00:00 The common theme we're hearing so far is that everyone agrees this is a national crisis,
00:06 in fact one of the worst housing crises we've ever seen in the country and they all tell
00:12 us that it is at a flashpoint, that something needs to be done now.
00:16 We've certainly heard from the Federal Housing Minister, Julie Collins, who's talked about
00:20 the $10 million National Future Fund, but even she says, she's told the conference,
00:26 that we can't turn around a decade of inaction on our own.
00:30 So we're hearing that from speaker after speaker, that it's decades of failures from all governments,
00:35 not just one government, that's got us into this situation today.
00:39 A huge hole that's seen thousands, tens of thousands of Australians suffering.
00:45 Homeless people that we've interviewed over the last few months, particularly post-COVID,
00:49 people who can't afford to rent, living in cars, couch-serving and of course, living
00:53 in tents.
00:54 So they're here, they're hearing from speakers from the UK, from Canada and America, who
01:01 have come up with some solutions that have actually worked.
01:04 The conference will last for those three days and everyone is listening.
01:08 They've got some really good ideas here, but there is a little bit of impatience from some
01:12 people and even the conference organiser, Dr Michael Sottingham, made it clear that
01:19 this is no quick fix at all.
01:24 My goal is for the plan to deliver a better understanding of the current state of housing
01:28 and homelessness in Australia.
01:30 We want it to look at the drivers of homelessness and housing insecurity throughout urban, regional,
01:35 rural and remote Australia.
01:37 We also want it to look at housing supply and home ownership.
01:42 And importantly, my ambition is for the plan to set out a clearer strategy for how all
01:47 levels of government can work together with the private and the community sector to better
01:51 support people facing housing challenges.
01:54 Mission Australia paid for 17 delegates who have had lived experiences, a wide section
02:00 of people, but we just got to speak to one lady, a 62-year-old environmental scientist.
02:05 Now, she said she's been homeless on and off for quite a lot of her working life because
02:10 she ended up divorced, she had a high needs child.
02:13 She just could never save enough money to buy a home.
02:16 So now at 62, she's living in a granny flat and paying the rent from her superannuation.
02:22 So I asked her, well, what happens when your super runs out?
02:24 And she said she'll be homeless again or couch surfing yet again.
02:28 So this is just one of many stories, Ros, that we've covered in the last few months
02:33 that we've been looking at this crisis, including people like an IT expert I interviewed who
02:38 through divorce post COVID ran out of money, couldn't rent in Sydney.
02:43 He was living rough for at least a year.
02:45 And another gentleman, an academic who worked for one of the universities, he also found
02:50 himself post COVID with no money, no job and unable to pay those exorbitant rents that
02:56 we're seeing.
02:57 So there's a lot of heartbreak out there in the community.
02:59 And while, of course, they're trying in the next three days to come up with some solutions
03:03 and some quick fixes like building modular homes that can be done a lot more quickly.
03:08 There are questions about the government's plan, for example, to build 1.2 million homes
03:14 in the next five years.
03:16 Questions raised today about with the building crisis and the collapse in the industry and
03:20 the inflation and the high cost of materials, how is the government possibly going to help
03:24 that happen in five years?
03:26 So I'm afraid just from some of the people we're hearing from today who are in crisis
03:31 now, living in desperate situations, they need some help today, not in the next decade.
03:37 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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