FAMILY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:49): On Sunday 18 December, the Treasurer (Hon. Jack Snelling), and the Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion (Hon. Ian Hunter) announced the reinstatement of $2 million for the Family and Community Development Program. The announcement was made at a function conducted by Community Centres SA at Glandore Community Centre. Community Centres SA ran a very successful and respectful campaign, titled 'Don't go breaking my heart', seeking the restoration of this funding to Families and Communities funding. The announcement restores the funding to $9 million per annum, which will be shared amongst 100 organisations across South Australia.

The funding was originally proposed to be cut in the 2010-11 state budget, and the original decision would have cut more than 20 per cent from the program, with the first cut to take effect in 2012-13. However, the government recognised the need to reverse that decision, and the announcement was an indication that the Weatherill Labor government had listened to community concerns regarding the proposed cuts to the Family and Community Development Program.

The Family and Community Development Program provides funding to around 70 non-government organisations, as well as local councils, to deliver services to more than 100,000 people across the state. The program also currently helps fund more than 40 neighbourhood and community centres across Australia. A review of the program, first initiated by the previous families and communities minister, is continuing, and the minister has said that the fund has not been reviewed since the early 1990s and that 'it is appropriate to continue that review to make sure that the funding is being directed to where it can do the most good'.

I recently spoke to Rille Walsh OAM, the Chair of Community Centres SA. Rille has been the manager of the Wandana Community Centre in Gilles Plains for over 10 years and has worked in the community services sector for approximately 28 years. Rille was thrilled and relieved at the government announcement, as it will allow community houses and other organisations to get on with some of the critical services they provide.

As members may be aware, I was heavily involved with two local community centres in the Torrens electorate when I was a Community Liaison Officer in that electorate working for Robyn Geraghty. Those centres, the Hillcrest Community Centre, which houses the North-East Community House, and the Wandana Community Centre, provide a wide variety of programs that are an example of the programs that community centres run, such as patchwork quilting, community gardens, and various health programs catering for all ages, such as Zumba, hip-hop dancing, walking groups, women's fitness groups and seniors' fitness groups. The centres also hold weekly lunches, which are extremely affordable, costing between $5 and $7.

These are but a few of the activities these community centres provide to our local communities, and most of these services are provided through a network of volunteers who work tirelessly on behalf of and in support of our community. Some of the services being provided through the program include $20,000 to the Mari Yerta Men's and Young Men's Aboriginal Corporation to employ an Aboriginal youth worker for one year in partnership with CIC Northgate. This will allow the group to coordinate social, sporting and cultural activities for Aboriginal people in the north-eastern suburbs.

As I said earlier, the Family and Community Development Program funding delivers services to more than 100,000 people across the state, and I commend the minister and the Treasurer for their efforts to restore the $2 million to this important program.