Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Newcastle for bringing forward this motion, in particular to ensure that stimulus measures are focused on delivering maximum ongoing public benefit and to give consideration to working with the private and community sectors and superannuation funds to invest in more social housing. There has been a great deal of talk and discussion about homelessness in the past month. As we know, national Homelessness Week was at the beginning of this month. Unfortunately, I have the unenviable achievement of having the largest amount of homelessness in my electorate, in regional New South Wales. That's something I'll come back to.

I acknowledge the work the federal coalition government is doing, has been doing and will continue to do in providing affordable housing. Every year, the federal government provides more than $6 billion in Commonwealth rent assistance and supports the states and territories to deliver social housing through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, and the Morrison-McCormack government remains committed to this annually. There are other programs as well. There's the $118 million Reconnect program to support youth aged 12 to 18 years who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. That assists up to 8,000 young people every year. Recently we saw the $60 million Safe Places grant program provide social housing for women and children escaping domestic violence.

It's trite to say it, but we don't want to see people on the streets. Quite often when we talk about homelessness we think only about cities and metropolitan areas, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The statistic of 4,400 people in my electorate and overwhelming overrepresentation in Indigenous communities shows that we need to continue to address the issues of homelessness and social housing. As a former police officer of 12 years, I saw homelessness firsthand. There are many reasons why somebody could be homeless, including domestic violence and mental health. We need to provide a net to support people should they fall through the cracks.

The solution to reducing homelessness in our country is a matter for everyone. It's not just for the federal government or for the state government to address it; it's for all levels—local, state, federal—to address it and to work with multiple stakeholders in the community and the not-for-profit sector. Until we adopt that approach, we'll continue, year after year, to face the numbers that we see on the streets, whether they be in the cities or in regional and rural Australia. I recently spoke to representatives from Master Builders Australia and the Property Council about the Social Housing Acceleration and Renovation Program. That program is led by national peak bodies—the Community Housing Industry Association, Homelessness Australia, National Shelter and the national housing campaign Everybody's Home.

We want a bipartisan approach to this issue—it should not be just the coalition—and it shouldn't be used as a political football. We should talk about it. Some people will never be in a position to afford their own home because of the cards they have been dealt. It's all well and good for the government to provide strong economic policy—and prior to COVID-19 we were in a very strong fiscal position—but, unfortunately, things have changed. Moving forward, all levels of government, together, need to solve the social housing problem. (Time expired)

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