Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Adjournment

Housing

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (19:00): (521) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Housing, and the action I seek is for the minister to explain why houses owned by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in South-West Coast have been sitting vacant for over two years despite being perfectly suitable for occupation. Last week a little girl and her family touched the heartstrings of our community with their story of homelessness. Consequently many people have shared where unoccupied homes are in Warrnambool that are owned by the department of housing. I have personally visited a number of these properties for myself and directly verified this to be true.

Nova, the little girl I mentioned, has cerebral palsy. Nova is in a wheelchair, communicates via a device and is unable to walk or attend to her own activities of daily living. Nova is a bright, charismatic and talented eight-year-old girl who is ingrained in our local community, participating in many activities, such as being a member of Warrnambool’s famous Find Your Voice choir. Nova’s mother passed away recently, requiring her father Doug to cut back full-time work to care for his two children Nova and her brother Archie, who is seven. Unable to make a living as a teacher any longer due to the intensive needs of parenting a disabled child, Doug was unable to make mortgage repayments, the bank foreclosed and they lost their home.

Since then Doug, Nova and Archie have been couch surfing, and during the school holidays he even lived in a paddock. I am not going to demean the dignity of this family by describing the intensive needs of Nova and her activities of daily living, such as her hygiene needs; however, with my nursing knowledge I know that by not having a home and not having a kitchen to prepare her meals from vegetables et cetera and for her not to be able to get around safely we are compromising her long-term health significantly. We are also putting at risk her father’s ability to care for her long term, because he is unable to lift her safely when he is stuck in a place that does not have the facilities needed for lifting her in a way that will not cause him harm long term.

Following a public call-out, my generous community have paid for him to stay in a motel for two weeks. This is no long-term solution as Nova cannot manoeuvre her wheelchair around the motel room, so after school this effectively makes her bed-bound. None of this is good for Nova’s skin integrity or her mental wellbeing. When I met Nova she begged me for help to find them a roof over their heads. Doug put down his name on the public housing waiting list years ago. Following my direct approach to a minister last week, Doug received his first call. Yesterday Doug received another call, which informed him that it would be years before he was able to access a home. What a disgraceful failure by this government. How much more vulnerable could this family be? This family needs a solution now. The system is broken under Labor. There is simply no excuse. Nova needs a house now.