VOLUNTEERING TASMANIA FACES FUNDING CUTS BECAUSE OF ABBOTT GOVERNMENT’S DISASTROUS MISMANAGEME

Members of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee this week heard evidence that the community services sector remains in chaos because of the Abbott Government’s incompetence.

The Committee heard that an interstate organisation has been funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS) to deliver services to the state ahead of a local peak body.

Volunteering Tasmania, which has a long history of localised experience and knowledge, has only received funds to deliver services to Greater Hobart, Brighton, Sorell, Ulverstone, Devonport and Burnie.

The grant for the remainder of the state has been given to a Queensland-based consortium with no history of community connections in Tasmania, and very limited local knowledge, obtained only through their recent association with an organisation whose core business is disability and community support.

Committee member and Tasmanian Labor Senator Catryna Bilyk said the situation was bizarre.

“Why the Abbott Government thinks it’s appropriate to fund an organisation based thousands of kilometres away ahead of a Tasmanian organisation with a long history of localised knowledge and experience is beyond me,” Senator Bilyk said.

“This decision will remove a wealth of local knowledge from the volunteer sector and will lead to fragmented service delivery across the state.”

Addressing the hearing, Chief Executive Officer of Volunteering Tasmania, Adrienne Picone, described the situation as “a most unusual set of circumstances”.

Ms Picone told the hearing that no-one in DSS had been able to explain the rationale for the decision and Volunteering Tasmania was “really at a loss to understand the logic behind this decision.”

Senator Bilyk said that Social Services Minister Scott Morrison owes the sector an explanation for the Government’s disastrous mismanagement and brutal cuts.

“The Minister must come clean and explain to Tasmania’s 400,000 volunteers why he thinks they are not all entitled to service from their state’s peak body for volunteering,” Senator Bilyk said.

“He must also immediately restore full funding to Volunteering Tasmania.”

Other concerns highlighted at Tuesday’s hearing included:

• The impact of the Abbott Government’s savage cuts of $270 million without warning from vital services that support our most vulnerable families and children;
• Poor communication from DSS to grant applicants, including difficulty locating information on the DSS website;
• Program descriptions were unclear, making it difficult for organisations to target tenders confidently; and
• Short timeframes for notifying grant applicants of decisions, making it difficult for organisations to strategically plan or provide certainty to their staff about their ongoing employment.

“Clearly the Abbott Government’s new tender process is seriously flawed and has been overwhelmingly rejected by the community sector across Australia,” Senator Bilyk said.
SENATOR CATRYNA BILYK DEPUTY OPPOSITION WHIP IN THE SENATE SENATOR FOR TASMANIA