Central Coast Area Assistance Scheme

About this Item
Speakers - McBride Mr Grant
Business - Private Members Statements

CENTRAL COAST AREA ASSISTANCE SCHEME

Mr McBRIDE (The Entrance) [5.37]: I wish to alert the House to a bureaucratic bunfight which is depriving local community groups of vital funding under the Central Coast area assistance scheme. I am told that the dispute involves the Treasury and the Department of Community Services and their respective Ministers, and it has now extended to the Premier himself. Before detailing the source of the dispute and its urgent need for resolution it is essential for me to ensure that members understand the importance of the area assistance scheme to the Central Coast. It is a positive program designed to assist community groups to establish the sort of new services which are needed in developing areas such as the Central Coast. Remember, the Central Coast's annual population growth of 4.5 per cent is the second fastest rate of growth in New South Wales.

The Central Coast is an area characterised by an unemployment rate above the national average, a high density of social security benefit and pension recipients - in fact the Central Coast includes two of the highest figures for local government areas in Australia - disturbing levels of domestic violence, and a lower than average family income. It follows that there are increasing and competing demands on community services. Since the introduction of the Central Coast area assistance scheme under the previous Labor Government the scheme has helped to meet these demands. Each year almost $400,000 in capital, recurrent and pick-up funding has resulted in spending for purposes as diverse as the provision of an incest survivor worker, a drug and alcohol intervention worker, a project officer for disabled children and youth service co-ordinators.

The House will agree that this expenditure plays an important part in maintaining social cohesion by assisting people in genuine need or trouble. Many people would be left isolated and facing the prospect of further distress without the benefits of area assistance scheme projects. It is bad enough that funding has been reduced by 5 per cent in real terms since 1990-91, but pick-up funding under this year's scheme, according to the most recent reports, has been delayed indefinitely. The deadline for applications under the scheme was originally in December last year, but it has since been subject to regular postponements. I understand that at least one local council has been advised that there is no longer a commitment to funding for 1994.

The source of the current dispute is Treasury's effort to off-load pick-up funding to the Department of Community Services. Treasury wants to provide community services with funding for only the program's next four years before handing over all funding responsibilities. The Department of Community Services has resisted any such moves because it fears that it cannot afford to fund the projects, given existing strains on its budget. I have been reliably informed that the matter is now before the Premier for consideration and I have made representations to the Premier requesting an urgent resolution of the dispute.

My chief concern is that the Premier's history on policy issues at the moment - one based on flip-flops and filibustering - will see this dispute drag on. No wonder council has been advised that funding has been delayed indefinitely since the matter has been referred to the Premier. In the meantime community groups seeking funding for necessary projects, such as the provision of a domestic violence worker, have been left in limbo. I mention specifically the position of a domestic violence worker because of its relationship to other government programs recently announced. Only last week the Minister for Police launched a revised campaign to encourage more women to report domestic violence. Everyone would agree that such sentiments are worthy and positive, given the insidious crime of domestic violence. However, those victims who rightly report domestic violence require immediate counselling to ease their emotional strain. Victims who decide to take the brave step and report domestic violence - and the Minister has announced a new campaign to encourage this - should have available to them the services of a domestic violence worker.

At present at least one community organisation on the Central Coast is hoping to improve the range of options available to women seeking counselling for domestic violence by obtaining funding under the 1994 Central Coast area assistance scheme. Without a certain future for the scheme - and a future that is settled immediately - that service will remain idle and women seeking such help will be forced to turn elsewhere. Projects of this nature highlight the need for an urgent resolution of the funding wrangle currently delaying the Central Coast area assistance scheme. I hope the Premier can put aside his indifference to decision-making by assuring community organisations on the Central Coast about the future of the program.

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