Catholic Social Services Australia, the national network of Catholic social services, has last week welcomed Federal Minister Scott Morrison’s decision to extend the current contracts of community organisations whose funding had been cut with a mere two months to wind services down.
The extension decision also applies to those services that had been informed their funding will continue, but had received no information about the amount or conditions of that funding, leaving some to believe they would still need to shed staff or restructure service delivery with less than a month’s notice.
The announcement from Minister Morrison will enable social service organisations to now prepare staff for the changes ahead, and to support those clients who will need to move to a new service provider, or who may find themselves without support from July.
CEO of Catholic Social Services Australia, Ms Marcelle Mogg, commended the Minister on heeding the warnings of those who work most closely with people who are vulnerable and in need of responsive and reliable support.
“Funding cuts to social services already mean that people whose quality of life depends on the assured commitment of local community services will be further disadvantaged,” Ms Mogg said.
“The original two-month lead time for services to transition to closure or re-structure, with no clear indication of what services would remain available, exacerbated this situation by curtailing opportunities to help the clients of these services to transition to alternative sources of support,” she said.
“The decision to extend contracts for another five months is a good one, both morally and ethically, and makes sound business sense. Imagine the following parallel scenario: a hospital is advised that it will need to close its doors in two months but is given no information as to which other hospitals will accept patient transfers.
“Those hospitals which will remain open are not given any information about the amount or period of funding, the specialisations they will be able to offer, or which wards can remain open. And further, that those hospitals which will need to shed staff are prohibited from using the remainder of current grant monies to pay for staff redundancies but are expected to fund this from their own modest reserves. This is not a scenario the Australian public would accept.”
Ms Mogg went on to say that, unlikely as it seems, this is the very scenario facing agencies of the federally-funded social services sector as a result of the funding announcements made in the week before Christmas.
Despite assurances from the Department of Social Services that contract negotiations would commence in mid-January, the announcement from the Minister is the first confirmation that negotiations with social service agencies will now commence.
This has meant that skilled and dedicated staff in front-line services have been facing a gut-wrenching dilemma since Christmas: seek alternative employment in anticipation their jobs may be cut; or stay on and be retrenched at short notice.
“Mr Morrison has bought the sector some time, and for that we are grateful.
“The onus is now on the Department of Social Services to negotiate swiftly and respectfully with preferred providers to ensure stability and security for the people whose lives and prospects have been placed at risk during this time.
“In addition, the Department has a responsibility to support those services whose doors will be closing, so that the clients for whom they have cared can be supported elsewhere.”
Catholic Social Services Australia is the national network of 59 Catholic social service organisations, delivering support to over one million people in local communities across metropolitan, rural, regional and remote Australia.
For nearly 60 years, our member organisations have been delivering essential social services to support people whose lives have been adversely affected by difficult and often traumatic circumstances such as domestic and family violence, homelessness, seeking asylum and resettling in a new place, poverty, social and geographical isolation, complex mental health concerns, unemployment, and entrenched community disadvantage. The provision of effective community service in contexts such as these requires time, commitment, trust, skill and an undaunted willingness to stand alongside people whom society too often overlooks.