Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (19:12): (1654) My adjournment is for the Minister for Housing and Building, and the action I seek is that the minister brief me on the new assertive outreach services for Melbourne’s west that were funded in this year’s budget. As the minister knows, this budget allocates an additional $17.4 million towards rolling out an expansion of nine new assertive outreach services to housing and homelessness programs across Victoria, and I am really happy to say that two of these new services will be in Melbourne’s west, with one in the Brimbank–Melton area and the other in the western Melbourne area.

For many in my community homelessness is a really serious concern. It is also a concern of mine. It is why last year I was pleased to have the previous Minister for Housing and Minister for Mental Health sit down with me with local homelessness services in the western suburbs – incredible organisations like the Salvos, GenWest, Wombat Housing Support Services and so many others who do just an amazing job at working with folks experiencing homelessness and supporting them into housing.

This was something that we have all said that we really need, and whilst these services do incredible work in supporting Victorians into secure, stable housing, there are just so many people whom they cannot currently reach – rough sleepers who might otherwise not engage with mainstream services and folks who might have mental health issues, who are not in the right headspace to actually reach out to services. These outreach services mean that we will be able to engage with those people and connect them with the help that they need and most importantly, they deserve. For many, this will be the difference between rough sleeping and getting their life back on track. We know that when folks are helped off the streets, our whole community is stronger and so much safer, and that is why I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to be briefed by the minister on how these services will change lives in Melbourne’s west.