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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2348 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

the Treasurer has said so. It might surprise some members in the Assembly that building social capital is more complicated than simply looking after friends. It is about looking after the most vulnerable members of the community.

Care financial counselling provides people on low to middle incomes with a number of services related to managing debt and finances. Their funds come from a range of sources, including some non-government organisations. They are a very well-organised, well-run group which have received glowing reports from many of their government providers on the level of information they provide. The Consumer Credit Code is complex legislation. We are aware of the consequences of debt for people's lives. Gambling away the family home in a day is almost a cliche, but it is not if it happens to you. Care were there to help people negotiate their debts. They prevented people from going to court. Their early intervention service was valued by their clients and by many other agencies which support people in distress.

Care's consumer credit legal service provided a unique service assisting people with debt problems to negotiate their legal options to resolve their problems. In combination with Care's financial counselling services, the CCLC prevented its clients from falling into the loss of independence often caused by debt. In 70 per cent of cases over 12 months, Care's interventions resulted in settlements rather than court cases. It prevented evictions from housing, prevented bankruptcy and removed a big cause of pressure from strained relationships.

Care had been part of a great web of overstretched community services, keeping people active within the community. Care's consumer credit legal centre clients have been referred from Housing, Chief Minister's, the domestic violence crisis unit, Mental Health Tuggeranong, the Welfare Rights and Legal Centre, the Smith Family, the Department of Treasury and Infrastructure, and the Salvation Army, among others.

On the dollar side, this work saved other government departments many costs. Care's analysis-which includes the cost of government income support, assorted concessions and rebates if people's finances have failed-estimated total potential savings in the 12 months to August 1999 as over $10 million. Care presented their situation to the Minister for JACS, the Minister for Education and the minister for community care. Their funding source had dried up, and they sought an alternative source, supported by clear analysis of what they did and what Care as a whole achieved with the combined financial counselling and legal services they provided.

The minister, however, responded to Care's request for money for their program by saying they would just have to tighten their belts and do more with less and perhaps look again at their priorities. The minister's suggestion that Care could reprioritise its funding has completely missed the point. Far from having an interest in social capital and in preventative responses, the minister has suggested a reduction in Care's other specialised work, which already meets only 51 per cent of the demand for its service.

Care's legal service targeted people at risk of being in poverty, as well as providing services when people were affected by poverty. Consultation in the poverty task force found that a issue raised a number of times was the difficulty experienced in accessing the legal system. One participant in the poverty project explained that, in order to receive your rights, you needed to be very confident and you needed to know how to fight for

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