I rise today to speak about Raise our Voice Australia's Youth Voice in Parliament project, where young people under 21 from all around the country have sent a 90-second speech for their local MP to read in parliament. We have had over 40 members of the House of Representatives participate in this and heard some fantastic speeches from young people. I want to commend everyone that sent me a speech. It was really hard to make a decision, with some really brilliant, thoughtful and thought-provoking submissions from young people in my electorate, many of which I would like to draw attention to in social media over the coming weeks. The speech that I have chosen is by Nick Barker in my electorate, and he has written about youth homelessness. This is his speech.

'My name is Nick. I'm 18, from the Canberra electorate, and I am a former homeless youth. In 20 years, I hope that not one Australian youth has to wonder: "Where will I sleep tonight?" Unfortunately, too many youth right now are thinking that exact question, and it is also something I had to ask for over a year. No-one should have ever have to ask something so basic, so fundamental, let alone a youth. In 2016 the census reported that 27,680 young people aged 12 to 24 were homeless. There is no excuse for why that number of youth are currently experiencing homelessness. The thing that upsets me even more is how well our cities can hide these Australians. Take this statistic from the Salvation Army: for every homeless person you see on the streets, there are 13 other homeless people you don't see. The pathway to end homelessness won't be easy. It will involve more funding, more NGOs, more youth workers and overall more care for the tens of thousands of youth each and every night that face homelessness. But I truly believe that with these steps, and more, in 20 years no-one else like me will ever have to wonder: where will I sleep tonight?'

Thank you, Nick, for this brilliant speech. This is an incredibly important issue. I agree with Nick that it starts with the care from government about this issue. We can fix this. A country like Australia has no reason to have not only people sleeping on the streets but also people in unstable accommodation and without the permanent housing they need to build their lives and their future—let alone youth, as Nick says. More than 116,000 people are homeless in Australia according to the 2016 census, and this number is expected to rise due to recent events. We have already announced policies that an Albanese Labor government would adopt to address the housing crisis and the homelessness crisis in Australia.