PUBLIC HOUSING — NUMBER
344. Mr V.A. CATANIA to the Minister for Community Services:
I have a supplementary question.
Will the minister advocate to replace the 1 372 public houses sold off by Labor
to curb the homeless crisis that this state is facing?
Ms S.F.
McGURK replied:
I can assure the house that I will
not be taking advice from the member for North West Central about how to
advocate for homeless people in our community. As the minister and the member
for Fremantle, I know where the member lives and I know that he does not
experience a lot of homelessness where he lives —
Mr V.A. Catania interjected.
The SPEAKER: Order, member
for North West Central!
Ms S.F. McGURK: — or
in the electorate that he represents!
The SPEAKER: Member for North
West Central, your interjections are repetitive. I ask you to desist.
Ms S.F. McGURK: I have worked
very hard since being a minister to understand from the community services
sector, people with lived experiences and researchers how we tackle some of
these issues. We are well placed for systems reform to work with existing
service providers. We are providing new money and we are in a good place to
make serious inroads into homelessness in Western Australia. We all need to be
part of that. It needs to include all layers of government, the community
sector and the community as a whole, but I am not sure whether the opposition
really understands any of those issues, or particularly cares.