Turnbull Government won’t guarantee funding for volunteers

The Turnbull Government has put critical volunteer management and support services at risk in our local communities, by refusing to commit to funding under the Volunteer Management Program.

This was confirmed in Senate Estimates last month, and has thrown volunteer management services into uncertainty. .

Senator Louise Pratt, Labor’s Shadow Assistant Minister for Families and Communities said “I am very concerned that the government will not commit to funding for volunteer management services. These organisations provide vital support to community services that rely on their volunteers – from universities, to community sporting groups, to disability and aged care services, to emergency response and more.”

The Turnbull Government and Minister Christian Porter are conducting a redesign of the Strengthening Communities programme, which provides the only source of Federal funding for volunteer management and support services. Under the current proposal, volunteer support organisations will no longer have a dedicated funding stream, and will be required to compete with service providers for scarce funding.

Ross Hart recently met with Lifelink Samaritans to discuss how important the efforts of volunteers are to the local community.
“Without Federal funding Volunteering Tas will no longer be able to support local organisations to recruit, train and support volunteers. This will have a terrible impact on our community, including supplies of volunteer counsellors to Lifelink Samaritans.”

To find out more about Volunteering Australia’s campaign, go to www.volunteeringaustralia.org
ROSS HART MP FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BASS, SENATOR LOUISE PRATT ASSISTANT SHADOW MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND COMMMUNITIES