Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I start by commending the member for Menzies for his very poignant speech here in the chamber this evening and add my deepest sympathies to the families of those fallen angels in that most unfortunate ADF accident over the last few weeks. It is very sad indeed.

I rise tonight to speak about another sad area across our great nation, and that is homelessness. It is national Homelessness Week, which raises awareness of homelessness and the solutions needed to end homelessness. I have a great investment in this area because on the Gold Coast it is also a problem, with property prices increasing. The Gold Coast is feeling the full impact of the cost-of-living crisis.

Our local charities are stepping up, and our community organisations are going above and beyond. I want to talk about some of those heroes in my electorate of Moncrieff on the Gold Coast and highlight the work and great effort that they go to to help so many who are suffering from homelessness at the moment. The Vinnies CEO Sleepout happens every year on the Gold Coast. It was held again. We—they raised $693,000. I say 'we' because I was there last year. I couldn't go this year, because it was during a sitting week, so perhaps next year Vinnies can put it on a non-sitting week. I'm happy to be there to raise money for our local community, to help our own on the coast into affordable housing built by the Gold Coast community for the Gold Coast community and developed in my electorate. This is what the Gold Coast community does. We get behind our own. We look out for each other. I want to thank all of those who contributed to the Vinnies CEO Sleepout this year, particularly the ambassadors, Karen Phillips and Jamie Preston, among so many others, who did the heavy lifting to get people to sleep out to raise money for our local Gold Coasters.

Charities and organisations really do have to pick up the slack left by the Albanese government; and the Queensland state government, who have failed for almost three decades to deliver affordable and social housing for Gold Coasters in need. I don't know what they've been doing with federal government funds for the last 30 years, but, as the member for Blair spoke about, the Labor government is in lock step with Queensland. That puts the fear of God into me. If Queensland's results in social and affordable housing are what we have to look forward to from the Albanese government, then I'm frightened.

With the population of the Gold Coast only set to rise over the coming years, this issue needs to be addressed as a key priority, especially for young people and women. There are many women on the Gold Coast living in their cars. And, of course, it's also now a problem for seniors. It is increasingly difficult to access a rental property on the Gold Coast, with hundreds of people applying for a single property. We've got Rotary clubs stepping up to build affordable housing on the Gold Coast to support our community, and, of course, there is the great work of Vinnies, as I mentioned.

Senator Dean Smith, the shadow minister for competition, charities and Treasury, visited Moncrieff. We undertook a roundtable with a number of attendees. I want to name a few of them: Joan O'Keefe from Friends With Dignity; Vicki James from the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation; Donna Cooper, Karen Brauer and Lyn Mansfield from Hopes Starts Here; Kirsten Jackson, Mal and Roxanne Scott—great volunteers—from the Lions Club of Carrara; Thili Wijesinghe from Multicultural Communities Council Gold Coast; Theresa Bettles from Rosies Friends on the Street; Ross Augustine and Franz Huber from Rotary Club of Surfers Sunrise; Rock O'Keefe from Rotary International; Yas Matbouly and Georgia Spicer from Serving Our People; Lisa Burr from Set Free Care; Di Kozik from St John's Crisis Centre; Jake Coates from Thriving Multicultural Communities; Glenn Norris from Volunteer Marine Rescue Southport; and Nicole Smith from Volunteering Gold Coast.

In Moncrieff we have a proud history of volunteering and supporting those in need, with local charities and community organisations actively working together to meet demand, a collaborative approach to address a common issue. I congratulate all of those volunteers and thank them, as their federal member, for all the work they do in our community to fill that hole for those who are suffering from homelessness.