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Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

'Which Way Home? A New Approach to Homelessness'

The Australian Government Green Paper on Homelessness


Submissions have now closed - 5pm (EST), Friday, 27 June 2008.

On 22 May 2008, the Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP released the Government's Green Paper, 'Which Way Home? A New Approach to Homelessness'. The Green Paper aims to promote public discussion on homelessness, highlight the challenges faced by people who are homeless and suggest ways forward.


The Minister for Housing, Tanya Plibersek invited public discussion on homelessness and written contributions to inform the development of the White Paper to be released in September 2008. The White Paper will set out the Government's national plan of action in this area to 2020.

The Green Paper is available as a full report or summary (which provides an overview of the options).

Consultation forums

City Dates
Perth 28 May
Karratha 29 May
Townsville 4 June
Darwin 6 June
Brisbane 10 June
Sydney 11 June
Melbourne 12 June
Canberra 13 June
Lismore 16 June
Hobart 17 June
Adelaide 19 June
Albury - Wodonga 20 June
Alice Springs 23 June
The consultation forums ran for 2 hours. The Department provided a short overview of the Green Paper followed by a facilitated open discussion on the future directions and solutions to addressing homelessness to 2020. The discussion centred around the targets, goals and principles for change, business and community involvement and options for reform of the homelessness service model.

Written submissions

Submissions have now closed - 5:00pm (EST) Friday, 27 June 2008.

During the public consultation process, the Government confirmed that the written submissions would be publicly available unless identified as confidential by the individual or organisation. The Government received almost 600 written submissions both on-line through the website and hardcopy by email or mail.

For on-line submissions, the individual and organisation agreed to the submission being publicly released or requested that it remain confidential. A list of individuals and organisations that made online submissions is below.

For the hardcopy submissions, individuals and organisations have not specifically agreed to the public release of their submission. To maintain confidentiality, submissions will only be published on the website on confirmation from the individual or organisation that you consent to your submission being publicly available. Individuals and organisations will be contacted shortly to confirm the agreement to publicly release hardcopy submissions. Once consent has been obtained, submissions will be listed below.

To enable timely access to the submissions and conform to legislative guidelines, the department will be sending the submission(s) in hardcopy. To get a copy of a submission(s) please call 1800 774 055.

Green Paper development

To oversee the development of the new approach, an expert steering group was appointed by the Prime Minister, chaired by Tony Nicholson, Executive Director, Brotherhood of St Lawrence, and assisted by Heather Nancarrow, Director Queensland Centre for Domestic and Family Violence, and Anna Buduls, company director and philanthropist.

To inform the development of the Green Paper, Homelessness Australia hosted a Homelessness Roundtable on 28 March 2008. Over 100 stakeholders attended from a variety of organisations and covering all States and Territories. They included peak homeless, health, social housing, youth and welfare agencies, homeless service providers, state, territory and local government agencies, academics and Indigenous organisations. The discussion provided valuable ideas and innovative approaches for inclusion in the Green Paper.