One Nation candidate for Ovens Valley James Rouel has backed his party’s new Victorian homelessness policy, drawing on his own experiences over the past five years of helping to find food for people living in parks, cars and the bush. Mr Rouel said One Nation’s policy would: • expand crisis, transitional and temporary accommodation, with dedicated beds in every region, including for women and children escaping family violence. • trial land tax exemptions for willing owners who lease properties, including short-stay homes, to the state or community housing providers for 12-month tenancies. • fund a statewide By-Name List to connect people experiencing homelessness with an offer of housing and support. • trial employer incentives, including wage subsidies or payroll tax offsets, for hiring people on that list, and create entry-level state government jobs for people leaving homelessness. The policy also proposes enforcing public-space rules and move-on powers, but only after outreach workers have offered a place Mr Rouel said his priority for Wangaratta, Yarrawonga, Cobram, Myrtleford and Bright was access to housing that kept people connected to work, school and support networks. He acknowledged the 44-home social housing development completed in Wangaratta in February 2025, but said the continuing need reported by frontline services demanded further action. In July, Beyond Housing reported supporting more than 400 people who were sleeping rough over the previous 12 months across its Goulburn and Ovens Murray service area. It called for more crisis accommodation and a sustained increase in social housing.
