YOUTH HOMELESSNESS

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (14:27): My question is to the Minister for Youth. How is the government improving the delivery of service and support for young people who are homeless?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers, Minister Assisting the Premier in Social Inclusion) (14:27): I thank the member for Taylor and acknowledge her commitment to the young people in her electorate in particular. I thank her for this very important question today, given that today is Youth Homelessness Matters Day, a key event on the National Youth Week calendar.

We know that young people who are homeless are amongst the most disadvantaged, the most marginalised and the most vulnerable groups in our community, but we also know that, if young people are properly and adequately supported when they first experience homelessness, they have a much greater chance of breaking the cycle to avoid remaining homeless in their adult lives.

This government has a very important commitment to improving services and support for young people experiencing homelessness. That is why I was delighted today to launch new Good Practice Guidelines for Supporting Young People Who Are Homeless. These guidelines are a key action from the state government's youthconnect youth policy, which I was pleased to release in November last year.

The guidelines provide direction for youth sector organisations to drive best practice in aspects of service delivery, including things like ensuring a secure and welcoming environment; allowing young people to be involved in the case management process; making healthy and nutritious food available; providing opportunities for physical activities; where appropriate, facilitating re-engagement with families, parents, carers and significant others; and providing non-judgemental and culturally appropriate services.

Extensive consultation was undertaken to ensure that the guidelines reflect, in fact, what young people really need. They have been designed with a particular focus on young people with disabilities or a mental health issue, Aboriginal young people and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

At the launch today I was also pleased to present a cheque for $30,000 through the Back on Track grant to the Ladder St Vincent project in Port Adelaide, an initiative that the Minister for Housing has spoken about in this place. This grant will be used to provide targeted support for the young residents of the Ladder St Vincent project to address barriers they face in actively taking up education, employment and skill development opportunities. Through these grants each resident can have a targeted package of support put in place to assist them in getting their lives back on track. In closing, we anticipate—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —that through the adoption—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There's too much background noise. Minister.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —of good policy and targeted support for young people who experience homelessness they will do so for only a very short period of time, with a suitable solution found quickly and prevention strategies put in place by the service delivery sector.