Page 2113 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 6 August 2014
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including the Snow Foundation, which has made a significant financial contribution, the Common Ground board, which has an ongoing part in driving this project forward as part of the governance team and then the NGO partners who will be the service providers at the facility when it opens for operation. In fact, they were involved in the design and the development of the project so that when they come in they will not just turn up and find a facility that does not quite suit them. They have been involved literally from the ground up to make sure this project is one that delivers the expectations we have for it. That is a great example of the way a government and a range of players in the community can work collaboratively to deliver the outcomes needed to tackle the very complex and difficult issue of homelessness.
That brings me to my concluding remarks: there are still many challenges to overcome in homelessness, and I certainly look forward to being part of the work the ACT government does over the coming years. We are witnessing a shortfall in federal funding and some uncertainty around federal policy direction. At a time when we need more housing and more support, we have only a transitional national partnership agreement on homelessness, which is due to expire this time next year.
I was disappointed by the apparent axing of the funding for the national rental affordability scheme, widely regarded as improving the supply of affordable rental properties across Australia. But with the incredible day-to-day work of housing managers, a solid government commitment to improving quantity and quality of available housing and a nuanced approach to meeting the needs of tenants, I am hopeful that social housing and specialist homelessness service provision will remain a keystone of our territory.
The ACT Greens have been keen advocates of the issues presented in today’s motion in Canberra over the last 20 years through a number of my predecessors. It was certainly a privilege to be part of that ongoing work as a Greens minister for housing. As a member of this place, I will be watching this area with interest over the coming months and years to make sure these areas are being progressed and that we continue to look at the best and most innovative model to tackle these difficult issues.
A number of amendments have been moved today. I indicate at this point that I will support Mr Barr’s overall amendment. I think he has picked up a couple of points and added some further depth to the motion moved by Ms Lawder. I think it is complementary to the intent of Ms Lawder’s motion. Ms Lawder has then suggested some further text as an amendment to Mr Barr’s, and I think she is right to pick up the issues of domestic and family violence as one of the issues that arise with homelessness. I suspect Mr Barr would say that is picked up in his text around family breakdown, but, nonetheless, I think spelling it out explicitly is warranted as it is such a significant issue, unfortunately, in our community.
I thank Ms Lawder for bringing this issue forward today; it is important that we discuss it. I guess that is the very point of homelessness week in Australia—to draw these matters to our attention and turn our minds to them so we focus on the policy issues before us as well as the very real human stories that lie behind the statistics and the policy discussions. I am glad we have taken the time to discuss this here in the Assembly today.
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