Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Recently, I had a Zoom meeting with the Seaford Housing Action Coalition. These are people in my community who are homeless or have experienced homelessness or just care about other people. On that Zoom call was a woman who is currently homeless. She was zooming me from her car. She's homeless because she's a victim of domestic violence. She's homeless because she doesn't have enough money to pay a bond to get into a private rental. She's homeless because we don't do enough in this country to help our fellow citizens who are in need.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts have been a painful illustration of how indivisible the health of the population and the health of the economy are. It's also given prominence to an age-old question: what is a good human life? What is a contributing human life? What do we as a community value? What do we, in this parliament, stand for? The tragedy of COVID-19 presents us with an opportunity to reconsider the way we measure our economic, social and environmental health. It presents us with an opportunity to say that, when there's investment from the federal government, we need to make sure it ticks three boxes. Firstly, it should be good for the economy, it should be stimulus, and it should help jobs be developed. Secondly, it should be good for the environment, for the future of not only our country but our planet. Thirdly, it should be good for social capital; it should be good for the community and the people that live in Australia. In my electorate, right now, there are about 600 people who are homeless. We have a shortfall of 3,000 social and public housing dwellings. We need investment in this country that is good for the economy. Social housing ticks that box. We need investment that is good for the environment. We can upgrade social housing with better electricity, with solar panels. Social housing ticks that box. We need investment that is good for people, and social housing ticks that box.

Recent research from Mission Australia, from before the pandemic, said that one in five Australians between the ages of 15 and 19 reported being homeless. Associated with that homelessness is an increase in mental health problems and thoughts of suicide. That's one in five Australians between the ages of 15 and 19. This is our opportunity, as a parliament and as a country, to say that everything we do, every investment we make, has to be good not just for economic growth and jobs but for the future of our people. That is exactly what social housing delivers. That's what the former Labor federal government delivered during the global financial crisis, with more than $5½ billion of investment in nearly 20,000 new social housing dwellings and the repair of more than 80,000 properties. That's what the Morrison government needs to do. Mr Morrison, as the Prime Minister, needs to sit at the national cabinet and drive a national strategy for social and public housing.

In the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, which I'm privileged to be on, we are looking at homelessness. We have had evidence about the Housing First model, which treats housing as a basic human right. People need safe, secure shelter to be a contributing member of society and to feel like they are valued by society. In my electorate of Dunkley, we have Wintringham and Haven; Home, Safe. They are two organisations that are providing social housing for vulnerable people in need. We know from studies conducted by the ANU and other experts that significant numbers of Australians are suffering from rental stress because of COVID-19. We have a rental ticking timebomb coming our way. The member for Goldstein and others might like to talk about Australians owning houses, but many people, like the woman I spoke to who was zooming me from her car, are not dreaming at the moment about owning a house. They're dreaming of having a roof over their head. This government needs to invest in social housing, and it needs to do it now.

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