Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In my electorate, Wesley Mission Homelessness and Support Centre at Ringwood will receive about $300,000 over the next three years for the continuation of emergency relief funding. That will make a great difference to local residents. I have visited Wesley on many occasions. I, along with the parliamentary secretary, was there recently to talk to them. The services they provide to local constituents are quite wide ranging. In particular, they provide food and petrol vouchers, clothing and emergency housing for people in crisis. The outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne have particular pockets of people with low income or very little income at all and many of them end up at services such as Wesley. It is not only Ringwood; an area in Croydon has similar issues. Many people end up going through one service or another, but without that type of support they end up literally on the streets.

The issue that has been run in the local press, particularly in the Maroondah Leader, over many years is about the crisis where people without enough income cannot find housing in the area and are able to receive support from an organisation such as Wesley. It is a vital support in the outer eastern suburbs. Wesley is not the only service providing this. The Salvation Army in Ringwood received funding and the North Ringwood Uniting Church received funding in the same measure. Both of those organisations service a similar demographic in a quite similar area and many of their clients cross over from one to another.

The question I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary is: could you give an update on how much emergency relief funding will be received by service providers right across Australia? I know how much is happening in my own little area, but I would like to get a bigger picture so that I can take that story back and show people that it is not just recognition of the problem; we are actually dealing with it right across the country.

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