\nThe Public Employees Housing Act 1987 repealed the following:\nTeacher Housing Authority Act 1975\nPrincipal Act and amendments\nNew entries appear in bold.\nYear\nNo\nTitle\nAssent\nCommencement\n1987\n74\nPublic Employees Housing Act 1987\n19.11.1987\n19.11.1987 (Gazette 19.11.1987 p1624)\n2015\n8\nStatutes Amendment (Boards and Committees—Abolition and Reform) Act 2015\n18.6.2015\nPt 30 (ss 191 & 192)—1.7.2015 (Gazette 25.6.2015 p3076)\nProvisions amended\nNew entries appear in bold.\nEntries that relate to provisions that have been deleted appear in italics.\nProvision\nHow varied\nCommencement\nLong title\namended under Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002\n\ns 2\nomitted under Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002\n\ns 5\ndeleted by 8/2015 s 191\n1.7.2015\ns 7\nomitted under Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002\n\nTransitional etc provisions associated with Act or amendments\nStatutes Amendment (Boards and Committees—Abolition and Reform) Act 2015\n192—Transitional provision\nA member of the Public Employees Housing Advisory Committee ceases to hold office on the commencement of this section.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":1,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope assessment is not possible as the legislative text was not retrievable. The page returned a website error rather than the content of the Act."},"complexity_factors":["No legislative content was available for analysis — the source URL returned a 404 Page Not Found error","Complexity cannot be meaningfully assessed without access to the actual text of the Act","Score of 1 reflects absence of content, not simplicity of the underlying law"],"plain_english_summary":"## ⚠️ Content Unavailable\n\nThe actual text of the **Public Employees Housing Act 1987 (SA)** could not be retrieved. The link provided returned a **'Page Not Found'** error from the South Australian legislation website, likely due to a website update that occurred around **24 March 2026** which broke older hyperlinks.\n\n### What we know from the title alone:\n- This is a **South Australian** law from **1987**\n- It appears to deal with **housing provided to public sector employees** (government workers who may be required to live in certain locations, such as remote areas, as part of their job)\n- Laws like this typically govern who is eligible for government-provided housing, on what terms, and what happens when employment ends\n\n### What you should do:\nTo find the actual legislation, visit [legislation.sa.gov.au](https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au) and search directly for **'Public Employees Housing Act 1987'**."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act remains tightly focused on its original purpose of providing housing for public employees. While it expanded from the original teacher-only scheme in 1975 to cover broader public sector workers in 1987, this was the original intent of the 1987 Act itself. The 2015 amendment removed the advisory committee (section 5), slightly narrowing rather than expanding the scope. No significant scope creep has occurred since enactment."},"complexity_factors":["Very short statute (approximately 6 operative sections plus a short transitional schedule)","Only 1 defined term in the main Act ('public employee'), though the Schedule adds 'the Authority'","Minimal cross-referencing (only references to Residential Tenancies Act 1978 and the repealed Teacher Housing Authority Act)","Simple conditional structure with no nested exceptions","Straightforward delegation of power to Minister and Governor in Council","No complex compliance mechanisms or penalty provisions"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does:**\n\nThis Act gives the South Australian government power to provide housing to public sector workers. It replaced an earlier scheme that only covered teachers (the Teacher Housing Authority Act 1975) and expanded it to cover a broader range of government employees.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n*   **Public employees** — defined broadly to include:\n    *   Anyone employed directly by the South Australian government (Crown), whether in the Public Service or not\n    *   Workers at government-controlled bodies (where the majority of board members are appointed by the Governor, a Minister, or a government agency; or where a Minister has control or direction)\n    *   Workers at organisations the Governor specifically declares by proclamation (official government announcement)\n\n**How it works:**\n\n*   The **Minister** decides which employees get housing and on what terms — including rent and other charges\n*   The Minister's decisions override other laws (\"notwithstanding any other Act or law to the contrary\") — meaning this Act takes priority over conflicting rules\n*   Rent can be automatically deducted from employees' pay\n*   The Residential Tenancies Act 1978 still applies (so tenants have basic rental protections)\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nThis law allows the government to offer subsidised or convenient housing as an employment benefit, particularly useful for attracting workers to remote areas or addressing housing shortages for essential public servants. It centralised control under the Minister when it abolished the separate Teacher Housing Authority in 1987, transferring all its assets, debts, and staff to the Minister's control.\n\n**Key historical note:**\n\nThe Act originally included an advisory committee (section 5), but this was abolished in 2015, leaving the Minister with sole discretion over housing decisions."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act replaced the Teacher Housing Authority Act 1975 and transferred the Teacher Housing Authority’s assets, rights and liabilities to the Minister (Schedule cl 1). It thus broadened administration from a teacher-specific authority to ministerial control over housing for 'public employees' as defined (Legislative history; Schedule cl 1–2; s3). Later amendments in 2015 abolished a statutory advisory committee and deleted other provisions, narrowing formal governance arrangements (Legislative history; 2015 Act Pt 30 (ss 191 & 192))."},"complexity_factors":["Wide ministerial discretion to provide accommodation and to determine eligible employees and all terms including rent (s4(1)–(3)) increases decision-making concentration.","Authority to deduct rent and charges directly from an employee’s salary creates automatic enforcement and payroll interaction (s4(4)).","Definition of 'public employee' is broad and expandable by Governor proclamation, adding legal uncertainty about coverage (s3(1)–(2)).","Provisions operate subject to the Residential Tenancies Act but 'notwithstanding any other Act' language creates potential conflicts to be resolved (s4(3)).","Regulation-making power vests in the Governor, allowing further detail to be set by subordinate instruments (s6).","Transitional vesting of property, rights and liabilities in the Minister and the transfer of Authority employees involve administrative and employment-law steps (Schedule cl 1–2).","Legislative amendments in 2015 removed a statutory committee and deleted provisions (Legislative history; Statutes Amendment (Boards and Committees—Abolition and Reform) Act 2015 Pt 30 (ss 191 & 192)), reducing formal oversight mechanisms."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act lets the Minister provide housing for public employees and to decide who qualifies and on what terms, including rent and other charges. Rents can be taken from pay. It applies to Crown employees, staff of certain government-established bodies, and any groups the Governor declares to be public employees. The law also transferred assets and staff from the former Teacher Housing Authority into ministerial control when it commenced."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/public-employees-housing-act-1987","history":"/api/acts/public-employees-housing-act-1987/history","analysis":"/api/acts/public-employees-housing-act-1987/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/public-employees-housing-act-1987/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/public-employees-housing-act-1987/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/public-employees-housing-act-1987/documents"}}