Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to express concern on behalf of the not-for-profit community service organisations in the electorate of McEwen regarding the atrocious and appalling mismanagement of the allocation of grant funding by the Department of Social Services. Australia's charities and the not-for-profit sector are the backbone of Australia's community life. Thousands of volunteer groups are amongst these groups and contribute around $200 billion to the Australian economy. Earlier this year, the Abbott-Turnbull government savagely cut $270 million from discretionary grant funding, with no warning of the impending and disastrous change. There was no consultation with the not-for-profits and other community service organisations, who are some of the department's key stakeholders.

To make matters worse—which is becoming the hallmark of this government—changes to the application and assessment process for grants were rushed in. Again, there was no consultation with affected stakeholders, but it left a trail of uncertainty and chaos in its wake. There were 5,500 community service organisations who applied for funding in the 2014-15 grants round. These organisations were competing against each other for access to funding of $800 million. Based on the application process, the department estimated that the total amount of funding being sought by these organisations was $3.9 billion. Clearly there is a shortfall in funding community organisations. The community service sector are vital, and they are finding themselves almost squeezed out of existence.

Who do people turn to when they are at their most vulnerable? It is these organisations that provide vital services, such as emergency accommodation, financial counselling and family relationships services—including providing refuge for women and children escaping domestic violence. The Craigieburn Salvation Army and Lentara UnitingCare have spoken out about how the grant cuts have hurt the community. The Salvation Army's funding has been cut by 33 per cent and Lentara's has been cut by 30 per cent. Captain Brookshaw of the Craigieburn Salvation Army was quoted in the local Leader paper as saying that the Abbott-Turnbull government is:

… winding back a lot of support they give to not-for-profits that we can pass on to support people,” …

“With the government trying to roll back … I think we’re in danger of forgetting people in need.

“There are people with such complex issues — it’s not (as simple as) throwing money into work for the dole.

“Those that are low income and those that are struggling — Christmas is just as meaningful to them as anyone else.”

As we do get closer to Christmas, when families come together and celebrate, when a lot of things in our community get just that little bit more expensive—things like petrol in the holidays, for example—we need to think about the people in our communities that are doing it tough and rally to support those in need.

Labor has called on the Auditor-General to investigate the government's mismanagement of community grants so that the Department of Social Services can try and rebuild trust with the community services sector. This is likely to be a long-running saga, as the current Minister for Social Services continues to act like the Grinch that stole Christmas with his savage cuts across the portfolio. (Time expired)