Adequate housing - an issue for everyone

For most Australians, our homes are where we grow up, raise our children, welcome family and friends and grow old.

Unfortunately, attachment to a home is not shared by all of us all of the time.

The Government considers adequate housing should be available to everyone in this country. It is fundamental to a decent standard of living that governments must aim to provide healthy and safe housing for its citizens. To support this, we allocated nearly $2.4 billion in 1997-98 on help for low income renters, on public housing and on other types of housing - such as community and Indigenous housing.

But I'm the first to admit that governments cannot solve Australia's housing problems alone. And all of us here today know that there are still too many homeless people who slip through the social safety net.

The Government's Social Agenda

The themes of early intervention and prevention and sustainable communities underpin what the Prime Minister calls a "modern conservative" approach to social policy:

Our aim is to build a modern social safety net which is not founded on expanding the welfare state but on lessening welfare dependence and broadening the choices available to individuals, families and communities. Our focus . . . is on tackling problems at their source rather than simply living with and trying to ameliorate their consequences.

While we are absolutely committed to a social safety net that supports those in need, we must also concentrate on preventing dependency and providing other kinds of support and services that help to strengthen families and communities.

Early Intervention And Prevention Initiatives

There's little doubt that the families in today's society face increased financial pressures and emotional stresses. And, the Commonwealth Government has a strong track record in providing income payments and other support to people in genuine financial need. But apart from helping financially, we are also trying to target families at risk - at the stage that often leads to homelessness.

We are taking an early intervention and prevention approach across the Government in a renewed effort to prevent family break-ups, domestic violence, crime and drug abuse. These are universally known as pathways to homelessness. We have committed:

• over $37 million each year to the Family Relationships Program, with 83 community organisations on contract to the Government to deliver family counselling and mediation services.
• $25 million for the Partnerships Against Domestic Violence strategy, together with another $25 million in the Budget. This goes to working in partnership with the States and community organisations to prevent domestic violence and to develop better ways to respond to it.
• Over half a billion dollars in the fight against drugs. Drug abuse can have devastating consequences on the community and the funds are directed to law enforcement, education, research and treatment.
• $13 million on a National Crime Prevention Program that oversees local prevention and communication activities, national research and pilot projects, and training for crime-prevention professionals. We know that early life experiences can have a long-term impact on crime and other social problems. And that interventions, such as home visiting, family support and parenting education, can have a positive impact on the future of at-risk families and their children.
• $60 million for programs to prevent youth homelessness - in response to recommendations of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Youth Homelessness, headed up by Captain David Eldridge. To break the cycle of homelessness, which can begin at an early age, the focus is on support for the whole family, to encourage young people to reconcile with their families, to re-engage in community life and to take up education, training or employment.

Taken as a whole, these initiatives represent a prevention and early intervention effort which is unprecedented in Australia's social policy history. As I know from talking with my State and Territory and international counterparts; and with community and service provider organisations, these new ways in which Governments and communities help their people are already being widely embraced.

And I am sure that the Commonwealth Government won't be stopping here.

Future Directions For SAAP

The Commonwealth Government will be spending more than $600 million over the next five years to continue the SAAP program, plus an extra $45 million, over the life of the next SAAP.

I am both pleased and relieved to note that all States and Territories have agreed with us to commit to a new SAAP, as a joint program, for another 5 years. I envisage the Commonwealth continuing to offer SAAP national leadership and coordination, and I also acknowledge strongly the commitment by all Ministers to develop together a workable framework for the new SAAP.

As you know, the National Evaluation named many successes in SAAP III such as case management, and has made many useful observations which we will build on for SAAP IV.

Building Sustainable Communities

We must stop thinking of SAAP as a solo program and start thinking much more creatively. I repeat - we need to explore further the great potential to link SAAP with other types of human services, beyond those I've mentioned today. If we set up good linkages, we will certainly get improved client outcomes and more seamless service delivery.

But we also have to think more broadly about the capacities of the communities in which we live. This emphasis on capacity-building is reflected in the agreement I reached earlier this month with State Housing Ministers. This new, four-year, $4 billion agreement sets down the very great importance we place on building sustainable communities. My government's concept of sustainable communities places housing right at its core.

One part of the concept is for a diverse and innovative housing sector that supports people where they want to live; fosters sustainable communities and links housing well to other programs.

In helping foster such a "social coalition", we are moving more to community involvement in developing and delivering the services we provide. As with SAAP, my department contracts community organisations to deliver family relationships and disability employment and other services.

This ensures that government services go beyond merely supporting individuals. With this community-based approach, we can help to develop the capacity of families and communities to sustain and support themselves. This is a vital part of the shift away from a remedial focus of the past to a focus on prevention, early intervention and capacity building.

At the local level, we are also encouraging businesses to put something back into their communities, through the Business and Community Partnerships program. This promotes to business and communities the benefits that both partners can reap from working together to help their fellow Australians and to enrich community life.

One successful example of this is a partnership between Freehill, Hollingdale & Page and the Sydney City Mission, which was nominated as a finalist in the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Business and Community Partnerships. This joint venture runs a shopfront that gives free legal support, advice and representation to more than 200 homeless and disadvantaged clients each year.

Promoting partnerships like these, however, in no way represents a diminution of the Government's responsibility to provide the modern social safety net to people in genuine need. What it does do, is recognise that all sectors - businesses, communities and governments alike - have a role in building the capacities of families and communities to support themselves, and to help prevent problems, rather than just focusing our efforts on direct intervention.

Conclusion

I want to see over time a reduction in the demand on SAAP services because of the success of early intervention programs.

And I want to see better linkages between SAAP services and general community services to optimise the totality of support that we can give to those who do become homeless.