CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Ms WITTY (Melbourne) (16:22): Today, I want to speak about housing, not as a market and not as a headline but as a place where a person can close the door and feel safe. Recently, I met with the Victorian Homelessness Fund. Since 1987, the fund has worked to provide long-term homes for women and children escaping domestic violence.
Their model is practical. Homeowners partner with the fund and community housing providers to provide homes to families in crisis, and these homes are not empty shells. They are furnished, and the pantry is fully stocked.
They are ready for a mother and her child to arrive, take a breath and begin again with dignity, because, for someone escaping violence, housing is not a political debate. It can be the difference between staying trapped or finding a way out. Before entering parliament, I worked in the homelessness sector at Homes for Homes.
I there helped to build a pipeline of more than $110 million for social and affordable housing. During my time, I worked with property developers and helped them to engage with the organisation and raise that money. During that time, I met with some property developers, went up to their beautiful office at the top of the building, had a look out at their view and spent some time letting their staff know about Homes for Homes and how they could help end homelessness.
Just as I finished, I walked to the door and someone called out my name. I thought I'd left something behind. A woman came up nice and close to me in her lovely suit and said to me, 'Sarah, I am homeless.' I couldn't believe it, because she was in a well-paid job.
But what had happened to her was that she had experienced domestic violence. Her husband had stopped her bank account. She was living on a friend's couch and couldn't stay there any longer.
I was completely shocked. It is also a reminder to me that homelessness can happen quickly and it can happen to anyone. That is why housing affordability matters.
That is why I am proud to be part of the Albanese Labor government's legislation to change housing affordability and cost-of-living support. Our housing reforms will support 75,000 more Australians into homeownership. They will help investment to flow into new housing supply.
Our tax reforms will reduce the tax burden for more than 13 million workers. We cannot accept a future where homeownership is only for people who already have wealth. We cannot accept a future where women and children who are escaping violence are left waiting for a safe door to be open.
The Victorian Homeless Fund shows what practical action can look like, and Homes for Homes shows what industry help can deliver.