Sunday 1st June 2008

MEDIA RELEASE
WA Parliament Talk up Unity!

HON SHELLEY ARCHER (Mining and Pastoral) [10.17 pm]: During our last sitting, I spoke about youth homelessness and the problems being encountered by Indigenous youth in rural and remote regions.

Tonight, I want to speak about a long-term care program being delivered by Unity Foundation in Melbourne that has achieved great success in supporting Indigenous youth to reconnect with their families, their country and society.

Unity Foundation is a not-for-profit, Melbourne-based organisation that was founded in 2006 following the community work of Xavier Clarke, Allan Murray and Peter King. It focuses on empowering Indigenous youth to achieve their dreams, goals and ambitions. The programs delivered by Unity Foundation include homelessness, programs, reinforcing healthy eating habits and the benefits of physical activity, and decision-making programs for youth in secondary schools, as well as individual support for Indigenous people in academic development, vocational training and job placement programs.

As stated in the report of the National Youth Commission Inquiry into Youth Homelessness, .Australia's Homeless Youth., there is clear evidence that homelessness among Indigenous youth is disproportionate to the number of Indigenous young people. For example, Indigenous youth comprise two per cent of the Australian population. However, they comprise 17 per cent of supported accommodation assistance program clients. The inquiry also noted that although homeless Indigenous youth face the same problems as non-Indigenous youth, they also experience more frequent problems with the justice system, accessing services, keeping in good health, educational disadvantage, unemployment, and unsuitable housing stock.

Unity Foundation provides a long-term care program designed to support at-risk Indigenous youth between the ages of 12 and 22 years in all dimensions of their lives. The program is underpinned by a commitment to cultural, community and family values. Recognising the specific problems of Indigenous youth homelessness in Victoria, Unity Foundation secured two homes from which it runs a homelessness program. Each home operates 24 hours a day and can house up to six young people, plus a primary carer and a support carer. Participants in the program are encouraged to make a two-year commitment to the program and are given support to attend school, technical and further education or university, or to obtain work, depending on their individual circumstances. Participants are also provided with health education and life skill programs that are underpinned by the principles and practices of dialectical behaviour therapy. Importantly, each of the homes is supported by elders from the local Indigenous community. The program has resulted in positive outcomes for Indigenous youth and is regarded as a relatively inexpensive model. Informal reviews have found that all the participants have reconnected with their families and are in either education or work, and that none of the participants has had any contact with the justice system since beginning the program. The program is thought to be the only one of its kind in Australia, and it reports high levels of interest from Indigenous communities throughout Australia.

The Unity Foundation homelessness program is a model that could be adapted and delivered, with the support of local communities, in an attempt to address the problem of Indigenous youth homelessness in regional and remote communities within my electorate. I believe that if the government included a program of this nature in future planning processes for youth homelessness in regional and remote locations, it would be of significant benefit to the Indigenous people of my electorate. I commend this program to the house and urge the state government to seriously undertake implementation of this strategy as soon as possible. I also commend the work of Unity Foundation, and I hope that its efforts to secure funding for a third facility will be successful.

Source: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/hansard/hans35.nsf/(ATT)/2A5EEC635AD77CEF4825744400249450/$file/C37%2BS1%2B20080506%2Bp2359b-2364a.pdf

Media Contacts

Peter King, CEO                                                                           Allan Murray, Director
peterk@unityfoundation.org.au                                                 allanm@unityfoundation.org.au

Unity Foundation
PO Box 250
St.Kilda Vic 3182
Tel: 03 9593 6259
Fax: 03 9593 6267