Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to thank the members of my community who joined me last week—together with the Special Envoy for Social Housing and Homelessness, the member for Macnamara—to discuss the critical need to assist those who find themselves without a home across the Mornington Peninsula. Over the last year, almost 1,000 people have sought help through our local service providers to find emergency accommodation and access to food rations, the highest need being in the southern Mornington Peninsula, where over 400 people, mostly men, are experiencing homelessness. Around half are sleeping rough on the foreshore and in bushlands alongside our major roads. Another 350 people have sought help in the Western Port region, and roughly half of that number have sought help in Mornington.

All three community support centres were present for my roundtable, together with the Salvation Army, which meets the highest demand for homelessness services, mostly among women. They are supported by Bolton Clarke, Peninsula Health, Fusion and the Lighthouse Foundation. In coming weeks I'll be working with the CEO of Southern Peninsula Community Support, Jeremy Maxwell, to seek to fill a funding hole of some $350,000 caused by recent changes in federal funding. I am so very grateful to Josh Burns for the time he gave Jeremy and all involved in a meaningful conversation to address homelessness on the peninsula. It was indeed a frank and focused conversation to see what can and must be done to help those most in need.

These are issues beyond partisanship—a lesson lost on some, who, earlier this year, endeavoured to arrange such discussion with failed candidates in the last federal election, bafflingly excluding the member for Flinders and the state seats of Nepean and Mornington, even though the member for Mornington at the time was the shadow assistant minister for housing and rental affordability. Shame on those trying to manipulate this issue for partisan passions, and my thanks to Josh for rising above petty motivations. As I said to him in the gym this morning, he is welcome on the peninsula any time.

It being the final sitting week of the year, I wish to thank my wonderful staff, who make this job both possible and inspiring: Julia Doyle, Conor Barnes, John Hooke, Katie Wilkie, Marshall Grande, Rocco Labriola, Benn Eccleston and, earlier this year, the magnificent Unity Paterson and Dana Hawtin. I thank also the wonderful leaders of my Federal Electorate Convention: Chair Richard Hurley; Treasurer Georgie Silverwood; Vice Presidents Ed O'Donohue and, earlier this year, Phil Wise; Di Kleinert, who always comes in a duo with her beautiful husband Gordon; Marg Hawker; and Marshall Grande. I thank those who lead the Nepean, Mornington and Hastings divisions, especially Jackie Hamill, Greg Dixon, Virginia Carey, Andrew and Megan Murphy, David Burgess, and Peter and Kay Grey, for all they do for the broader Liberal family.

I thank all of our hundreds of volunteers—some of them Liberal, some of them not—who have been an army of intellect, joy and passion throughout 2025, keeping Flinders blue. I hope I do you proud.

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