Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Women (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice asked by Senator Waters today relating to violence against women.

I rise to take note of the answers given to Senator Waters regarding the deeply troubling reality facing older women in Australia, especially in relation to housing, a reality laid bare in the recent Priced out, run down report by Housing for the Aged Action Group and the Swinburne University of Technology. That report was released just this week, and we've had a delegation here in Parliament House. This report confirms what frontline services have been telling us for years: older women are amongst the fastest-growing groups falling into poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness. We know that women over the age of 55 are eight times more likely to experience homelessness than other groups. When they do have a home, they are disproportionately poor-quality homes in insecure, private rentals, and they place women under increasing financial strain.

In the private rental market, 35 per cent of older women are living in homes that are both unaffordable and in poor condition, far higher rates than affect men. These are homes with leaks, mould and structural issues, homes that are expensive as well as inadequate, homes that undermine health and wellbeing. Single older women are one of the most marginalised groups in the fight for safe, affordable and suitable housing. This is a gender inequality issue at play. As the report states, this disparity stems from lifelong disadvantages like the gender pay gap, time taken off for caring and lower-paid work, all of which accumulate into severe housing insecurity later in life, a lifetime of care for others and a retirement and older years of poverty and insecurity.

Housing insecurity for women is not just an economic issue; it's also a question of safety. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Almost half of women who experience homelessness in Australia are victims of domestic, family and sexual violence. Research shows that unstable or unaffordable housing is one of the strongest factors trapping women in abusive or coercive relationships. Many simply do not have the financial means to leave, and, without affordable, accessible housing, the choice is impossible: staying with a violent or controlling partner or facing homelessness. Let's be clear—domestic and family violence happens to all women, regardless of their age or background. It doesn't stop at 50 or 60 or 70. It often becomes more hidden—psychological or financial abuse, neglect and coercion by family members happening behind closed doors, pitching women into homelessness. When a woman has no safe and secure housing alternative, the abuse continues unchecked. Housing is not just a roof over someone's head. It's autonomy, dignity and safety.

Australia's housing affordability has hit record lows, and buying and renting have reached unsustainable levels for too many. Despite all of the evidence of need, the government's Housing Australia Future Fund, the HAFF, contains no dedicated funding stream for older women, not one. This is a glaring policy gap. Older women are clearly a high-risk cohort for poverty and homelessness. They should be a priority for any national housing investment strategy. If the government is serious about gender equality, if it's serious about preventing violence against women and if it's serious about ageing with dignity, then the HAFF must include targeted, gender-responsive investment for older women's housing. Without it, we'll continue to see older women priced out, run down and left behind.

Right now, this government is failing women, older women, in relation to housing safety and security. It doesn't have to be this way. We know there are solutions. We need a dedicated allocation within the Housing Australia Future Fund for older women, and we need to build more public and community housing designed for older women—safe, accessible, affordable and secure. And we need tax reform. We need to raise the rate of income support and to fully fund frontline services. Older women have spent their lives working, caring and contributing, often invisibly, to their families, their communities and the economy. They deserve to age in safety and dignity. They deserve secure, affordable homes, and they deserve to be seen and supported in our national housing policy.

Question agreed to.