Public housing
Emma KEALY (Lowan) (14:11): My question is to the Premier. Recently a woman in Echuca who was fleeing domestic violence and who needed urgent access to public housing was told the best the state could offer her is a tent at a local caravan park for six months. Why is the Premier failing vulnerable women?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:12): I thank the member for Lowan for her question. Should the member for Lowan be prepared to share some of those details, I am sure the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence along with the Minister for Housing would be pleased to see what additional support could be provided because we know and I know this very well. In the community I represent in Bendigo many of the service providers that are based out of Bendigo provide services for the communities around Bendigo, including Echuca. A number of those services I talk with regularly, and they have raised some of the challenges that we have. Just as we have a challenge here in and around the suburbs of Melbourne of people having access to affordable homes – homes that they need, homes particularly for more vulnerable Victorians – it is a challenge we face too in regional communities. And particularly where there are additional challenges of distance and remoteness, that adds to that challenge. That is why we have a $1 billion regional housing package to provide an additional 1300 social and affordable homes – at least 1300 social and affordable homes – for regional communities right across the state. As I have indicated previously – I appreciate it is not for the community of Echuca – just close by we have already made an initial investment for housing to be built in Rochester, Seymour and Shepparton in and around the district. We know we need to do more – we absolutely know we need to do more. That is why, whether it is through the $1 billion regional housing package, whether it is through the work we are doing in the housing statement, which is looking at everything we can do to, overall, increase supply –
Emma Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, this question was around women today who are being told the best we can offer is a six-month wait in a tent in a caravan park.
The SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
Emma Kealy: I ask you to bring her back to that question, please.
The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked.
Jacinta ALLAN: You see, this is the thing: playing politics with these sorts of examples is not going to get one house built. I have already acknowledged –
James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, in respect of standing order 118, to reflect on a member for raising an important case of a person who has been offered a tent who is fleeing domestic violence is outrageous. Frankly, I think the Premier should apologise.
The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked.
Jacinta ALLAN: I did at the outset acknowledge that this was a far from desirable situation, which is why I extended the opportunity to the member for Lowan to work with us to look at how that woman in that set of circumstances can be provided with additional support. In case the member for Lowan did not have the opportunity to fully hear and appreciate that point, I make the point again, because as I indicated, Speaker – and you know this well also – we know that women in regional communities do face some additional challenges in being able to access housing and housing support they need at a time when they are most vulnerable. That is why we are making additional investments – investments that come from and are influenced by recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence. For completeness, this is a royal commission report that was not fully supported by those opposite.
Emma KEALY (Lowan) (14:16): Public housing wait times for women fleeing domestic violence have tripled to a long two-year wait. How many vulnerable women will die because this government has failed to provide them with safe public housing?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:16): The Leader of the Opposition is right. It was a number of years ago that one of our very first actions as a government was to call the Royal Commission into Family Violence, and we did that because we knew that it was a system that was broken and was not providing support for vulnerable women and children, and we knew we needed system-wide reform. That included making sure that there was a safe place for women and children to go to when they needed that support at that point in time. We wholeheartedly supported and are now implementing every single one of those recommendations – every single one of those recommendations.
Emma Kealy: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance. This question is specifically about why women have to wait three times as long for public housing –
The SPEAKER: Member for Lowan, you know how to call a point of order, and that is not an appropriate way to call a point of order.
Jacinta ALLAN: As I was indicating, we are implementing each and every one of those recommendations because this system reform is challenging. It is going to take time to change the system and we are going to do that out of respect to women and children experiencing family violence. That respect is not extended by those opposite who did not support the royal commission in full and behave in this way.