HOMELESS PERSONS’ LEGAL SERVICE FORUM ON HUMAN RIGHTS

State Library of NSW

20 May 2009

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First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present. 

Good afternoon – it’s a great pleasure to be here to endorse the intent and the theme of this forum, which is “Your Rights Matter”. 

I am well aware of the valuable contribution that the Homeless Persons’ Legal Service makes to the lives of homeless people and those at risk of homelessness.

These clinics are located where the need is most apparent - offering counsel and legal assistance, and services that are tailored and relevant.

When Robyn invited me to speak today, she wrote about this forum as a response to the Government’s National Human Rights Consultation – and through it, a means of seeking input from Australians who have experienced homelessness. 

The Government very much welcomes that approach.

I commend you for your initiative and thank you for the invitation to speak. 

The writer, John Steinbeck made the point that:

“there are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.”

However, I would say that Governments and communities, for their part, cannot accept that proposition in its entirety. 

We cannot abrogate our responsibilities to protect people’s rights and to work at eliminating homelessness. 

The Rudd Government has taken a number of steps to address the issue of homelessness since coming to office.

Although I am not hear tonight to speak specifically about what the Government is doing in this area, I would like to mention my colleague Tanya Plibersek, Minister for Housing, who has been working hard over the last eighteen months to implement reforms to address the causes of homelessness. 

Some of you may have heard Tanya speak last year about the Government’s agenda on homelessness. 

At the time she was leading consultations around the country as part of the Green Paper on homelessness.

Since that time, the Prime Minister launched the White Paper on Homelessness – The Road Home – which committed us to two national goals: to halve overall homelessness and to offer accommodation to all rough sleepers who seek it by 2020.

The White Paper came with an additional $1.2 billion funding for new shelters and additional support services. These details are currently being finalised with the States and Territories. 

On top of this, as part of the Nation Building Economic Stimulus Plan – the Rudd Government has committed more than $6 billion to build 20,000 new public housing dwellings over the next 2 years.

This will go a long way in meeting the goals we have set to halve homelessness by 2020.

National Human Rights Consultation

In December last year, I launched a nationwide consultation to consider how best to protect and promote human rights and responsibilities in Australia.

Through the consultation, the Government is hoping to open up a dialogue with all Australians, by asking people:

This is not a question which should be left to the lawyers, academics or politicians to answer but for all Australians who come from many walks of life and have different experiences to draw from and share. 

Since early February, the independent committee has held roundtable discussions in 38 cities and townships across Australia, including yesterday at Thursday Island in the Torres Strait.

More than 12,000 written submissions have already been received.

It is encouraging that so many people and organisations have reached out and gotten involved in this conversation and, if you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to make contact with the Committee – either online, or in writing or by attending a roundtable – in the coming month.

The Committee will come back to the Government at the end of August this year with a report on what it has heard during the Consultation process. 

Homelessness

It goes without saying that the Consultation has so far attracted interest from a broad spectrum of the community – including from those frequently unseen or unheard from.

Amongst them, people with disabilities, older Australians and those who ‘sleep rough’, many of them battling to access services such as housing.

And the Committee members have taken extra steps to ensure that they meet people where they live and gather to hear their stories.

For example they visited the Matthew Talbot Hostel at Woolloomooloo. And in Adelaide, they met with people living in an informal camp on the outskirts of the city where they heard about the range of complex health and housing needs.

It is important that the Committee hears these stories. After all, ‘human rights’ are based on the basic values we, as a community, seek to respect and protect. 

Role of Community Legal Centres

As important as physical aspects are, homelessness is more than simply a question of bricks and mortar.

What triggers homelessness? Domestic and family violence, mental illness, tenancy or credit and debt problems, family breakdown are all factors.

We also know that legal issues and lack of access to legal advice (that is, access to justice) can contribute to or increase homelessness.

Surveys indicate that up to 75 per cent of homeless people interviewed experienced legal issues that contributed to and / or entrenched their homeless status.[i]

That is why community legal centres such as the Homeless Persons’ Legal Service play a vital role by providing legal and other assistance to homeless persons and those at risk of experiencing homelessness.

The Service demonstrates that a focus on prevention, early intervention and alternative dispute resolution to solve legal and related problems is working to good effect.

Access to Justice

In addition to the national consultation being undertaken on human rights, I have also asked my Department to look at access to justice in the federal justice system – to determine what works, what doesn’t, and why.

An essential criterion of an effective justice system is accessibility – without this, the system is compromised and in danger of losing its relevancy to, and respect from the community it serves.

I know from my experiences as a lawyer - and many of you may have seen or experienced the same - that some people are intimidated by the justice system, and others are unable to navigate through the system without help.

The Government’s aim is to identify priorities for reform that will increase individuals’ capacity to understand the laws that affect them. And to ensure legal problems are resolved quickly and efficiently before they escalate and contribute to entrenched disadvantage.

Simple things like ensuring people have access to information or are referred to the right service when they first present with a problem can make a real difference to an individual. 

Access to the right information and options at an early stage not only empowers an individual, but is more likely to resolve problems before they escalate. 

Conclusion

Thank you again Robyn for the opportunity to be here this afternoon.

To you, your team and those who support the Homeless Persons’ Legal Service, I wish you continued success.

And to all those for whom the Service exists, I hope that we can work together to find opportunities and new approaches to some old problems so that we create solutions which promote human dignity and help create a sense of greater control over one’s personal circumstances.

Thank you.

[i] Forell, McCarron and Schetzer, ‘No Home, No Justice? The Legal Needs of Homeless People in NSW’, Law and Justice Foundation NSW, July 2005, p66:

Many homeless people have more than one legal issue affecting them at any one time. For instance, more than three-quarters of the homeless participants interviewed for the current study had experienced three or more legal issues.

Midgley, Beth 'Improving the Administration of Justice for Homeless People in the Court Process - Report for the Homeless Persons' Court Project', August 2004, PILCH Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic, p.16:

At least 75 per cent of participants received fines and charges in relation to behaviour that was a direct consequence of their homeless status, including: fines in relation to begging, drinking in public and other public space offences; activities caused by extreme poverty, such as travelling on public transport without a valid ticket or shoplifting food and other necessities; and activities relating to one of the underlying causes of homelessness, such as drug or alcohol addiction.