COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
Thursday, 23 October 2008

Senator LUDLAM-I am just wondering whether you can give us a bit of an update as to when that white paper is anticipated for release.

Ms Winzar-Again, this is one of those issues to some degree that is a little bit hooked up with the COAG process and we are consulting with our state and territory counterparts on that. We are hoping that after the next COAG meeting we will be in a position to progress the finalisation and the release of the white paper.

Senator LUDLAM-That is November sometime?

Ms Winzar-Yes.

Senator LUDLAM-Can you advise us what the particular factors were arising for its delay?

Ms Winzar-There were a few, actually. We did get an awful lot of submissions. We had something like 600 written submissions and we had around about a dozen very well attended public consultation processes around the states and territories, including regional areas. So pulling all of that information together has taken a while. The consultation across a range of Commonwealth agencies through an interdepartmental committee has thrown up some other good ideas and, as I have mentioned, homelessness is one of the issues that is being addressed in the National Affordable Housing Agreement context discussions with the states and territories as well.

Senator LUDLAM-Can you describe the role that COAG plays?

Ms Winzar-The relevance of COAG is that the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program will be rolled into the new National Affordable Housing Agreement as a schedule to the intergovernmental agreement around these Commonwealth-state reforms of funding and, associated with that, homelessness as an outcome is one of the things that is being explicitly picked up in the National Affordable Housing Agreement.

Senator LUDLAM-Can you tell me whether in the white paper it is anticipated to recognise and ensure accommodation as a human right. Is that kind of language being used?

Dr Harmer-We should not comment in advance of finalising the white paper. We should not speculate on what might be in it. I do not think that would be terribly helpful.

Senator LUDLAM-Is there anything you are able to tell me without prejudicing the negotiations that are afoot about what people can expect? There has been a great deal of consultation which has obviously been very well attended and subscribed to. But are you able to provide any information, given that we are delayed on where we thought we would be at this stage?

Ms Winzar-There were a lot of strong themes that came through from the written submissions and the public consultation processes. I do not think it would be any surprise to say that a couple of very strong areas of focus there were that we needed to do much more on prevention and early intervention around homelessness, not just in homelessness specific services but across the whole of the service system. That was a very strong theme. The other resounding message that came through was that while for some an episode of homelessness is just that, a temporary episode, for others it can be the start of something that compromises their life outcomes for the rest of their life potentially, and we need to do much more on making sure that if people do find themselves particularly sleeping rough or in a crisis accommodation centre more needs to be done to help them get back on their feet. Not surprisingly, I think the white paper should echo those two themes quite strongly.

Senator LUDLAM-Was the idea of housing as a human right an undercurrent in the submissions that were put to you?

Ms Winzar-I do not recall any submissions that particularly raised housing as a human right, but I certainly know that there were a number of submissions that called to account the issue of human rights in how homeless people themselves experienced services and were treated.

Senator LUDLAM-This might be a slight change of tack, I suppose, but it has been put to us in our discussions with agencies providing services to homeless people that there is an issue in that children accompanying adults are not treated as clients in their own right, and that is putting quite a degree of stress on the agencies. Children who are presenting are almost statistically invisible in terms of the workload on the agency. I am wondering whether that is an issue that you have considered.

Ms Winzar-Yes, it is, Senator. It is quite an important issue. For the purposes of the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program, only effectively adults or children who are not accompanied by adults are counted as clients. So kids who come along with a homeless parent, for example, do not get captured statistically. That is a problem on a couple of levels. One is that we do not have as good a view as we would like about those kids. That is particularly important in a care and protection context. Secondly, from a service provider's perspective, they are being asked to provide a range of services to a group of clients that for all intents and purposes are not captured in the recording of activity of the service. So, yes, it is a problem.

Senator LUDLAM-So you are aware of that. I am wondering whether there is the intention to recognise that degree of service provision in any future funding increase.

Dr Harmer-Again, Senator, we are being asked to speculate on something that we probably should not at this stage.

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Senator LUDLAM-I have a couple of questions on a program called A Place to Call Home. Is that a continuing program that you could speak about off the top of your head? Can you tell us how many dwellings have so far been announced for construction under that program?

Ms Winzar-Could you repeat that. There is a lot of paper shuffling on this end of the table.

Senator LUDLAM-I am after some estimate of how many dwellings have been announced for construction under that program.

Ms Winzar-Under A Place to Call Home?

Senator LUDLAM-Yes.

Ms Winzar-We have been engaging with each state. My understanding-and Mr Jaggers might like to correct me on this-is that that has been announced in three states. Victoria has announced their A Place to Call Home funds. I think it was roughly a 100- to 120-bed common ground style accommodation facility and another 68 dwellings across the state. Tasmania announced a 40-bed common ground type facility. The South Australian proposal that was announced was a 40-bed foyer model for young homeless people in Adelaide. They were also proposing a 40-bed common ground type facility in Port Augusta.

Senator LUDLAM-That is South Australia. So the rest of the states have not yet made formal announcements under that scheme?

Ms Winzar-They have not made their announcements yet. We have been talking to them about their proposals, but they are not ready to finalise them yet.

Senator LUDLAM-I believe the target was 600 properties initially?

Ms Winzar-That is correct.

Senator LUDLAM-Do you feel we are on track for that?

Ms Winzar-I do not have any doubt that we will make that.

Senator LUDLAM-I am wondering, because I am not hugely familiar with how that program works, what current processes are there in place at the moment to ensure that properties in that program are available to women and children escaping domestic violence situations.

Ms Winzar-That is one of the priority groups for A Place to Call Home.

Senator LUDLAM-It is.

Ms Winzar-Not necessarily simply those families with children escaping domestic violence but families with children who are homeless for all sorts of reasons. When we get the proposals in from the states about where they see the need is and how they think they will deliver this program, the focus on women and children is a particularly important one. For example, in South Australia our discussions around their common ground model were around how many single parents particularly they would be accommodating through that process.

Senator LUDLAM-Are there certain priority cohorts that you are targeting assistance to?

Ms Winzar-A Place to Call Home was primarily focused on homeless families with the objective of either avoiding those people finding themselves in crisis accommodation services or, if they do, enabling them to move out as quickly as possible into something much longer term.

Senator LUDLAM-This is a program that is stated to continue? Is it in the mix with the white paper process?

Ms Winzar-We have five years worth of funding at $150 million and the Commonwealth's contribution is a capital contribution. The states are asked to match that funding, but they do so in a number of ways and most of them are coming through with some component of recurrent funding to provide support for families in these new dwellings.

Senator LUDLAM-Thank you for your help. That is all I have.