Charles Ward addressed the House before a critical vote, urging members to stop making families bear the burden of the building safety crisis. He described sleepless parents, fearful children and homeowners living with ongoing uncertainty, and called on the state to accept responsibility.
Key points
Charles Ward spoke plainly about what families are experiencing on the ground. He rejected technical language and assurances, instead reporting firsthand accounts from homes where people lie awake wondering if their houses are safe.
Voices on the ground
Ward said families and children are shouldering uncertainty they did not create. He told the chamber that no homeowner or child caused the situation, and questioned why the burden remains with those who suffered its consequences.
Appeal to the House
He asked members to consider safety and security when they vote, reminding colleagues that many will vote under party instruction but that some have broken with the party in conscience. Ward framed the vote as a choice about where responsibility should sit: with families or with the state.
Consequences and responsibility
Ward warned of a catastrophic situation if responsibility is not accepted. He appealed directly to homeowners, saying the opposition stands with them and pledging not to shift the burden onto those who did nothing wrong. The speech ends with a clear call for the state and government to act now.
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I want to begin by thanking my colleagues who stood with me today and those who took the time to go beyond the briefing material and the political framing, who had the empathy to understand what families themselves are living through on the ground. So before we vote I want to speak plainly, not in a language of schemes, not in a language of standards, not in a language of reassurance, but in a language of what's happening to people on the ground. I've sat in homes where families are in this crisis and I've heard things that have never appeared on reports. People are lying awake at night wondering if their home is safe. Parents are trying to hide this fear from their own children. Families are trying to hold ordinary life together while carrying on an uncertainty that they did not create. This is the reality. No data, no summaries, no briefing. Reality. No homeowner caused this crisis, no child has caused this crisis, and yet they are the ones that are carrying this crisis. And we're told that the scheme is improving. We're told that progress is being made, but uncertainty is still in people's homes, it's still at their kitchen table, and it's still in their lives. So I ask this house one question. Who is carrying the uncertainty? Because it has not been carried in here, it has been carried elsewhere, by the families, by the children. People who stood should never have been asked to carry this burden at all. Never should this have happened. I recognise that many many members will vote under party instruction, but this chamber has also seen members break that. And I ask that safety and security in the future of children's and families be under conscious when they are voting. Because you have to go back to your constituents when it's in your area and tell them why you haven't voted to help. They will explain to their constituents, and I hope that you realise in the years to come what has gone on, and realise that we have a catastrophic situation on our hands. And for the responsibility, this cannot be ignored. The time is now we have to address this. This is a choice before us, it's a responsibility we cannot keep avoiding. Families are system, and I am clear, the uncertainty does not go beyond family home. This belongs now to the state. It's the state that has the responsibility, not the families to carry this burden. Not with the people who did nothing wrong, not with the children growing up underneath the shadow of the defective concrete. So when the bell rings for the vote this evening and the house decides something very simple, where the burden sits and the decision does not end with this vote, it begins there. And I stand with the families like all my colleagues in the opposition today who have stood. And I say to the homeowners that we are fighting for your night and day and we will not forget, and I will not move the burden into those who did not create it. I am asking this house to remember where the weight of this situation has occurred. The government have a responsibility, the state has a responsibility.
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