Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about homelessness and affordable housing in Australia. In the lead-up to the election the coalition put out a statement on housing affordability and homelessness. Let us be clear here: it was not a policy, merely a statement from Liberal Party headquarters in response to questions being asked from community and business as to what the policy was. The coalition let down the people of Australia then and it continues to let down those most in need today.

Despite trying to trash Labor's record of rental affordability, affordable housing, a homeless strategy and a peak council on homelessness, the Abbott government has not lifted one finger to help those most in need—not one finger—and not one extra new dollar. The only thing it has done is to sack the peak council on homelessness, so now it does not even have an advisory body. This government shows its complete lack of care for some of those most in need in our community. And, to add insult to injury, it does not even have a housing minister.

Last year I attended the peak affordable housing conference, which was held in Adelaide. Minister Andrews was one of the keynote speakers. The sector were waiting for the minister to give them an outline of the coalition's plans. They were, sadly, let down. There was no announcement from the new minister, other than a vague threat to the sector to use their funding or lose their funding. There has been nothing since—not a word from Minister Andrews. Absolutely nothing—no speeches in the parliament on homelessness, just silence.

The only time homelessness and affordable housing has been raised is by the sector, as the funding on the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness, one of Labor's policies and programs, was due to expire in June this year. The sector wanted early assurances that the funding was secure beyond 30 June. That is fair enough. Non-government organisations have commitments, staff to pay and ongoing projects.

Finally, after a lot of lobbying and media, they were given a funding commitment for just one more year. This slap in the face, from a government which has tried to trash Labor's record and has no record, no policy of its own, and this silence from the government on homelessness, against a rising tide of homelessness in this country, is utter hypocrisy.

Let me turn to Western Australia. I recently attended the WACOSS conference, which had a focus on affordable housing and homelessness. Shelter WA gave a presentation and played a video, with a message from a gentleman called Jonathan. It was a brief clip. Jonathan explained he was homeless, living in his car with his adult son. Jonathan and his son call Kwinana and Rockingham beaches, in the southern suburbs of Perth, their home. Jonathan, along with about 50 others—families, couples and singles—camp in their cars at the beaches each night. They camp there because there are, at least, toilets and cold showers. I recently contacted Jonathan and he told me his story. He said that he, along with others who found themselves homeless, sleeping in their cars, had co-ordinated a submission to the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into affordable housing. The submission is No. 214, titled 'South West Australia Homeless People.' I would urge everyone to read it. Let me quote the introductory statement from Jonathan:

Kwinana Jetty once proudly serviced a community for ships and the peacefulness of residents fishing from its structure. With one swift blow, a single incident, it sustained severe storm damage on 10th June 2012. It was then locked and deemed an "unsafe, dangerous structure" with no financial assistance available for restoration. Now, it stands as tribute to that one incident in life that occurs to many of us. We stand alone suffering the indignation of waiting for the opportunity to rebuild our lives, struggling with all that is decaying around us.

Jonathan and his son had been homeless for 15 months at the time of writing their submission, back in March this year. They spent a period in Darwin where Jonathan had been working as an IT professional and the remainder in Perth where he moved, hoping to find cheaper housing and employment. Anglicare, another submitter to the affordable housing inquiry, is a WA-based NGO delivering a broad range of services. Its vision is: 'We live in a just and fair society in which all people thrive.' Unfortunately, we are a far cry from that vision, more so since the election of the Abbott government.

To understand Jonathan's plight and the plight of thousands and thousands of other Western Australians without a home, Anglicare provided a snapshot of planning and housing in Western Australia. The Western Australian Department of Planning estimates that the building industry in Western Australia has the capacity to construct up to 24,000 new properties each year. That sounds impressive, but that figure represents growth at slightly below 2½ per cent. Last year, the population of Western Australia grew by 3.3 per cent. These two figures show that the current deficit in housing supply is likely to worsen, without significant additional investment. According to the Western Australian Department of Housing there were around 43,025 public and community housing properties in Western Australia. At the moment there are 20,000 applications for this housing. This represents around 43,000 men, women and children on a waiting list for these properties. The average waiting time is 2½ years. Then there are almost 3,000 applications on the priority list. This means around 6,500 mainly women and children, but men as well, are in desperate need of housing.

If you are on the priority list, the wait is 12 months. To get onto the priority list you are regarded as having an 'extreme need'; generally issues such as domestic violence, extreme health issues or child protection issues. Strangely, being in crisis and having no accommodation does not automatically get you onto the priority list in Western Australia.

Since 2010, about 2,800 tenancies have been left. These figures tell us there is a massive problem in Western Australia, but it is not a unique Western Australian issue. These figures are replicated right across the country. As the sector agitated over the future funding of NPAH, the first response from the Prime Minister on Fairfax radio was, 'Come budget night, all will be revealed and I think people will be happy'. Here we are, almost at the end of June, and we do not have those NPAH contracts signed. Interestingly, we need to listen very carefully when the Abbott government says something, because on 30 March Minister Andrews announced there would be a rollover of those contracts. To me, a rollover just means the money continues. A couple of hours later at a public event, the language had changed; now there would be some sort of 'renegotiation. And guess what? We have a number of states very unhappy with the new contracts, and that tells me something is up and the government is not being honest about its commitment.

What are organisations supposed to do? Put up a 'closed for business' sign? Use their non-existent credit card to have their funds extended? Borrow from the banks? If we do not get those contracts signed in the next day or two, we as a community are turning our backs on those that need the most support in our community. This is a disgrace, and I feel for Jonathan and his son and thousands of others who will continue to wait.