Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity, along with my local member, Mr Geoff Lyons, to head out with the Launceston City Mission Missionbeat van. Each Friday night a team of volunteers takes the City Mission's outreach van and mobile kitchen trailer out into the Launceston mall in Tasmania between 10 pm and 2 am. Coffee, soup and biscuits are served to the people we meet, who are often in need of a friendly chat or just an ear that is prepared to listen.

The Missionbeat van is vital to many individuals, some homeless and seeking the basics of food and warmth, others having had too much to drink and needing a safe place to sober up. The volunteers' dedication to their task is inspirational. It does not matter how cold it is, and it was cold that night—believe me, in Tasmania there are times when we do have bitterly cold nights—it does not matter to them whether they venture out into the early hours of the morning and it does not really matter to them that they could be warm at home, tucked up in bed. These volunteers are out there doing what they believe to be important. They are there, dedicated to volunteering to help other people.

It was World Homeless Day on Monday. It is a day that provides us with a great opportunity to take a moment to recognise and thank the volunteers and organisations such as City Mission who work hard to have a positive impact on the lives of homeless people in this country. The purpose of World Homeless Day is to draw attention to the needs of homeless people locally and provide opportunities for the community to get involved in responding to homelessness. With this in mind, I encourage all Australians to take some time to give back to their local community—this could be through volunteering with an organisation such as City Mission. It is encouraging to see people getting involved with community organisations in an effort to help others. I was particularly impressed, on the occasion that I went out with the City Mission van with Mr Lyons, to see a number of local college students volunteering. They were from St Patrick's College in Launceston and they work very closely with City Mission. A lot of their students volunteer on a regular basis to help out with the food van. Sometimes their parents join them in their efforts, which creates a fantastic atmosphere and is another example of the work that happens within our communities. I was so moved to see these young people and was inspired by the conversations I had with them. I feel very strongly that our future and the future of this great country is in very safe hands.

The motivation displayed by these young volunteers is the motivation at the heart of City Mission's work. In my hometown of Launceston, City Mission has grown from small beginnings in 1854 to be a well-respected organisation, caring for people in the local community who are marginalised by poverty, loneliness, homelessness and addiction. City Mission now has a total workforce of over 400 people, most of whom are volunteers who work tirelessly to bring care and compassion to those in need. City Mission helps around 150 local families every day in a variety of different ways, from providing basics like accommodation, food and blankets to just being a listening ear. I would like to make special note of Maryann from City Mission, who made contact with me on another issue that I will speak about later in my speech. Her work and leadership within the organisation is something I hold in great esteem.

City Mission works extensively throughout the community and recently created a partnership with a support service for young mothers called Babymum. This partnership is one that I believe will foster positive relationships, mentoring and mutual support. Babymum Australia was founded by Nolene Booth, and its mission is to provide accommodation, support and education for expectant and parenting young women who are homeless or in need of intensive support, or whose babies are deemed to be at risk, and to facilitate through a mentoring program the growth of safe, stable, nurturing families with every possibility of reaching their full potential.

Babymum fits in very nicely with a concept I have been campaigning for for a number of years in relation to baby safe havens, which I have spoken about on a number of occasions in this place. Babymum is a result of Nolene's passion for helping young mothers and their babies work together for the long term, laying the foundations that we know are so necessary in building a strong bond between mother and child in those first years of life. Babymum is an organisation that becomes part of the lives of the young, first-time mothers who need the support of a caring mentor to help them through the first one or two years with their child.

After meeting Nolene I am convinced that she is exactly the right person to nurture the Babymum organisation. I visited the house that has just been acquired in Launceston and when we were having a chat over coffee she said: 'We believe that, whatever has happened before, every mum and her baby needs to know that they are special. We believe that every child has a right to a family and every family a community that gives hope and a future to its children.' I think it is very reflective of what we need to support within our communities. Nolene and her team are clearly very passionate, driven visionaries when it comes to keeping young mothers and their babies together and ensuring they are equipped to live, grow and love together.

Babymum Australia's vision is for expectant and parenting young women who are homeless or in need of intensive support, or whose babies are deemed to be at risk, to have new opportunities to create safe, stable, nurturing families where they can reach their full potential and to reduce the need for protective intervention and out-of-home care, particularly for babies born to young mothers who have been in care themselves. Babymum Australia is still in its formative stages but, as I mentioned earlier, has already confirmed a site for the Babymum house in Launceston, where new young mums will be accommodated under supervision with the caring support of Babymum 'aunties'. These aunties are volunteer helpers and mentors who will work alongside the new mums, giving them a helping hand with their new, important and responsible role as mothers.

According to statistics, an organisation such as Babymum is in fact quite vital for my home state of Tasmania. A Tasmanian Council of Social Service report from back in 2005 found that Tasmania had the second highest rate of teenage pregnancy in the nation. In particular, the north-west coast of Tasmania and the northern part of the state have very high numbers of teenage pregnancies. This implies to me that we require some form of assistance for these young mothers.

I often say, as a mother myself and now a proud grandmother, in some respects there should not be a first child, because it is very daunting. You have all the euphoria of giving birth to this beautiful little infant, you leave the hospital full of confidence and then you take the baby home and think: 'Heavens, what's that cry for? I've changed the nappy and I've burped him. I don't know what else it could be.' A lot of us have a mother, another relative or a friend that we can turn to for support, but there are far too many Australian girls facing this enormous responsibility without the support of a family or indeed a mentor. We all, throughout our lives, for different periods of time, need a mentor, and I do not think there is any more important time than being a mum for the first time. So many of these girls of 15, 16 or 17 years have a huge amount of responsibility ahead of them, so they need every little bit of support that we can give them. After personally meeting with Nolene, the coordinator, hearing her vision and meeting with some of the volunteers, I believe that Babymum is the right form of support for these young mothers.

Another aspect of the Babymum organisation that I particularly admire is its aim to inspire and motivate young mothers to continue their education and to be life-long learners. This is critically important and, as we in this chamber all know, it is very much a part of what the Gillard Labor government support. We have to ensure that these young mums are able to reach their own full potential, which will instil those learning attributes in their children. Educational assistance is offered through individual learning pathways such as e-learning or assisted attendance at local high schools and colleges. I cannot speak highly enough of this wonderful initiative which seeks to promote continued engagement with education as well as creating a strong bond between mother and baby for the long term.

I have always believed that this is an ideal situation. Keeping parents and children together in healthy, loving relationships is surely in the best interests of not only the family itself but also the wider community. Families are the blocks upon which we build everything else and if we can work to ensure strong families are nurtured then we will feel the positive effects in all aspects of community life. There is a saying that goes:

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.

Luckily for the new young mothers of Launceston, there is an organisation that recognises this and is just as concerned with the nurturing of them as it is with the nurturing of their babies. I want to put on record my congratulations to both the City Mission in Launceston and Nolene Booth of Babymum for their tireless and committed work for these young people in the Launceston community who might otherwise not have a meal to eat or a place to go when times get tough. I am pleased to have the opportunity as a senator in this place to publicly acknowledge these community members and tell the story of their efforts in the city of Launceston.

It is not always easy to make time to volunteer to help others, but it is very worthwhile. I know we in this place all get extremely busy with our daily appointments, conferences, flights around the country for committee meetings and meetings with our constituents, but sometimes we just need to take a moment to think about what is happening behind the scenes, what is happening in organisations like City Mission and Babymum and what a real impact that can have on our community, an impact that will have benefits for each and every one of us as members of our communities. Just as importantly, nurturing and giving support to these young mothers at this critical time will, I believe, save governments at all levels money in the longer term because it will instil the bond between the mother and baby, instil the desire to keep a family together and to give that family support and at the same time instil the lifelong learning which is so important for each and every one of us.

Seeing these two organisations working together and talking to them about some of the fundraising opportunities that present themselves, there is still more that needs to be done. In Launceston we need to have shopfront access for young mothers. Not just those who need shelter and need to be taken in and given assistance with accommodation, but so many other young mums who live in housing department homes or still live at home with their parents, need somewhere where they can come together to seek support or to gain information. If we extend that helping hand, I think in the long term it is going to be far more beneficial for the community on lots of future issues relating to drugs and alcohol abuse and the other issues that are confronting young people. As I said, if you get people back into the education system, that is going to provide a much better outcome for them. They are going to make a contribution through the taxation system, which is going to be beneficial not only for them and their families but for our entire community.

I will continue to work with these organisations to ensure that I do all that I can to assist them. I would encourage everyone who is listening and those in the chamber to be involved, to give some of their time, to go out and experience what it is like to meet with our homeless people or those young people who have been out celebrating on a Friday night and perhaps just need someone to listen to them. It is very rewarding. I want to thank Geoff Lyons for making himself available and once again place on record my appreciation and congratulations for St Patrick's College for their initiative in having their students volunteer in such a worthy way.