Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to speak to the motion moved by the member for Macnamara, which really highlights the crisis in access to safe, secure and affordable housing in Australia. The issue has never been so critical. This is not the first time I've had to speak in this chamber about the dire state of housing in Australia, and I know it's not going to be the last.

Recently I met with the women's crisis centres in my electorate of Newcastle. Those fearless women who have been running those centres for decades now told me that it has never been so bad. Thirty-five years of experience, one worker had, and she looked me straight in the eye and said, 'Sharon, it is dire.' Heartbreakingly, their key message to me was that, as I said, the housing crisis for vulnerable people is the worst they've ever seen it and that there is absolutely nowhere for those women to go. Those crisis centres are maxed out for accommodation. There are waiting lists for social housing in Newcastle extending for more than eight years now, and the private market has utterly failed vulnerable families—utterly failed. It is so bad that, when women escaping family violence present to these centres in Newcastle, if they arrive in a car the centres are secretly rejoicing because they know that at least that woman can sleep in her car for the foreseeable future, because God knows that's where she's going to be. There is nowhere for her to go. This is an unacceptable state of affairs for this nation.

The housing crisis in Newcastle is dire not just for vulnerable people now. Even families on two incomes are finding themselves rendered homeless. Rental vacancy rates have dropped as low as 0.3 per cent in parts of our region this year, and homeless services have been completely overwhelmed. I was recently contacted by a young couple in my electorate who, in June of last year, were evicted from their rental property, as the owner wanted to do renovations. They received their eviction notice. They immediately started applying for rental properties in Newcastle. After three months, they'd had zero success but had to move out of their property nonetheless. They moved in with their grandparents for another six months as they continued to apply for properties, again with no success. Circumstances changed for their grandparents and they couldn't stay there any longer, so they now live in a tent in a caravan park. This is a couple who are both in full-time work, in hospitality and health. This is the changing face of the housing crisis in Australia. There are too many stories like this couple's. The private rental market in Newcastle has failed. People are offering months of rent upfront and giving landlords an additional 50 or 60 bucks a week, on top of what they're asking, in order to secure a property. So, as you could well imagine, that means anyone on income support or in a vulnerable state has not a hope in hell of competing in that kind of market.

Last night's budget did nothing to address the housing crisis we are facing and the fundamental lack of affordable housing in this nation. There were announcements like the family home guarantee to help single parents buy a house, but this will only help 2,500 of the one million single parents in Australia, with the government only investing a measly $300,000 a year. You heard me—I'm not talking about millions of dollars; I'm talking about $300,000 from the Commonwealth of Australia. That's the support single parents are getting from this government to enter the housing market.

Australians need the Morrison government to take some responsibility now. I am sick of listening to this government say: 'Housing? That's a state and territory matter. We don't have anything to do with that.' Well, you know what? If you want to see a productive nation, you've got to make sure your citizens are housed in safe, secure and affordable housing; otherwise, they cannot participate in this economy. They don't get to be productive citizens of our nation, and we cannot afford to lock those people out. We've got very good social reasons for why we want to house people, but goddamn there are some strong economic reasons as well. Never has housing been less affordable in this nation, and never has a government been less interested. (Time expired)

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