Duncan Spender (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. Whilst it is perfectly fine to make motions about various women's issues, it's important not to skirt around issues that affect men in particular and there are some issues here that are a bit odd. Yes, it is the case that there are a growing number of older women in homelessness, but it is important to note that a great majority of homeless people in Australia are men and that the issue is rising for men. Between 2011 and 2016, 41 out of 10,000 women were homeless, which is terrible. It stayed at that level between 2011 and 2016. For men, it was 54 out of 10,000 in 2011 and had risen to 58 out of 10,000 by 2016. So there are real issues here, but skirting around the even deeper issue for men in this society seems a bit odd. (Time expired)