By SAT News Desk
MELBOURNE,12 August 2020: The Victoria Legislative Council’s Legal and Social Issues Committee today continued its inquiry into homelessness in Victoria holding an online hearing with mental health and legal specialists.
The online hearing was broadcast live on the Victorian Parliament’s website in the morning. Two panel discussions took place.
The first in the morning will be with mental health service provider Mind
Australia and the Victorian Branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.
Questions were asked to the panelists by Fiona Patten, Chair, Tien Kieu, Deputy Chair, Kaushaliya Vaghela MP Legislative Council, Western Metropolitan Region, Tania Maxwell, member and Wendy Lovell, Member among others.
On a question by Kaushaliya Vaghela, it came out that social housing should be the priority no. one, mental health, Drug/Alcohol Use, and housing should be coordinated.
Kaushaliya Vaghela MP at the hearing.
Dr. Brian Vandenberg, Health Economist from the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, answering to a question said, research on gambling and homelessness shows, the connection of poverty, and loneliness behind it. So, it is a complex challenge which, he thought, needs to be addressed.
The second in the afternoon was with Magistrate Pauline Spencer, Head of the Specialist Courts Division at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, and representatives from the Victorian Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (VACRO).
Also presenting at the online hearing was be Dr. Brian Vandenberg, Health Economist from the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, as well as Anglicare Victoria and the Office of the Public Advocate.
Last week the Committee presented an interim report to Parliament on the inquiry and published an interactive dashboard that shows who has engaged with the inquiry and what issues are most important to them.
This and upcoming hearings are likely to enable the Committee to explore in-depth some of the factors behind homelessness and what can be done to solve the problems that are arising.
