Page 2643 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021
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reality, of course, is that community partners do what they do to help the community. They would be doing their job to help the vulnerable and disadvantaged with or without the ACT government. The Canberra Liberals recognise this and, on behalf of the opposition, I express our deepest gratitude to each and every community organisation in Canberra.
It is also true that community sector organisations are facing significant challenges right now, including a perfect storm of increased costs, including operation and administrative costs, decreased revenue, and a massive surge in demand caused by COVID-19 and the response intended to manage that outbreak. I know from my conversations with community organisers that their organisations and other service providers are in a very difficult space. Let me share some of those examples.
OzHarvest is a food rescue organisation. Each week in Canberra they rescue between five and seven tonnes of food that would otherwise be thrown away and currently provide it to 64 local charities that help to feed people in need. I have worked alongside them as a volunteer, and I strongly encourage others to do the same. Their life-sustaining services require three things. Firstly, donations of surplus food from supermarkets, cafes, delis, corporate kitchens, airlines, hotels and other food businesses; secondly, volunteers; and, thirdly, donations of cash to make all of this happen.
We can only imagine what the impact of the current lockdown has been on the Canberra chapter of OzHarvest. As noted in the motion, financial uncertainty has significantly reduced what struggling businesses and individuals can afford to give in cash donations across our community. Moreover, many of OzHarvest’s regular suppliers are closed or running at reduced capacity. Local manager Belinda estimates that supplies of donated food are down by at least 30 per cent. At the same time, demand for food in the community has increased by between 20 and 30 per cent.
The CEO of one community service provider just this week pointed out to me what increased demand for existing services and crisis response has meant for her organisation, which now finds itself with both employees and volunteers not only working longer hours but also needing to work seven days a week. This kind of response is completely unsustainable without extra assistance being given, and it is beyond time for the ACT government to step in and provide some of this much-needed financial support.
Mr Davis’s motion specifically calls on the government to examine options to provide financial support and security to community sector organisations during this period. It is true that the current period is a particularly difficult one, but the pandemic has not created new problems as much as it has merely revealed and intensified existing ones. It is essential that community sector organisations be given support and security now; but it is unwise to pretend that the fix needed is temporary or that it can simply go away when lockdown ends.
Statistics released just last month by the ACT Council of Social Services were sobering. In October last year, the number of Canberrans living below the poverty line had increased to 38,300 people, of which 9,300 were estimated to be children below
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