NATIONAL
PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT ON HOMELESSNESS
182. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the Minister
for Child Protection:
I refer to the commitment to the
Premier and the people of Western Australia by the Prime Minister in Perth on
11 March 2014 regarding the homelessness national partnership agreement that ''we
aren't going to let people down''.
(1) Do the Prime
Minister's comments provide the state with enough certainty to
guarantee homelessness services continued access to priority social housing and
to sit down with service providers to negotiate ongoing service agreements?
(2) What is the
state government's contingency plan and transition strategy for the
future of homelessness services in WA, given ongoing funding uncertainty?
Hon HELEN MORTON
replied:
I thank the
member for some notice of the question.
(1) I would like
to make a comment prior to providing the specific information that the member
requested. Over the last five years, the state has enjoyed a very good
partnership agreement around homelessness services. It started with a four-year
partnership agreement. Unfortunately, the then Labor government would not agree
to a renewal of the next four-year term. It did not matter how much we tried,
we could not get that Labor government to turn its mind to putting in place a
new four-year agreement. Subsequently it said, ''Look, we'll go
with it for a year and see how it goes.'' In that process, it provided
no funding in the forward estimates for the continuation of homelessness
services.
That is the situation we are in. That
situation now comes to fruition on 30 June this year. We have the transition
year in place and no forward estimates at this stage. However, the state
government is confident that there will be an announcement in the federal
budget regarding the future of the National Partnership Agreement on
Homelessness. In the period until that time, the specifications of service
agreements will be further negotiated.
(2) The state
government remains committed to addressing homelessness, and services funded
through the National Affordable Housing Agreement will continue. It is
reassuring that on Tuesday, 11 March 2014 the Prime Minister said on 6PR Radio
that he will not let the people of Western Australia down on the National
Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. Nevertheless, I also made a comment in response
to that along the lines that I believe we need more clarity and certainty for
those people needing these services, those employees who need to make sure they
have continuity of employment, and the employers who are trying to hold these
programs together. I look forward to seeing a full commitment to these services
through a new four-year National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness in this
year's budget from the Commonwealth.