Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the end of February, I had the privilege of visiting the Burnie Youth Accommodation Service in Cooee. Many members in this parliament show a keen appreciation of and concern for homelessness. I want to acknowledge the work of this organisation—in particular, its CEO, John West; Alisa White, who was one of the service client managers; and Beth Singleton, who is the chair of the board.

The figures on homelessness are difficult to present accurately, but I noticed from the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program statistics for 2006 in Tasmania that, of nearly 4½ thousand Tasmanian SAAP clients, 1,700, or 39 per cent, were under 25. This included 70, or 1.6 per cent, who were under 15. As SAAP only accommodates 13 per cent of homeless people, these figures in real terms are likely to be much higher. Another study found that over 1,000 homeless Tasmanian young people were aged between 12 and 18. This implied that 42 per cent of the homeless population in Tasmania were aged between 12 and 18. The Tasmanian government submission to the National Youth Commission inquiry into youth homelessness states that the rate of Tasmanian youth homelessness is one in every 48 young people aged between 12 and 18—I reiterate: one in 48.

We are all aware of the pressures on the private rental market and on public housing. They continue to increase. In Tasmania in particular, median house prices have escalated so much that they have started to reach mainland levels. So there is great pressure on accommodation, particularly rental; it is very, very difficult indeed. Then there are legal barriers to signing leases for people under the age of 18 in the private rental sector, so there is further increased pressure on accommodation and crisis accommodation services and, unfortunately, parents and relatives of homeless young people are disinclined to be guarantors.

I must say that the young people who I met at this centre had dignity. They had very pertinent and personal reasons why they were homeless and they were looking for security in their future. I hope that our government will, in the future, consider forgiving what Tasmania owes on the Commonwealth-State housing debt, on which Tasmania pays to the Commonwealth $17 million annually just in interest on earlier grants. If we could release that money, we would certainly be able to support this cause of trying to deal with homelessness in Tasmania.