Page 582 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 June 1989
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that the number of homeless young people is rising rather than contracting and the evidence - and it says that it is conservatively estimated - is that there are between 20,000 and 25,000 homeless children and young people under the age of 18 across Australia and that, of these, approximately 8,000 to 9,000 are in the 12- to 15-year age group.
It goes on to say that it is estimated that up to 70,000 children and young people are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, so it identifies certain risk groups. It describes the ways in which people live and the factors which contribute to youth homelessness. Those factors are numerous and many of them, with commitment from governments and the community, can be addressed. So efforts can be made.
One of the most important points that I find quite telling in the Burdekin statement is that many people still believe that homeless children have brought it on themselves and, therefore, that the wider community has little responsibility to respond.
I think that everybody in the community has a responsibility to recognise that this problem exists, that the children who are in this situation are the victims of a range of circumstances and that we have a responsibility to address those factors.
MR HUMPHRIES (4.10): I will just address this subject perhaps very briefly. I am very pleased to note the outcome of the ministerial conference of 9 June and to see that positive moves seem to be resulting from those discussions. It goes without saying that, if these problems concerning young people are not addressed now, they will manifest themselves in other forms in years to come, in the form of domestic violence, street crime and the problems that will beset children when in their turn they grow up and have their own families. I think that we can see many problems multiplying themselves as a result of our inattention to this particular problem, and I hope that we will therefore take the appropriate steps to make it less of a problem for the future.
I want to comment briefly on one aspect of the things that were discussed at the Ministers' meeting. The Ministers agreed on a number of areas that required attention in the short to medium term. They include such things as accommodation, income support, education and training in employment, children under statutory orders, better co-ordination and data collection for existing programs. But one of those areas was prevention of family breakdown, and from my point of view that is an area of the utmost importance and perhaps should be the area of first priority within this general area.
It is important, above all, to prevent the circumstances, the environment, arising in the first place which lead to this kind of problem. I recall that last year or the year
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