Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the devastating closure of Holroyd Community Aid, a well-known and respected organisation in our community. I am proud to be presenting this petition approved by the Petitions Committee on behalf of the team at Holroyd Community Aid and would like to thank all the volunteers and local community members who have signed this petition.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of Holroyd Community Aid Inc. draws to the attention of the House of Representatives Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600

We therefore ask the House to: have Holroyd Community Aid Inc's Emergency Relief grant under the Families and Communities Programme reinstated.

from 1,422 citizens

Petition received.

by leave—I also have an extra 135 signatures gathered online and in person which I table as a document. That is 1,557 members of our community who have said they want Holroyd Community Aid to stay. That is 1,557 people who support and know the good work that Holroyd Community Aid do with some of the most disadvantaged in our community.

They have been open for almost 50 years providing emergency relief to almost one million locals who have experienced times of hardship. They are there for those who need a little bit of help to get by until their next pay cheque or while they are getting back on their feet after illness or being out of work. Just before Christmas a letter was sent from the Department of Social Services, advising Holroyd Community Aid that they had lost their funding from the Department of Social Services discretionary grants program. I cannot express the anger and disappointment Holroyd Community Aid felt when they received notice of the cut after they returned from the Christmas holiday break. Narelle Morris, the Holroyd Community Aid manager, told me that it was a rude shock to return from a holiday to find out that they had mere months—until the end of March—to close up shop.

It is only around $186,000 to run this service, yet they are able to help thousands. They run exclusively with the assistance of a network of volunteers, and their only admin costs are the costs of their annual audit. Holroyd Community Aid provides a range of essential emergency relief services that many locals rely on, including: food and electricity vouchers, nappies, money for medication and transport tickets. They provide these little things that take the pressure off in the hardest of times.

Over the years Holroyd Community Aid has done its best to serve our community, and they have shared some extraordinary stories with me. A homeless woman who was a victim of domestic violence was referred to the service, Holroyd Community Aid was able to help her with the purchase of a washing machine and a fridge. Two local refugees were sharing a flat and one of them had their payments cut. Holroyd Community Aid was there to help them with their electricity and water bills when they received the final notices. These are just two of the stories that show the real and tangible effect Holroyd Community Aid has on our community.

What is troubling is that now the service has nowhere to send their clients. After months of secrecy, we finally found out who won the grants; sadly, our service providers have been given no information on how to refer their clients on. Remember that Holroyd Community Aid shuts its doors on 31 March. People in our community trying to get by day by day cannot wait around to find out where they will be able to get the help they need on 1 April.

The list came from the department without addresses, contact details, referral information or information about the services each new organisation will provide. On top of this, only two of the six organisations awarded funding are locally based organisations. Holroyd Community Aid had to phone the state organisations and were unable to find out who or where or when these organisations would be providing services in the Parramatta region. And yet our current emergency relief providers shut their doors in around seven days time.

The community has spoken. They have said that Holroyd Community Aid deserves to stay. Without their government grant, they will be unable to stay open. I would like to thank Narelle Morris for her years of work with Holroyd Community Aid. I would also like to thank Selina for her hard work with the organisation and the many volunteers who spend their afternoons in the op-shop or speaking with clients.

I would also like to acknowledge the support of the local council, Holroyd Council, and its mayor, Councillor Greg Cummings, in supporting the organisation. I would like to acknowledge a good friend of mine, Ken Wildy, for his extraordinary help in putting the petition together.

This is a cruel cut that will hit the poor and disadvantaged in our community the hardest. I would ask the government to listen to our community and reverse their cuts to emergency relief services.