Ms Niamh Randall:

I thank the committee, particularly Senator Black, for supporting our appearance before it today. I shall recap on a few of the critical points. If the members take anything from this meeting, it should be about access to affordable housing. It is a matter of the success of the Housing First model. It really makes a fundamental difference to people's lives. Providing permanent housing as quickly as possible with the appropriate support is the key way to address homelessness. We really need to make sure that happens in the longer term.

We also need to ensure that we have urban and rural responses. Ms Reddy spoke a little about that. It is important to have a nationally implemented policy that is delivered locally in every region and community. This makes a real difference. We absolutely welcome pilot projects and innovative responses in terms of looking at different ways of doing things. It is critical, however, that we can mainstream rather than just running a pilot scheme and shutting it down and starting something new. The mainstreaming of pilots is critical.