Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 5 August the Shoalhaven Homelessness Shark Tank took place to coincide with the national Homelessness Prevention Week. The Shoalhaven Homelessness and Good Living Conditions Interagency was the key organisation that invited local service providers to pitch their ideas on how to assist homeless people in their local community.

Prior to the event, a number of businesses were sent an invitation to participate and nominate an amount that they might be prepared to donate. I too was invited to attend. As the community knows, I am deeply concerned about this issue. I chose to join one of the shark tank groupings, affectionately called a tiger shark. We were then all given a bidding card saying 'I'm biting'. The service providers then gave a short PowerPoint display or performance art presentation and described how the sharks could assist them. These projects varied from sponsorship for veggie garden plots to special mats for the children's play equipment at the women's refuge, to spare sleeping bags and tents, to scholarships for change, to community barbecues on Friday night for the homeless. It was an eclectic collection of suggestions and ideas.

In one afternoon, the sharks contributed more than $35,000 in cash for great, forward-thinking community organisations including Southern Youth and Family Services, CareSouth, Nowra Family Support Service, Waminda, Personal Helpers and Mentors, Mission Australia, Southern Shoalhaven Youth Services, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, Shoalhaven Women's Health Centre, Essential Personnel, Southern Cross Community Housing, Supported Accommodation and Homelessness Services Shoalhaven Illawarra, Uniting Church and the Nowra Youthie.

However, sometimes to help homeless people you need more than money and at this event that is exactly what happened. One young man, Michael, who has struggled with homelessness for some time, ended up with a job at Classic Removals, and 14 other local businesses offered to mentor our young people at risk.

I commend the other local sharks: Dave Bennett from Shoalhaven Garage Doors, Geoff O'Connell from Kinghorn Ford, Brendan Faulkner from Assured Locksmiths, Jamie Strong from Strongbuild, John Saunig from Real Aussie Sheds, Heather Darlington from Bendigo Bank, Jared Cochrane from Raine and Horne Real Estate, ANZ mobile lending manager Terry Rayner, Commonwealth Bank's Daniel Arthur, Nowra Kmart's Kyme Wiffen, Vicki Chalain from Nowra Seventh Day Adventist Church, Chance Hanlon from Hanlon Windows, Scott Baxter from Ray White Real Estate, Leigh Burrows from South Nowra Bunnings, John Lamont from Nowra Chemicals, Jane Donald photography, Alan Hawkes from Shoal Bus, Gaynor Peters Property, Steve from Classic Removals, Sam Price from Bomaderry Printing, Jervis Bay Lions, IT Base Camp, Nowra Harvey Norman, FACS, Nowra Picture Framing, Burton Watersports, That's Good Biz, Juniper Hearth, CWA, Mission Australia, Sussex Inlet Anglican Church, the Salvation Army Family Store and the Huskisson op shop. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my shark mates in the tank. The afternoon was an invaluable and moving experience and I hope to be involved in another shark tank in the future.