Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this year I joined the Member for Warringah to visit Mosman House, a facility run by Women's Community Shelters. They have pioneered an innovative temporary housing model where they identify buildings slated for redevelopment but which are awaiting development approvals. These properties can sometimes sit vacant for years. With the help of industry, they have turned these buildings into temporary accommodation for women and children at risk of homelessness. I met the extraordinary women who run this program and representatives from an industry like Lend Lease who provide the resources to make it possible. I also got to meet some of the women who rely on the program for temporary shelter while they look for more permanent housing. While they are all grateful for the few months of accommodation they get while they find their feet, the key message from everyone has been the urgent need to find more permanent housing solutions, and that is exactly what the Albanese Labor government is getting on with doing.

We're getting on with the job of building more affordable and social housing. It's just such a shame that in this place people are using our housing policy as a political football. Despite the calls of the construction industry, the Property Council and community housing providers, those opposite and the Greens have united to oppose the Housing Australia Future Fund. I urge them all to back our housing bill because the women at Mosman House cannot afford to wait any longer.