2018-09-20
Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (12:38): I seek leave to make a short statement.
The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for one minute.
Senator FARUQI: It is a real shame that this government has failed to commit to any specific targets to reduce homelessness despite such disturbing numbers in the last census, with more than 100,000 people now without a home. People are sleeping rough, have no roof over their head, no bed to sleep in. They're on the streets and on park benches, and this number is up by 20 per cent. Here we have a government that doesn't care about the people they represent because they're so caught up in themselves. They're more committed to fighting each other than to anything else. People are suffering and bearing the brunt of an unfair system, caught in a cycle of disadvantage, and the Liberal-National coalition has no interest in breaking that cycle.
The PRESIDENT: The question is that the motion, as moved by Senators Faruqi, be agreed to.