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In the lead up to the WA State Election, Anglicare WA is advocating for ‘A Fair Life’ through the following four election priorities to encourage ‘A Better WA’ for all:
1. Affordable cost of living
2. Housing
3. Freedom from domestic violence and abuse
4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recognition and justice
This week we share two recent developments in alignment with our advocacy priorities ‘Affordable cost of living’ and ‘Housing’.
Advocating for affordable cost of living
In the wake of surging numbers of West Australians needing assistance to get by, Anglicare WA CEO Mark Glasson appeared in The Sunday Times and other Perth media to advocate for urgent cost of living reforms from State government.
According to data from the Financial Wellbeing Collective (FWC), a record number of West Australians are accessing emergency relief for food and other costs due to huge hikes in living expenses. And in a worrying development, a growing number of them are people in secure employment.
In January, the FWC’s emergency food and access service saw an 87 per cent increase in calls for help compared to three years ago, with 90 per cent of people seeking assistance citing cost of living as the reason they needed help.
Furthermore, the service saw a 225 per cent increase in employed clients accessing emergency relief over the last four Januarys, underscoring the fact that paid employment is not a guarantee against being in poverty.
Housing stress is also a factor, with private renters and homeowners with mortgages accounting for 41 per cent and 11 per cent of calls respectively.
While the State government has made some positive moves to address the issue with their recent cost-of-living measures, Mr. Glasson called on Government to do more by increasing the scale and pace of change and providing better concessions.
“The problem we have is the scale of the issue that we’re facing, and the response isn’t meeting the scale.”
“We need to look at better concessions, giving people relief from utilities and other bills, registrations, licences. We need to see a continuation of the Rent Relief scheme. We know that works.”
To learn more about our cost-of-living election priorities, please click here.
Anglicare WA attends Shelter WA housing forum
On the evening of Tuesday 4 February, we attended Shelter WA’s State Election Forum on housing and homelessness.
Held at the State Library Theatre, the event brought together candidates from the major political parties in a moderated discussion to query how they each plan to tackle WA’s housing crisis and ensure safe and affordable homes for our state’s most vulnerable people.
The following speakers were given time to make an opening statement outlining their vision on how to boost social and affordable housing and end homelessness in WA:
Hon. John Carey MLA, Minister for Planning; Lands; Housing; Homelessness (Australian Labor Party)
Shane Love MLA (The Nationals WA)
Hon. Steve Martin MLC (Liberal Party)
Hon. Dr. Brad Pettitt MLC (Greens WA)
This was followed by a Q&A session led by ABC journalist and Mornings Program presenter, Nadia Mitsopoulos, who questioned speakers on their policy platforms and took questions from the audience.
The event was a welcome opportunity to discuss what is a defining election issue and gain insight into the different candidates’ priorities for working in partnership with our sector post-election.
There was a lot of focus on housing supply, infrastructure, and statistics, but what was missing from the discussion was the meaning of having a home, housing as a human right, and long-term planning.
That is why Anglicare WA will continue to advocate for safe, secure, and long-term affordable housing for all Western Australians.
To learn more about our housing election priorities, please click here.
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