The ACT Government will spend $26 million in the 2021-22 ACT Budget to support Canberra through one of the toughest moments it has ever faced, Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced today.
“Today’s package ensures that those most in need in our community will continue to receive support as we respond to our local outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, as well as in the years to follow,” Mr Barr said.
“As we progress through the National Plan to Transition Australia’s COVID-19 response, this package is a further element of our response to ensure that no one is left behind.”
The package includes:
- $8.6 million over three years to expand the capacity of existing services, including specialist homelessness programs that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Canberra’s specialist homelessness sector are key to improve outcomes for people in need,” said Rebecca Vassarotti, Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services. “This investment boosts resources for sector organisations, raising their base funding rate by 12.7 percent.
“This base funding rate has not increased over approximately the past nine years, so this is a significant commitment to help the sector deliver early intervention, crisis support, and improve outcomes for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
In the 2020-21 Budget, the ACT Government spent $1.9 million on five specialist homelessness programs in response to COVID-19.
- $4 million over four years to increase the community sector indexation rate applied to annual grants funding. This will help community organisations to meet higher wage costs; the recent Fair Work Commission recently increased the national minimum wage and all award wages by 2.5 per cent.
“The Government welcomes the Fair Work Commission’s decision, which will deliver better wages for Canberra’s dedicated community sector workers,” said Rachel Stephen-Smith, Minister for Families and Community Services. “Supporting our non-government partners to pay these wage increases without reducing the services they provide to the ACT community is particularly important at this difficult time.”
- Additional funding of $3.5 million over four years to local volunteer groups to maintain and improve the landscape. More funding will also be allocated to expand the ACT Environment Grants, and to fund an additional ParkCare ranger in Canberra’s north.
“The Canberra community plays a critical role in caring for the ACT’s environment,” Ms Vassarotti said as Minister for the Environment. “Organisations such as Landcare ACT, Parkcare, the three ACT catchment groups, and ACT Wildlife are local experts caring for our environment. Providing reliable, long-term funding will help Canberra’s community local environmental volunteer-based groups continue their valuable work.”
- $2.5 million over the next four years tomaintain and strengthen Legal Aid’s capacity to represent, support, and assist vulnerable members of the Canberra community. This includes front-line service support for victims of family violence and the elderly, and for vulnerable witnesses.
- $2 million over four years to support crucial services delivered by the Community Legal Assistance Sector, including the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT, Canberra Community Law, CARE Inc, the Environmental Defenders Office, and the Women’s Legal Centre ACT.
“It is important for everyone in the community to be able to access appropriate legal assistance and advice,” said Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury. “The 2021-22 funding through the ACT Budget will provide front-line service support for victims of family violence and the elderly and support for vulnerable witnesses.
“The additional funding for Community Legal Assistance Sector services and Legal Aid will allow these important community services to continue to deliver legal assistance services, and maintain and strengthen the capacity to represent, support, and assist vulnerable members of the community.”
- $2.2 million over the next four years for a suicide prevention and intervention program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans.
- $762,000 over four years for the Children and Young People Equipment Loan Service (CAYPELS) to develop a service planning model and buy specialised paediatric equipment.
- Additional funding of $623,000 over four years for A Gender Agenda to continue their work with vulnerable trans, gender diverse, and intersex Canberrans. This includes peer support, intersex specific project work, and the peer-based navigation and information service, The Friday Centre.
- $570,000 to support vulnerable people in the multicultural community, including:
- an additional $180,000 for the Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Humanitarian program (RASH) to financially assist its clients who hold an ACT Services Access Card, and to resettle refugees, asylum seekers, and humanitarian entrants living in the ACT;
- $137,000 for emergency, material, and aid services;
- $135,000 to support COVID-19 messaging;
- and $118,000 to support a community partnership to provide emergency payments to vulnerable families.
- $509,000 for the pandemic response team to implement the ACT Government Community Recovery Roadmap. This initiative builds on recent Government actions in this area, including the 2020-21 Health COVID-19 Response initiative.
- $311,000 to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner for the ACT child protection system.
“Everyone in our community deserve access to mental health support,” said Emma Davidson, Assistant Minister for Seniors, Veterans, Families and Community Services, and Minister for Mental Health. “The pandemic and lockdowns will exacerbate the need for mental health services in our community. This is just one announcement in the ACT Government’s mental health Budget which aims to provide specialised, culturally safe support for First Nations people experiencing mental and emotional distress.”
- Funding of $184,000 in 2021-22 for five additional supported accommodation homes for people with enduring mental illness.
- An additional $100,000 for emergency food relief for those in need.
“Recognising the need for long-term food security, we have committed funding to increase capacity and resources across Canberra’s food relief organisations,” Ms Davidson said. “This complements the immediate COVID-19 food relief response, providing a response in both the short term and long term as we progress through and beyond the pandemic.”
COVID-19 economic support measures previously announced include increased funding for mental health supports, crisis and emergency supports, extending the Jobs for Canberrans program, emergency food relief, and increasing the utilities concession to $1,000 for 31,000 households for 2021-22.
Further announcements will be made before the 2021-22 Budget is published on 6 October.
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) said the $26 million funding package for the community sector represented a major commitment to address needs highlighted by ACTCOSS and its members during the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.
CEO Dr Emma Campbell said ACTCOSS particularly welcomed the significant funding for homelessness services; Canberra’s ongoing housing and homelessness crisis in Canberra had been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We look forward to further announcements in next month’s ACT Budget to address the shortage of affordable rentals and other community priorities.
The Mental Health Community Coalition of the ACT (MHCC ACT) also welcomed the announcement. However, CEO Bec Cody, said the ACT government had not consulted sector peak bodies about the mental health supports last month.
“We do applaud increases to specialist housing support, including supported accommodation for people living with psychosocial disability. And we are also very pleased with the increased funding to support suicide prevention, intervention, postvention, and aftercare for our First Nations people in Canberra. But these decisions need to be made with appropriate consultation processes for a stronger overview of what the sector is calling for.”
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