Page 567 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 14 March 2007
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potentially excess school sites. That lobbying went on for most of last year and has been accelerated in the first part of this year. Some quite sophisticated project plans have been submitted to government from organisations wanting to use particular schools for particular things. Some are very worthy projects—almost collaborations between organisations.
The government recognises the opportunity that we have here to really assess the pressure of accommodation in the community sector and look at where we can assist. I think, as the community services minister, that it is crazy that for some organisations 40 per cent of the grant that we provide them goes to rent and administration overheads. It seems crazy to me that organisations with one or two people have to pay money for an IT provider, a photocopier lease and a receptionist when, if we could have a more strategic look at how the sector operated, we could release quite a bit of money to go back into the sector and back into service delivery rather than going into duplication of administration and accommodation costs.
It seems crazy to me that we have got community organisations paying commercial rent. Some organisations are paying $100,000 a year for commercial space because accommodation is tight. We acknowledge all of that. Of course it is in our interests to look at where we can work with the sector—not just in relation to surplus government property, but in relation to the strategic future of the community sector and the sustainability of the sector into the future.
A number of organisations have approached me seeking those discussions. They see the benefit in looking at co-location and at more cooperation between small organisations that are really doing it quite tough—having to carry the overheads, insurance, administration and accountability for government funding. That weighs much more heavily on small organisations than it does on larger ones.
We can look at it from the point of view of employment relations as well, in terms of advice and where we can support the sector. It is in our interests to work strategically with them. The opportunities that are afforded to us through the potential use of surplus government property to start some of that work are there. That is why we are not rushing. That is, in a sense, why the process is yet to be determined. It is very much in the early stages of government consideration.
We have been pretty up-front that there has not been a decision taken about any of these school sites at any point. Mrs Dunne laughs at that, but she has not been able to uncover any proof of it, through her searches under FOI and the 3,000 pages she has already received. There has been—
Mrs Dunne: No, no. I have only received 1,800 pages.
MS GALLAGHER: That must have been the pay parking one of Mr Smyth. That was about 3,000. There has been no decision taken. The process is in those early stages. The government needs the opportunity to have those discussions with the sector.
I take Dr Foskey’s point that she is not aware about those discussions. For many of the organisations, they are confidential discussions with government, because they are
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