Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago I met a bloke named Kevin. He lives in Campbelltown in Western Sydney, and he told me his story. Kevin was an ice addict. His addiction to that drug cost him his kids and his job. His kids were taken away from him and looked after by his parents. For a long time he was living in a car. He was sleeping in a car with his wife, until one day a bloke who ran a community organisation in Campbelltown helping homeless people got in contact with him, provided him with shelter and got him in touch with services that could help turn his life around. He's now got a job. He's the manager of a business in Campbelltown. He's got his kids back. He's a volunteer at the same organisation that helped get him out of that car, and he's now on the board of that organisation. It's a fantastic story of how one small organisation can help one Australian turn their life around.

Last week, I went on the night walk that Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets does in the streets of Sydney, looking out for young people who are sleeping rough or need a helping hand or just need a hot meal in the depths of winter. I met a young woman who had been homeless since she was 14. She's not homeless anymore, thanks to Danny, the bloke who runs that night walk, and the work he did to help get her off the street, get her into a home and get her an apprenticeship as a chef at one of the biggest restaurants in Sydney. She's now been doing that for six months, and I got to meet her and see the life that she's living now and the changes made by great organisations like Father Chris's.

He also told me a story—this is a hard one to tell, and I'm sure my colleagues opposite who have experience in law enforcement will have heard these stories before—about a 13-year-old girl who was injected with heroin for the first time by her mum, what that did to her life and how it spiralled out of control. That young woman was found by Danny and the team and Father Chris. They gave her an education. She finished high school through Father Chris's organisation. She's 30 now, and she is now a schoolteacher, teaching in our public education system.

If we're talking about heroes, you can't go past two friends of mine, Hilton Harmer OAM and Joyce Harmer OAM.

An honourable member: Hear, hear!

You know Hilton? Well, if there's a God up there then Hilton and Joyce are gifts from him or her. I'd like to let the parliament know that it's Hilton's 80th birthday today. If you're watching, mate, happy birthday. Hilton and Joyce have been helping homeless people and disadvantaged people for almost 60 years. Then, when they retired from the Salvos, they went out and collected food from OzHarvest and distributed it to different refuges and boarding houses in my local area in Sydney. Hilton got really crook a couple of years ago and couldn't do that anymore, so instead they opened their own home and encouraged people who were struggling to come every Wednesday to their house, where they would distribute food and everything from toasters to fridges to mattresses. Anything people need they would find and get to people.

Despite all of that good work from all of those organisations, the challenge that we face in this area is just getting harder and harder, because there are more people who are going to be homeless tonight than ever before. Almost half of them are mums and kids. I heard the story last week about a mum who's got six kids sleeping in a car just on the outskirts of Werribee and has been doing this for six months. One in 10 homeless people are veterans—people who wore our uniform and protected our country. The area where this is rising fastest is not young kids or old blokes; it's women aged 65 to 74. In my own area, in Western Sydney, homelessness has increased by almost 200 per cent in the last few years. This is a massive problem, and I don't think it's melodramatic to say it's a crisis.

It's not just people that are sleeping rough; that's the tip of the iceberg. Only seven per cent of homeless people are sleeping rough. It's people that are sleeping in cars, sleeping on couches and staying on the train just to keep warm or people that are in boarding houses, fed and helped by people like Hilton.

It's Homelessness Week in just over a week's time. Can I use this opportunity to encourage my colleagues to get out, visit refuges and listen to people—some of the quietest Australians in this country. If you're watching this, please be inspired by these stories and to go out and volunteer for these organisations. Can I encourage the government to not talk about the spin on the positiveness of homelessness but do something real like these great Australians and help the most disadvantaged people in our community.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the chamber, we wish Hilton a happy 80th birthday.