Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I raise an issue of importance to local neighbourhood centres, which provide vital social welfare services in my electorate and indeed in communities around Australia. I should point out that neighbourhood centres—or neighbourhood houses and learning centres, as they are known in other states—provide a range of community development activities and social welfare support in response to their communities. In Page there are neighbourhood centres in Lismore, Casino, Evans Head and South Grafton. Each centre runs a broad range of programs addressing local community needs including those for young people, Aboriginal youth, aged care, disabilities, child sexual assault, early intervention, child care and much more.

Neighbourhood centres are non-profit organisations managed by voluntary committees and operated by part-time staff and volunteers. Most rely on a mix of government funding and fundraising or fee-for-service programs. Unfortunately, most neighbourhood centres are restricted in their access to other possible streams of income because they are not eligible for deductible gift recipient status under the tax legislation. To be eligible for DGR status a welfare agency needs to correctly fit the definition of a public benevolent institution, although that status does not guarantee that they will get DGR. The definition of a ‘public benevolent institution’ is that it exists for the relief of poverty, sickness, suffering, distress, misfortune, destitution or helplessness, but this does not allow for activities which are preventative in nature—that is, which prevent people from becoming destitute or which give them more weight than the public benevolent institution definition.

I wish to speak in support of the proposal put forward by the Association of Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres, ANHLC, that the charity tax laws recognise preventative approaches to addressing disadvantage. The main advantage of DGR status for neighbourhood centres is that some corporate and philanthropic donors will only provide funding to organisations that have DGR status. At present only seven per cent of neighbourhood centres qualify for this.

I believe strongly in the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; so it is with neighbourhood centres. Their services include programs that build resilient communities and help people avoid social exclusion. I commend the work of the neighbourhood centres in my electorate and their dedicated local managers: Noeline Olive at Casino, Paul Cruickshank at Lismore, Gretchen Young at the Mid Richmond Neighbourhood Centre and Skye Sears at the South Grafton neighbourhood house. Although I cannot mention them all by name, I also want to acknowledge the work of the employees, volunteers and voluntary board members who keep these vibrant and vital community service centres operating and help to build resilient communities.