Former Melburnian of the Year and outspoken homelessness advocate Brendan Nottle is marching 700km from Melbourne to Canberra to make the country's political leaders take notice.
The Salvation Army Major left the charity's Bourke Street base on Friday morning joined by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Greens MP Adam Bandt, an escort of police, firefighters and a cheering crowd.
"Basically we've got to the point of severe frustration," Major Nottle told reporters before his journey.
"We work really hard to get a person off the street, (but) very quickly their place is filled by somebody else."
Major Nottle said it is "unbelievable" a wealthy nation like Australia does not have a bi-partisan, long term national plan to resolve the issue.
"I am thinking 'what have I done', I woke up during the night and I have done for a number of nights thinking 'what on earth have I done'," he said.
"But then I talk to people that are living on the streets, talk to people that come to our centre here on Bourke Street and think I've got no choice, their voice has to be heard in the corridors of power in Canberra."
Mr Shorten said it reflected a national failure that Major Nottle was having to do such an extreme demonstration, but one person can make a change.
Major Nottle was named Melburnian of the Year in 2013 and as the Salvation Army's Melbourne commanding officer, he has spent years helping the less fortunate, particularly vulnerable wards of the state and homeless youths.
His 700km walk is expected to take about 40 days and he will stop off regional towns along the way to talk about people's experiences with homelessness outside of major cities.
