Premier: We need a plan
Accommodation lacking as Far Northern regions rate among highest in nation for need of social housing
A THREE-POINT battle plan to kickstart a starving Cairns economy has been posed to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Border closures to NSW and ACT have left FNQ with only a speck of interstate tourist trade drip-fed from South Australia.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Sally Mlikota said fasttracking two important projects and introducing support measures were crucial.
The plea comes as a PNG mine employing Cairns-based FIFO workers is shut down after seven local workers tested positive to COVID-19.
A SINGLE father who has been left homeless and forced to live in his car with his two young children has travelled to the Far North in a desperate move to find work and accommodation.
Former Julatten resident Wayne Davison recently owned a treelopping business near Kingaroy and then a pie van before going bust due to the struggle of finding workers.
As a result, he is now homeless and has returned to the Far North desperate to create a better life for his two young children, Ace, 7, and Emme, 3.
“(Emme) says ‘I want to go home’ – it breaks by heart,” Mr Davison said.
“I imagine back to the Great Depression when they had no work, they had no food and I know exactly how they felt.
“We’re sleeping in the car … I want a better life for my kids.
“My son hasn’t been to school for a while. He missed out on pretty much a term due to COVID and now we can’t find accommodation.”
Mr Davison said he’d spent the past week driving across Cairns and the Tablelands trying to find work and accommodation but had not been successful.
He said he and his children had been staying at a local homeless shelter for $60 a night, but with such limited funds, he couldn’t afford to stay there any longer.
“I’ve been held back by the lack to housing up here and welfare groups sending me on a wild goose chase,” he said.
“I’m prepared to work … my issue is we need a place to stay.
“I went up to Atherton looking for work; I’m happy to do anything.”
New data shows that Mr Davison’s situation is more common than some may think, with Far North Queensland ranked as the state’s worst-affected area for homelessness and social housing need.
Queensland Mental Health Commissioner Ivan Frkovic said homelessness was a “multi-faceted community problem”.
“It’s not just as simple as providing a place to stay,” he said.
“It’s got to be remembered, particularly during the economic stresses of the pandemic, that anyone can be vulnerable to homelessness,” he said. “A range of complex issues can lead to homelessness, including unemployment, poverty, mental illness, disability, ill health, relationship breakdown, trauma and family violence, and drug and alcohol issues.
“The system needs a wider safety net to catch and support people and families early, before they fall into housing vulnerability or a long-term pattern of homelessness.”
The federal electorate of Leichardt has been ranked the fifth-highest in need for social housing in the country, with a shortfall of 5300 social housing homes for people on low incomes.
The Kennedy electorate has also been identified as one of the country’s top 20 for social housing need.
IT’S GOT TO BE REMEMBERED, PARTICULARLY DURING THE ECONOMIC STRESSES OF THE PANDEMIC, THAT ANYONE CAN BE VULNERABLE TO HOMELESSNESS QUEENSLAND MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSIONER IVAN FRKOVIC