Thursday, 4 August 2022

Echuca social housing

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (20:44): (2037) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Housing, and it concerns the personal circumstances of one of my constituents. The action that I seek is for the minister to commit funding to acquire and/or construct an appropriate social housing house in Echuca as well as personally intervene to ensure that my constituent obtains this appropriate housing for her family.

Members in this place will know of my continued advocacy for more social housing infrastructure in regional Victoria, particularly in my electorate of Northern Victoria Region. The Andrews Labor government have failed when it comes to meeting the needs of those requiring social housing across the state, with waiting lists for social and priority housing more than doubling in many regional towns and cities over the last eight years.

I was recently contacted by a constituent and social housing tenant. Because of circumstances that were beyond her control, she can no longer be housed in her present home. The constituent is the mother of eight children who reside with her, and she also has five other children in her care following the death of a friend. She moved from Echuca to Mooroopna and planned to enrol her secondary school aged children at Mooroopna Secondary College, unaware of the planned closure of the four secondary schools in Mooroopna and Shepparton to create the single-campus Greater Shepparton Secondary College. Of the 13 children, two are past school age, two are preschool age, three became students at the Greater Shepparton Secondary College and six attended a local primary school.

Like many students at the single-campus super-school, two of the constituents’ daughters have been subjected to constant harassment and bullying from other students to the point where they now have been removed from the school by their mother. My constituent cannot afford to enrol them at private school and, because of the policies of the Andrews Labor government, has no other secondary education options for her children. While my constituent is grateful for her current large house, she is now forced to move to another town that has a six-bedroom house available. My constituent is now homeschooling eight of her nine school-aged children while she waits for an appropriate house to become available in Echuca or in another location close by.

Considering my constituent has been forced to move her extremely large family to another town to access suitable educational options for her children, I call on the minister to intervene in this case and ensure this family gets the appropriate social housing they need. My office will ensure the details of this constituent are provided to the minister’s office.