By Gemma Byrne and Julia Perkins
PERTH — A Liberal state government proposal involves ending funding of all peak bodies in the welfare sector by June 30. They must then tender "expressions of interest" for new funds (up to a maximum of $50,000).
The organisations affected are the Council for Homeless People, the Youth Affairs Council of WA (YACWA) and the peak body for women's refuges, Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP). The WA Council of Social Services (WACOSS) is the only peak body guaranteed re-funding, although at the dramatically reduced level of around $100,000 — enough for one full-time staff member and one computer. WACOSS was already operating in very under-resourced conditions.
The plan reveals a lack of understanding of the crucial role played by the peak bodies in the identification of community needs and service delivery. With significantly reduced funds, WACOSS, for example, will not be able to initiate or act on proper community consultation; all of its resources will be consumed by responding to government requests.
The historically very limited consultation process between government and the welfare sector will be reduced even further under the new arrangements.
The government's proposal includes a plan to amalgamate the four peak bodies. These represent different client groups with very different issues and concerns. Their right to be appropriately represented and consulted, and to participate in decision-making about services which affect their lives, will be destroyed.
The YACWA is currently the only peak body representing WA youth at a federal level. A youth work lecturer at Edith Cowan University points out, "Young people do not have the vote, they are not organised ... their voice is heard through youth workers. The youth field is a crucial source of information regarding problem areas and effective strategies to deal with them." Despite this, the government proposal could end YACWA.
SAAP-funded services were originally established in a framework which emphasised prevention rather than intervention. Without sufficient resources to assess client needs, then develop and implement appropriate programs, prevention becomes impossible.
SAAP services used to cover the three distinct areas of young people, domestic violence and another "general" needs category. SAAP will now cover only "youth and family" and domestic violence.
Past experience indicates that the amalgamation of "youth and family" services means a decline in quality of service for both groups, as youth services (residential services in particular) have to restructure to accommodate whole families in addition to young people on their own.
Furthermore, with the state government already reviewing the funding of five women's refuges, it is questionable just how seriously domestic violence (and all the related issues) will be taken.
These changes have a divisive effect in the welfare sector, increasing inter-service competition for resources. Yet it is crucial that those of us working in the sector work together, networking and raising our voices against the devastating effects of governments' economic rationalist policies.
A public campaign is being conducted in WA to address these concerns. The "Community Voice Campaign" aims to apply pressure on the minister for community development to force him to "withdraw his current plans to change the funding arrangements for peak community organisations; negotiate with the non-government welfare sector to develop a new funding formula ... [and] acknowledge that the peak community organisations must have the freedom to represent their members' views on public policy".
The Richard Court government is also proposing to abolish the only major drug and alcohol support program in WA and has announced increases in all public transport fares. WACOSS points out that the fare increase discriminates against low income people who cannot afford private vehicles, in particular those living in the low-income outer suburbs of Perth.
In the face of the Liberal attacks, it is tempting to believe that an ALP government would be more considerate of the needs of disadvantaged people and the concerns of the welfare sector. It became clear with the May federal budget, however, that Labor is no better.
The budget scrapped the national Job Placement and Employment and Training Scheme. Australia still has one of the highest youth unemployment rates among developed countries, yet the federal government has just abolished one of the major job placement and training schemes.
The average Australian has nothing to gain from either major party. Neither has the community sector, which is not even consulted as important programs and services are abolished. As state and federal parliamentarians play life-size chess with real people, we can expect this society, once described as the "lucky country", to deteriorate into the same kind of social and economic despair that characterise Britain and North America today.
There is no hope unless we stand up and protest, firstly as different sectors — students, women, workers, environmentalists — then all together as one vocal, informed and determined force. Our future depends on it.