Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is the second time I've followed the member for Forrest on FMD. I will just reiterate, for the benefit of the House: the government is doing everything it's been asked to by the authorities to manage this issue in Indonesia. Any suggestion that we are doing otherwise is reprehensible, quite frankly. The NSW Farmers Association has specifically asked those opposite to stop scaremongering and to stop fanning the flames of fear. The risk of FMD coming into this country has gone from nine per cent to 11 per cent. The government is taking it very seriously. We have put in some of the strongest biosecurity measures ever seen in the country's history. It really is incumbent on those opposite, who often say they represent regional communities, to stop fanning the flames of fear.

Now, today marks the beginning of Homelessness Week 2022. This very important week brings to the fore the challenges facing many vulnerable Australians. In Tasmania, for example, we have 50 specialist homelessness services which have supported more than 6½ thousand clients over the past year. Labor knows that access to safe, affordable and sustainable housing can have a profound impact on a person, improving their social health, employment and education outcomes.

Right now there are around 4,400 Tasmanians on the waiting list for social and public housing. A priority applicant on this list faces a wait, on average, of 67 months for housing—that's 5½ years. It's gone up a year in the last year and a half alone. That's a devastating statistic—that somebody in desperate need of a home is told they could be waiting 5½ years. Frankly, the Tasmanian government has ignored the looming housing crisis that's been created under its watch, making very big promises but failing to deliver its promised 10,000 new affordable homes by 2032; that's what the Liberal government promised Tasmanians. That's three new builds a day every day. They really need to get their skates on!

In the meantime vulnerable Tasmanians continue to face the cold reality of housing stress and homelessness. We have people living in cars and caravans, and bunking with mates. The list is endless. Far and away the most common inquiries to my office are about housing. There is a grandmother trying to find housing for a grandchild who's sleeping in his car. There is a young dad who works at a bakery who lives apart from his wife and kids, who are bunking with a mate of hers, and he bunks with mates in another house because they just can't find a place. They earn a good income between them—he's got a full-time job, she's got a part-time job—but there's just no housing. There is a disability pensioner couch surfing and forced to delay surgery because she does not have stable accommodation for her recovery.

My office does the utmost to assist but it should not take intervention from a member of parliament, whether state or federal, for these cases to get the attention they deserve. There should be assistance baked into the system. I note the member for Groom quite rightly lauded the actions of agencies and charities in his electorate; they do fantastic work. But the structure should be there in government. What we know from the former government is they cut the structures over their 10 years in office. They cut and they cut and they cut, and now we have this housing crisis before us.

Homelessness is a systemic issue. To end homelessness we need a plan, and that's the theme of Homelessness Week this year. The Albanese government recognises that homelessness is a significant issue, and we are committed to working with the states as well as stakeholders across both housing and social services to tackle this national issue, and I'm proud to say we've started work on it.

I'd like to recognise the work of my Tasmanian colleague the Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, who hosted a meeting of housing ministers last month—the first of such meetings in almost five years. There's a housing crisis in this country, and it's the first time in five years the state and federal housing ministers have got together. Unbelievable! It was the first step in designing and delivering a housing reform agenda to address the significant challenges across the housing spectrum from homelessness to housing affordability. The Albanese Labor government is serious about this issue, I know the minister is serious about this issue and we'll get on with it.