Thursday, 30 November 2023

 Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (09:45): I want to bring the attention of the Minister for Housing and also the house the serious homelessness problem that is emerging in townships like Lakes Entrance in East Gippsland. A large part of the problem is that in towns like that the Big Housing Build just has not delivered. Since 2017 we have got two less social housing homes in my region, three less in Wellington and 32 less in Latrobe. In our area more are being sold off or decommissioned than are being built. In Lakes Entrance we already have had five small homeless camps developed, and in addition we have a large cohort who have been accessing cheap rentals at tourist accommodation, and they have been asked to leave by tomorrow. On 1 December they are out; that is going to add to the problem. The government needs to do more on the ground, and there are two places to start. The first is to work with local councils to provide showers and toilets at locations at the very least. Secondly, let us better fund the frontline agencies that deal with this homelessness situation on a day-to-day basis. Homelessness is increasing, and it is going to get worse as of tomorrow, when these people are moved out of their holiday accommodation. A start would be to stop selling off and decommissioning our homes at the rate that we are building new ones, as that does not deliver a net gain.