Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are better when we aspire to be a caring, compassionate, inclusive country. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sometimes we forget to focus on what kind of country we want to be. We get caught up in division. We get caught up in blame. Last week I had the privilege of meeting with our local not-for-profits and community organisations centred on housing and homelessness. These people work day in, day out, to make a difference, to be compassionate, to be caring, to aspire to be a better country and a better community. Shadow minister Jason Clare joined me to meet with a group we call the H3—Health, Housing & Homelessness. This is a group that has been working tirelessly. They come together readily and actively advocate in this space. It was an absolute pleasure to meet with them once again, introduce them to our new shadow minister and be in the room for an incredibly important conversation. These people are an example of what we should all be doing—reaching for our humanity, seeking to support rather than blame, to help rather than hinder.

The housing crisis in the west of Melbourne and in the outer west is at extraordinary levels. We heard stories of families living in cars; of broken lives being put back together; of the people who work side by side with people who've fallen off the cliff of homelessness to build trust, to rebuild confidence and self-belief, to get stuff sorted—a roof, an address, a GP visit; the first steps to re-engaging with society, re-engaging with the system, re-engaging in order to get payments to support them. In Melbourne's west, homelessness increased 40 per cent between 2011 and 2016. When television covers homelessness, it tends to be in the CBDs of our major cities. It is rife in the outer suburbs.

I want to acknowledge the people we met with and the work that they do every day: from cohealth, from Melbourne City Mission, from Bolton Clarke, from Wyndham City Council, from Wombat Housing and Support Services, from Whitelion, from WEstjustice, from Wyndham Community & Education Centre, from Uniting and from the Salvation Army. Their work is incredibly important, and they need this government to sit up and pay attention and to address the issues that are happening in our suburbs every day. When I walk the Werribee River and see people living in tents, I am horrified. I am mortified at what our country is coming to.