Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know families throughout Australia have been doing it tough, facing a housing and homelessness crisis and rising cost of living. Shamefully, the previous government dropped the ball on escalating housing waiting lists, on cost-of-living pressures and on addressing the needs of women escaping family and domestic violence. While tonight's budget makes a strong start towards addressing these pressures, there is no doubt that charities are also doing an incredible job in difficult times. I visited the headquarters of one of these charities last week, a wonderful Tasmanian charity called Tassie Mums. I came across this charity when I met their founder, Clair Harris, at the Hobart building community forum and again at a Country Women's Association high tea fundraiser for the charity. Clair volunteered for a similar charity called St Kilda Mums before she moved to Tasmania. On arriving in Tasmania, Clair saw a service gap that needed filling and that motivated her to start Tassie Mums seven years ago—in fact, it's their birthday this week.

Tassie Mums collects donations of new and preloved items for babies and children up to 12 years of age, such as clothing, shoes, toys, nappies, cots, prams and bassinets—anything a young person up to about the age of 12 might need. The collected items are then donated to the children of families in need, such as those experiencing financial stress, homelessness, family and domestic violence, and mental health issues. Tassie Mums identify and connect with their clients by partnering with around 60 government and community service organisations that work with vulnerable families. To give you an idea of the scale of Tassie Mums' operation, in the last financial year, they assisted 1,352 children throughout Tasmania, roughly double the number they supported the previous year. Their operation got so big that they had to move out of their old 99 square metre premises into the much larger space they now have.

I have to say, when I went around to see them, Clair and Tassie Mums operations manager, Madeleine Glover, showed me around and there were rows of shelving all neatly stacked with donated items. They manage all of this with less than two full-time equivalent staff, thanks to their team of more than 30 dedicated volunteers working throughout the state. They have volunteers helping with collections, sorting, bundling, washing and mending donated items, delivering and picking up donations and orders, administration tasks and fundraising. If they run low on an essential item, like they did recently with a particular size of nappy, they'll put a call out to their more than 9,000 Facebook followers and then end up, hopefully, flooded with donations, at which point they need to post another message to say, 'Thanks but we've got enough.'

I'd like to say a huge thank you to both Clair and Madeleine for taking the time to show me the wonderful work they and their volunteers do and for the incredible service they provide to hundreds of families in need throughout Tasmania. It's comforting to know that there are wonderful charities like Tassie Mums available to step in and help when young children and their families face issues like homelessness, family and domestic violence, and financial hardship. Something as simple as providing a few of the basics of living can make a big difference to a struggling family. I truly commend Tassie Mums for their amazing work, but at the same time I really wish it wasn't necessary. As amazing as Tassie Mums's work is, we should not rely solely on charities such as them to look after families that have fallen on hard times.

Earlier tonight Labor delivered its first budget in nine years, and it was firmly focused on relieving the pressures on struggling families. It was a budget that helped encouraged more women's workforce participation by extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks and making child care cheaper for more than 1.2 million families, measures which will also help address the rising cost of living. Labor is also squarely focused on tackling the housing and homelessness crisis. In tonight's budget the government announced we will deliver 40,000 new social and affordable homes, including 30,000 homes from the Housing Australia Future Fund and an additional 10,000 dwellings under the new housing accord. We are legislating for 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave, which will help women and their children rebuild their lives after surviving and escaping violence.

When it comes to helping families, there is a role for government and a role for charities. We are a government that wants to work with the charities to deliver the best outcomes for people in need.