Page 2502 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
the not-for-profit sector, nationally and in the ACT, do invaluable work to assist our communities. They help families find a home, support young people with difficulties by facilitating educational and employment opportunities and assist the frail and aged by providing meals and relief from the isolation that many experience. But most importantly, it must be understood that their primary objective is to fight for services and entitlements for those most disadvantaged in our community.
We are all aware that the demands on the resources of the community sector are increasing. The global financial crisis means that more and more people are seeking assistance from community services, and it is important that we recognise the impact this increase will have on an already stretched non-profit sector.
Compacts between governments and the community sector aim to recognise and promote the necessary partnership between these agencies. They seek to keep communication lines open between the government and the not-for-profit organisations and call for a consistent and respectful approach to the interaction between the government and community organisations as a constructive means of working together.
The federal government’s national compact with the not-for-profit sector is a part of its broader social inclusion agenda. The ACT government has also given a commitment to community inclusion with its social compact. However, as Ms Roslyn Dundas from the ACT Council of Social Service noted in this year’s estimates hearings, community inclusion cannot happen on goodwill alone. In the executive summary of the national compact consultation report from the Australian Council of Social Service, it is noted that “both parties need to improve their collaboration skills in order to realise the full intent of a compact, that real cultural change will be necessary, and that the development and implementation of a compact will require ongoing commitment, energy and resources”.
The social compact in the ACT was developed in 2004 and is an active document. It is still referenced and the undertakings listed are still pursued. However, as I stated in 2004, I was, in fact, one of several community and government representatives on the writing group for the first compact that was developed under the previous Liberal government and then part of the review process for the social compact that came in in 2004 under the Labor government. In the front of the summary, there were several statements that were put in by the directors or CEOs of a variety of community peak agencies. I said at that time:
It is vital that the Social Compact is championed to ensure that it remains relevant and useful.
To guarantee these types of documents are used and built upon and actually achieve their aims, resources need to be provided to all community sector organisations to ensure that the compact is embedded into the way that the community sector and government work together.
The Australian Council of Social Service’s national compact consultation report noted that a “2007 survey in the ACT found that while there was a moderate level of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .