Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the issues of homelessness and to acknowledge the wonderful work being done in my electorate. This week the parliament has heard many speakers from the opposition talking about cost-of-living pressures on Australians today under the current government, but very little has been said by members of the opposition, either since the election in November 2007 or prior to the election, about the crisis in our country in the area of homelessness. The Howard government failed to tackle in any way the issue of public housing and emergency shelter; neither did it make any attempt to develop strategies for long-term outcomes for people in emergency shelters in critical areas such as housing, employment, training and education.

After 17 years of economic growth, homelessness in Australia remains unacceptably high. Every night 100,000 Australians are homeless. Half are under 24 years of age and 10,000 are children. This brings me to the wonderful work being done in these trying times by two youth shelters in my electorate of Petrie.

Orana Youth Shelter, under the auspices of Queensland Baptist Care, provides emergency and short-term accommodation to homeless and at-risk young people, both male and female, between the ages of 14 and 18. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each resident is given a set of goals, with staff providing the necessary assistance and support to meet these. Six young people are accommodated at any one time, with a maximum stay of three months, at the end of which most people will either be reunited with their families or have found more suitable permanent accommodation. Orana Youth Shelter runs an annual fundraising event called ‘Sponsor-a-bed’. This is a great event that not only raises important funds but lifts awareness in the community about homelessness and Orana’s work. I am proud to say I have sponsored a bed for the past two years.

The other youth shelter is Chameleon House on the Redcliffe Peninsula. This house provides emergency accommodation to young people between the ages of 15 and 18. In addition, Chameleon House has operated transitional housing for young families—young teenagers who have found themselves to now have their own young families. This great organisation has recently entered into arrangements to obtain another house, through the Moreton Bay Regional Council, which will be used as transitional housing for youth. The purpose is to assist people to become self-sufficient and to manage the normal costs of living that come with living in the community, such as paying for rent, groceries and electricity. This will assist these young people to get on their feet and to learn the skills necessary long term to become more self-sufficient and to be able to contribute as part of the broader community.

I am currently working with Chameleon House to engage with the community and develop an annual fundraising and awareness event. We will be calling together organisations, business leaders, community organisations and elected representatives from all levels of government to help establish an annual fundraising and awareness event. The funds will go towards maintaining whitegoods and other important facilities in the house on an ongoing basis and also to provide start-up packs for people going into the house, such as linen, towels and basic groceries and toiletries.

Although this great work is going on in my community, much more needs to be done. The Rudd Labor government understands the need to address homelessness and the need to have clear goals that are ambitious and achievable. That is why I applaud the Rudd Labor government on its release of the green paper entitled Which way home? A new approach to homelessness. In that paper it is acknowledged that to reduce homelessness over the long term we need a better functioning, more affordable housing market, increased social and economic participation by homeless people and more responsive and effective services. Crisis services and mainstream health, education, justice and employment services need to work better together. We need to work harder to prevent homelessness and to stop its cycle. My community understands this need, as does the Rudd Labor government. That is why I, along with my community, eagerly await the release of the white paper, due for release next month.