Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I spoke about a gentleman by the name of Jonathan, who is homeless, living in his car with his son in the beach suburbs of Western Australia. Although I would really like to say he has been given housing, I am pleased to report that this morning on national AM radio, and again at lunchtime, we were successful in getting Jonathan quite a lot of publicity. He talked about his plight and the plight of hundreds of others sleeping rough on Perth beaches. Jonathan makes up one of around 10,000 people that are inadequately housed in Western Australia.

What is really interesting about Jonathan's story going to air today is that the ABC took about a week to prepare that report, and guess what? During that whole week Minister Andrews was unavailable for comment. Isn't it extraordinary that since last week, when we first started talking to the ABC about this story, somehow Minister Andrews has been so terribly busy that his silence on homelessness continues today, with him declining to make any comment on Jonathan's story to ABC radio.

Tonight I want to talk about Perth Registry Week, which is a campaign which aims to identify the most vulnerable homeless people in the inner city area of Perth who are sleeping rough or perhaps in shelters. They are people who are in dire need of affordable housing.

Perth Registry Week, which is replicated in a number of inner city suburbs across our country, aims to prioritise housing, health and other support services based on the assessed vulnerability of those it surveys. Perth Registry Week is coordinated by Ruah, who also had something to say on the ABC's program today. Ruah said they do not need reviews; they need affordable housing. There is an urgent need for the Abbott government to put its hand into its pocket and really look at affordable housing, not just conduct another review. Ruah coordinates Perth Registry Week in a very broad partnership, so it works with state government departments, local government, the police, the Salvos, Anglicare WA, St Barts, UnitingCare West, Vinnies, the Nyoongar Patrol, and the Perth Mobile GP. Obviously, many of these organisations also provide services to homeless, and the police generally know where the homeless are, so they all combine to do this work over three nights.

Just a few weeks ago in early May, Perth Registry Week surveyed those people they found living rough in the early hours of the morning in the Perth CBD. One hundred and sixty eight people agreed to be surveyed. What one of the survey tools does—and there are two—is identify how much at risk those who are homeless are of dying if their situation does not change. They are measuring the vulnerability of those living on the streets. The fact is that they will die if they do not have affordable housing. That is what one of the surveys measures. We are conducting that survey in our community in this rich country, and that was the point made by Perth Registry Week just a few weeks ago when they did the survey.

There is another tool that Perth Registry Week uses. That looks at the sort of support that individuals need to remain stably housed. These tools, together, are evidence informed, accurate and rigorously tested. We do not need a review by the Abbott government; we urgently need funds for affordable housing. The vulnerability factors are a measure of community failure. That we should use these sorts of measures, one of which measures whether or not a person will die if they are not housed, is a disgrace. It says to us as a whole community that we are failing. To be part of this survey you had to have been homeless for more than six months. The survey told us that in Western Australia, if you are over 25 and homeless, you are likely to remain homeless for over six years. If you are under 25, you are likely to remain homeless for more than three years.

Let us look at what this test of whether or not you will die is about: end-stage renal disease, history of cold weather injuries, liver disease or cirrhosis, HIV-AIDS, over 60 years old, three or more emergency room visits or hospitalisations in the past six months, and trimorbidity, which is a combination of having mental health issues, substance abuse issues and medical problems. Other high measures are that you have consumed alcohol every day for the last 30 days or that you are using injectable drugs. On the vulnerability factors of those 168 people sleeping rough in the Perth CBD that agreed to be surveyed, there was strong evidence that many people living rough on the streets of Perth or in homeless shelters were at risk of dying. Most had been homeless for more than six months. Almost half had trimorbidity. Over a third had three or more accident and emergency visits or hospitalisations in the prior six months. Six were over the age of 60. Among those over 25, there were people with liver and renal disease. Almost half of the group had consumed alcohol every day for the past 30 days. And around a quarter were injecting drugs.

Who are these people? Living in the Perth CBD among the mining wealth, the new flash office towers of mining magnates, the consultancies, the labour hire firms, and the high-end shops of King Street lived people who were at risk of dying, living a precarious life with a very urgent need to be housed—men and women, young and old. The youngest person surveyed was just 15—too young to vote, too young to drive, too young to enter into binding contracts, and by law required to be at school, yet living on the streets of Perth. The oldest was 77. Imagine the stories that that person could tell. But they were living alone on the streets of Perth, discarded by society.

Significant numbers of the 168 surveyed were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people: almost half of the adults and 30 per cent of those under 25. What a disgrace! This is a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, when the 2011 Census for Western Australia informs us that Aboriginal people represent 3.1 per cent of Western Australian community.

In terms of income support, among those under 25 there was a higher proportion of begging. In the over-25 group, there were higher numbers receiving disability support or unemployment benefits. Of that group, 34 reported they had had a Centrelink breach in the last six months. Of course they had: it is near impossible to comply if you are living rough and do not have a stable address. Violence is an issue. Most respondents had had contact with the justice system. Health and mental health issues were highly prevalent.

There is some good news; some of those people have been housed. But this truly shocking report should made headlines, and it should be something governments not only report on but take action on. But this week once again we have seen absolutely nothing from the Abbott government. Minister Andrews says he wants to conduct a review. These people in Western Australia and right across our country do not need a review. We need money, we need funding for affordable housing and we need it now. We cannot have people dying on our streets.