Homelessness

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:47): Supplementary question following from that answer: is the minister suggesting that if you are a homeless Aboriginal person and you can't be assisted in Return to Country because you are in the CBD and therefore you are not covered by the contracts provided there, that you have to travel to another geographical zone to get help? Shouldn't the task force actually be targeted at making sure that does not have to happen and the person can just get the Return to Country help in the CBD area?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:48): I am not sure how the honourable member drew that conclusion at all from what I said. What we are doing is working with community to identify different cohorts and different solutions to those particular cohorts. I think anybody who has anything to do with this area of public policy acknowledges that it can be quite complex and therefore we are grateful that the elders particularly have been advising the government in this regard.