Page 787 - Week 02 - Thursday, 12 February 2009
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security and ability to plan into the future. This will assist in providing long-term sustainability to the community sector and therefore increased support to vulnerable Canberrans in the future. The ACT government has replaced the CPI based method of community sector funding with an 80 to 20 wage cost CPI indexation method. This more accurately reflects real cost of service delivery and has increased the capacity of the sector to deliver services.
In December 2008, the ACT government provided one-off funding of $3.5 million. This funding injection went into welfare and charity groups to alleviate pressures caused by rising petrol prices, inflation and interest rate rises. This was targeted at Canberra’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged. The one-off funding injection, which effectively doubled the ACT government’s emergency relief funding for the year, was made possible because of the strong fiscal management of the ACT government.
Of this funding, $1 million was provided to community organisations and support agencies to help them meet the demand for emergency relief. This emergency relief went out to our fellow Canberrans that were not enjoying a high standard of living. Also, $150,000 was allocated to assist vulnerable children, young people and families who are clients of the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services for emergency assistance. A further $1.25 million was provided to regional community services, Carers ACT, Anglicare, Tandem and the Mental Health Foundation for carer support. Additionally, a further $1.25 million was provided to Volunteering ACT to manage and distribute through a grants process. Funds will be used to offer support to volunteers for petrol, bus tickets and parking costs.
These funds have been well received by the community sector. Carers ACT has stated, “The Care Support Fund has been greatly welcomed by all at Carers ACT as we have been able to meet more carers’ needs and provide respite in areas that have previously been difficult due to limitations in available brokerage.” Agencies that have not provided emergency relief on this scale previously welcome the opportunity to be able to meet the needs of clients without the need to refer on to other services.
These agencies also report that they were using existing program structures, such as the family support program and youth services program, to identity need and distribute the funds within a resilience model. Just this week the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services met with regional community services who advised that they are experiencing a significant increase in demand as the message goes out on the bush telegraph. Their feedback is that people feel that they can seek assistance from these services without embarrassment, and they are seeking assistance for things such as back-to-school requirements like clothes and shoes.
The department is continuing to work with services to manage the steady demand and to look at innovative ways of distributing these funds in a more efficient and timely manner. Since allocating these funds, demand has been steady, and they are mainly being distributed to meet shortfalls in bills, food relief, transport and clothing. This is not the only measure this government has implemented to support the vulnerable members of our community. In order to address the impact of the global financial crisis, the ACT government provides a number of concessions that deliver immediate assistance to individuals. The government provides a substantive level of concessions to ensure access to essential services for all Canberrans. These concessions address
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