Page 5119 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 28 November 2017
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not-for-profit groups and community providers operating in the ACT are reporting that funding levels are insufficient to meet current demands for their services. At the same time, over the past five years average tax per household in the territory has jumped 28 per cent. Why has the government decided to allow funding for services that assist our most vulnerable Canberrans to decrease relative to both increasing population and increasing demand?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: The community services sector provides a range of incredibly valuable services and supports not only for the most vulnerable people in our community but also community-wide. This leads to greater social inclusion across our community and greater recognition of people in need.
The resources we put into the community sector, in some ways, will never be enough to support that need. We know that there is always additional work that could be done. We are in constant conversation with the community sector about that. One way that we are doing this is through the ACT community services industry strategy, a 10-year strategy released last year, which identifies a range of pressures and opportunities across the sector, one of which is in relation to skilled workforce. I know that Ms Helyar has talked a lot about this issue in relation to both resourcing and other kinds of needs around training et cetera.
The strategy has identified the need for a skilled workforce to meet growing demand for services and provide more flexible and responsive client-centred care. Consequently a feature of the industry strategy is the development and implementation of a workforce plan, which we expect to be finalised quite soon. The plan will achieve two key outcomes of the strategy, including support for recruitment and retention of individuals with skills and abilities to meet future needs. It will also enhance the ability of the sector to employ professional and highly skilled staff and volunteers committed to meeting community services.
This is just one way we are working with the sector to meet its needs, which we understand are ongoing. We understand that we need to continually have the conversation with ACTCOSS—as I did when I appeared at their AGM the other week—about where we can put our scarce resources.
MRS KIKKERT: Minister, with household tax rates in the territory at an all-time high, why are community providers being expected to provide more and more services without corresponding increases in funding?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I do not have the entire budget figures on me but I would suggest that we do continue to increase funding for the community sector. There are indexation arrangements built into most of our agreements. We continue to provide additional resources in each budget to various sectors of the community sector.
MR PARTON: Minister, what specific steps will the ACT government take to fix the growing disparity between the skyrocketing tax revenue and the stagnant funding for community service providers?
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