Lisa Atkins received a call last week from Housing Tasmania about the cubby house, which she installed around seven weeks ago on the recommendation of her son’s therapists. 

Ms Atkins said she was told the cubby house was not authorised and would most likely need to be removed. 

Ms Atkins daughter Courtney is severely disabled, with a brain malformation, and her son Jai suffers from level 2 autism. The cubby house is playing an important role in socialising and developing Jai and Courtney. 

“Jai, who has the autism, he’s now interacting a little bit more with the kids at daycare and things and that’s since we’ve got the cubby house,” Ms Atkins said. 

“Ultimately if the cubby house has to go then we have to go.” 

Ms Atkins has also had a temporary fence installed to ensure Jai and Courtney don’t run out onto the road. 

Housing Tasmania stipulates that permission needs to be sought before making changes and the property needs to be returned to its original condition prior to the end of the tenancy. 

Ms Atkins said the cubby and fence are designed to be portable and were professionally built to ensure they suited their needs and were not a safety risk. 

Ms Atkins in now waiting for Housing Tasmania to assess the cubby. 

“Basically [they] said to me that it is an illegal structure and that i can’t have it here without the express permission from them … and that the most likely outcome will be that the cubby house will have to go,” Ms Atkins said. 

A government spokesman said, “Housing Tasmania has not made any determination on these structures.  Provided the cubby house is well designed, safe and complies with any building requirements then Housing Tasmania will not require it to be removed.”

Opposition Housing, Disability and Child Safety Minister Josh Willie said, “With all of the issues around housing and child protection in her portfolio area, you’d think Minister  had more to worry about than a cubby house in suburban Launceston.

“This matter has caused this family considerable stress and Mrs Petrusma needs to act to stop this pettiness," he said.