Page 583 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 June 1989
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before a social worker, whose name I cannot remember, commenting on the problems that gave rise to homelessness among youth, said that in many cases a very large element of it arose from a certain rebelliousness, a desire to gain independence from the family home. Although we can all understand that and appreciate how important that is, it is also equally important, as the first priority of a government attempting to deal with the symptoms of that problem, to address not the questions necessarily first and only of housing or feeding or clothing these people but first and foremost of restoring the environment in the home where they can be cared for. The ultimate responsibility of a government is to support the family structure, the family's capacity to nurture and accommodate members of those families, and anything the Government does which undermines that is regrettable.
The reasons why families are under those pressures vary widely and we cannot ignore the very important factor of economic hardship that faces our country at the moment. That accounts for a very large part of the upsurge in youth homelessness that we face in this community, and that is a matter of great regret. We should be looking at the root causes of these problems, we should be attempting to buttress the family unit, we should be attempting to find ways of guaranteeing greater security for people in an economic sense so that family security flows from that. I think that some of those issues are addressed in what was discussed by the social welfare Ministers, but I certainly hope that in this place we can keep our attention on that particular factor very clearly.
MR JENSEN (4.14): Mr Speaker, I do not propose to speak very long on this matter, but I would like to endorse the remarks that have been made by our colleagues in the chamber here today. I would particularly like to and indicate that the Rally firmly endorses the principle of bipartisanship in this area. Most of us here today know what it is like to bring up children in this day and age with the varying problems and difficulties in relation to lifestyle and changes that are coming for our children. Those of us who have teenage children are fully aware of the pressures and the difficulties under which they operate.
The report refers to the need for the Australian Education Council to take account of the needs of homeless young people when developing strategies to support a continued involvement of young people in mainstream education. Not only is it important to look at the needs of homeless youth and in relation to the education system, but also I think it is very important, if our young teenagers are struggling and having problems with organising themselves, arranging their lives in a very difficult world these days, that particularly in the schools the appropriate resources and facilities should be available. This will assist the teachers who are faced with the hassles of broken families, broken marriages, and various other problems that they keep
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