Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for this important question. Of course, the member for Solomon is a veteran himself and is very committed to the cause of supporting our veterans. I enjoy working very closely with him in supporting the veterans in his community and those around the country. That's all part of how the Albanese government is committed to delivering a better future for our veterans and their families.

Australians across the country are confronted by difficulty in accessing housing and by cost-of-living pressures, and that is absolutely affecting veteran community as well. That's why, as part of the budget last year, we expanded the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme with a $46.2 million investment to allow our serving personnel to get access to housing assistance sooner and to remove the cap so those who have left service are able to access the scheme to help them as well. We have an obligation to support our veterans. We have an obligation to those who have put on our uniform to serve Australia, who have put themselves in harm's way, to make sure they are looked after. Too many veterans across this country are experiencing homelessness.

Yesterday the Assistant Minister for Veterans' Affairs launched a toolkit outlining factors contributing to veteran homelessness, their service needs and the available referral pathways. There are also specific veterans homelessness services that are sprouting up across the country. So I say to veterans and families: if you do need support with your living situation or homelessness, please contact DVA on 1800838372 or Open Arms on 1800011046.

But more does need to be done. We're getting on with the job in places like Darwin, in the member for Solomon's electorate, with funding for the Scott Palmer Centre. But crucial to expanding this service provision for our veterans is our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. It will support veterans, our First Nations communities and victims of family and domestic violence. Part of that $10 billion fund commitment is a $30 million commitment to support veterans experiencing homelessness and to support veterans that are at risk of homelessness—and not just with housing itself but with the wraparound services our veterans need to support them getting into secure housing.

But what do we see when we're putting forward a package, designed to support our veterans, that we took to the last election and that was widely supported by community housing and veterans' organisations? We get those opposite opposing it. There's no support from those opposite for our veterans getting into secure housing. We have a situation where housing for veterans, for some reason, is opposed by those opposite. I say to those sitting opposite: think very carefully about the message you are sending to the Australian veterans community when you oppose a package to support them when they're experiencing homelessness.

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