Page 2246 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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This budget funds a further $70 million to improve rehabilitation options for detainees at the AMC, including a purpose-built reintegration centre, expand the bail support program, and more.
I am particularly proud to establish a justice housing program, especially for women and Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander detainees exiting custody or on bail. We know that housing is one of the key social determinants of life outcomes that makes an enormous difference to people’s lives. This week’s AIHW report tells us that around 33 per cent of prison entrants nationally had been homeless in the four weeks prior to imprisonment—and even higher for Indigenous prisoners, at 42 per cent. I am proud to join my colleagues in a collaborative effort to address disadvantage at its core, with new and expanded programs for those who too often are left behind.
The Greens want all Canberrans to access safe, secure and affordable housing. We welcomed the housing strategy, a key parliamentary agreement item. Its implementation plan now requires funding to back it. We support the government’s $100 million investment in 200 new public housing dwellings over the next five years and we view that as a starting point. To ensure that the proportion of social housing stock does not continue to decrease, this level of investment will be required each year into the future.
This budget funds the new land tax concession scheme first proposed by the Greens in the first parliamentary agreement in 2008. Under the scheme, private landlords renting their properties at affordable rents through registered community housing providers like CHC and the YWCA are exempt from paying land tax. Unfortunately, the program is limited to 100 properties and is only funded as a two-year trial, which may not provide the certainty needed for success. We welcome the introduction of a 25 per cent lease variation charge remission for community housing providers from October. Taxation measures like these are great innovative and incentivised supports for community and affordable housing.
Housing is the single biggest cost of living for most low income and moderate income earners. We know people can and do give things up like food and community activity before they will go without paying rent.
While we are pleased to see a Common Ground in Dickson funded, more is needed to address homelessness, starting with expanding Common Ground in Gungahlin, which would be cost-effective and relatively easy. We also need more capacity across our homelessness sector and more crisis and emergency accommodation, especially for people under the age of 16.
People at risk of or experiencing homelessness often struggle with health and wellbeing and cannot participate in productive daily life. Expenditure on housing and homelessness is an investment in our community and reduces other costs to our system.
The Greens want everyone to be able to access the right healthcare services at the right place and the right time. This budget includes significant additional funding for key health programs and infrastructure, including mental health.
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