Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Throsby for introducing this motion in this place today because homelessness—as is the case with this sort of discussion—highlights the differences between what an Australian Labor Party government would be like and what the coalition government is like. The Labor Party love victims. They love making the point that victimhood is coming your way, that you have no means or ability to actually repair your circumstances and that the Bible was wrong when it said, ‘God will help those who help themselves.’ Essentially, they are saying: ‘Don’t try, don’t make any effort, don’t do anything, you are doomed to fail. Labor will give you some means by which to support yourself because you are a failure and you should never even try.’ That is the essence of the philosophical underpinning of all of the contributions from those opposite so far in this discussion.

On this side we very much believe that the strength of our society, our economy and our ambition on an individual level and, indeed, on the collective level has the capacity to look after those who do not have the ability to make a difference and fulfil their basic needs. As the member for Lyons said, without a place to live it is impossible to train, to learn and to take on all of the basic aspects of day-to-day life in the modern era. There is no doubt about that. But a question still begs to be asked when you see headlines in the papers in, say, the Illawarra, where the member for Throsby comes from, or perhaps in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne, where I have seen kids say they cannot get a job. They say they have all these problems and that they are not going to leave a local community to go and get a job somewhere else, and yet you go into parts of Australia where the economy is so robust and where they are crying out for young people who will show up to work on time. Guess what? Accommodation is taken care of in places like the Western Australian and Queensland mining industries.

So, before we spiral out of control in the despair of some dreadful sense of victimhood that the Labor Party would like to perpetuate—the sense that you are never going to achieve anything, so do not even try; that kind of logic in running Australia repulses me—let us understand that there is a lot of assistance possible for young people in this country to move from one part of Australia to another. They can gain government assistance to help them meet the costs of living away from home. These are allowances that never existed under a previous Labor administration because they had this view that you did not have to try; you are always going to fail, so let us support you. You are a victim, because Labor loves people feeling bad about themselves. People who feel bad about themselves vote for social welfare programs and they back governments that want them to feel bad. So I really welcome this discussion.

Mr Deputy Speaker, let me tell you about those who cannot in fact help themselves. They are the ones we have to deal with. I have spoken to young ladies who have gone to places such as the Southside Education Centre. It is a school which receives more government assistance and subsidies than any other in Australia and is based right in the middle of my electorate. It was auspiced by the Baptist Church about 15 or more years ago and is run by Colleen Mitrow, who should receive an Order of Australia, AC, not because she is like some of those who seem to get it because of the jobs they have but because she is somebody who has done a great job. She is somebody who has taken girls who have basically been living in shopping trolleys—that way when it is cold in Brisbane they can sleep off the ground. She has taken in girls who have been expelled, sent away, from the state education system and she has said, ‘We’re going to give you a place to stay, a place to learn and a place to grow.’

She has worked with the Department of Family and Community Services, under this government, and secured the JET creche that is operating out of the Churches of Christ hall on Station Road at Sunnybank. She actually makes it possible for young people who have children to still have an opportunity to participate in the learning process. They are the sorts of practical measures that make each individual circumstance important and that back those individuals.

Likewise, the Australian Red Cross have an ambition for a Brisbane centre for young people. They tell me that, according to the 2001 census, 109 young people were sleeping rough in the inner city, and I hope the numbers are lower now. The Australian Red Cross want to not just give them a place to stay; they want to give them a place to grow and to learn so that they as individuals can get on their own two feet, pay taxes and be a part of this society in every possible way. As I said, in paraphrasing the Bible: God will help those who help themselves. I will back all of those every day, and for those who do not have that capacity I will give them my support too. (Time expired)

See this speech in context