The Liberal Government must explain why it did not go to tender or even consult with its own workforce before awarding a contract for family violence counselling to CatholicCare.
Shadow Human Services Minister Rebecca White said the actions of the Government had been exposed in a Tasmanian Industrial Commission ruling.
“The Industrial Commission has ordered the Government to consult with workers within the Family Violence Counselling and Support Service who have been treated appallingly,” Ms White said.
“The counselling and support service is chronically under resourced and has a backlog of cases which the Commission has said is at “crisis proportions.”
“Instead of investing much needed funds into this service, the Government has instead chosen to outsource to CatholicCare without a tender.
“Jacquie Petrusma’s claim that this decision was taken to “deliver more services sooner” has been exposed by the Commission as a sham, given that the funding was announced way back in August.
Industrial Commission President Tim Abey said: “Given the time lapse since this announcement, I find it surprising and regrettable that the engagement of the external provider has occurred, at the direction of the Government, in a time frame which apparently precluded an appropriate consultative process.”
“The Minister must explain whether an exemption was granted from the Treasurer’s Instructions before the decision was made not to go to tender,” Ms White said.
Rebecca White MP Shadow Human Services Minister
