Strange bedfellows: Greens, conservatives team up in hopes of WA Labor's first upper house defeat in five years
Western Australia's Labor government could lose its first vote in the upper house in more than five years this afternoon, with the Greens and conservative opposition teaming up to force a response to a two-year-old homelessness report.
Greens homelessness spokesman Tim Clifford will move a motion in parliament this afternoon calling on the Cook government to report back on the recommendations of the Funding of Homelessness Services in Western Australia report handed down by an upper house committee in June 2023.
Clifford will also call on the Cook government to recommit to ending homelessness with corresponding funding.
Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, Liberal MLC Nick Gorian, confirmed his team would support the Greens' motion, which would give it the numbers to pass after Labor lost its majority in the house at the March 8 poll.
If Labor doesn't support the motion, it will be the first time the party has lost a vote in either house since before the 2021 election. Labor's leader of the Upper House Stephen Dawson would not be drawn on the party's position.
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The report made 57 recommendations aimed at improving the state's response to homelessness, including better funding and better-tailored services.
Only three of those were not supported, with most recommendations supported or supported in-principle.
The government has not yet reported back on the implementation of the recommendations it supported.
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