May 3 2018 Government hell-bent on harming regional communities The McGowan Government has signalled to regional communities it will not back down in destroying important support agencies for vulnerable people. Shadow Minister for Regional Development Jim Chown said the Government had written to Community Resource Centres confirming it would not back down on its announcement to reduce funding for CRCs, and in so doing, destroying important support agencies for isolated communities. “Community Resource Centres are being advised they are either Tier 1 or Tier 2 organisations, the strict criteria they must now meet, and that they will receive a reduced yearly allocation of either $70,000 or $50,000 respectively,” Mr Chown said. “This allocation is for those Centre’s to operate for a year – with all that is required of them, the Government is rendering them unsustainable. “The Government is setting these Centres up for failure. The funding cuts will mean access to essential services such as suicide prevention, child protection and domestic violence support may no longer be delivered.” “The more Centres that cannot meet the criteria being set by the Government, the fewer the Government will be required to fund, the more the Government will save.” “The Government is imposing death by a thousand cuts on these Centres.” Mr Chown said the Government was targeting savings of 40% from their CRCs previous funding, but with the allocation to individual Centres and the requirements being placed on them, it appeared the Government was seeking to accrue greater savings by forcing more Centres to close. “Community Resource Centres provide access to health, welfare and education services for thousands of vulnerable people in regional towns but the McGowan Government is ignoring this valuable support in order to find money to pork barrel Labor electorates,” Mr Chown said. “In many instances, these Centres are the only way some people can access government services in their community. “They are a lifeline for many people in communities where government services have no other footprint, but now they are at risk due to the Government’s funding model and deliberate attempt to close Centres down to save money. Mr Chown said Opposition members were receiving complaints from across the regions and it was time the Government listened to community concerns. “The Government’s arrogance, their failure to listen and their failure to reconsider their decision, which will harm dozens of communities, is unwarranted. Communities deserve an explanation for the cuts they are imposing,” Mr Chown said “This Government is turning its back in Regional WA and we won’t stand for it.” Ends |
