BYRON PLACE COMMUNITY CENTRE

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:29): I rise to speak about the valuable work done in the Byron Place Community Centre, which was operated by United Communities, an agency of the Uniting Church in Australia. As members may be aware, the centre, which is located in the city of Adelaide just off Grote Street, ceased operations and closed earlier this month. I will outline a short history of the centre and the plans of Uniting Communities to help those who were previously helped at the centre. The Uniting Church and Uniting Communities have a long history of gathering volunteers and funds in order to perform welfare work to assist the needy. Uniting Communities also operates Lifeline and Goodwill Stores, to name just a couple of their other arms.

The Byron Place Community Centre was opened on 6 October 1994 by then deputy prime minister the Hon. Brian Howe. The centre had taken seven years of planning, with Adelaide Central Mission spending over $1 million to establish what they described as 'a world-class centre for homeless women and men'.

The genesis of the Byron Place Community Centre was a drop-in centre called the Nazareth Crypt, which operated in the basement of the 10 Pitt Street building from 1961, with support from the members of the Maughan Church congregation at that address. As this service developed, it moved to a separate and more suitable location in Wright Street. From there, support was provided to homeless people. Later, the service expanded and used the more purpose-built facility which became known as the Byron Place Community Centre. The vision of the centre has been:

We believe that people have a right to be respected, valued, acknowledged and safe and to be given the opportunity to make choices and preferred changes in their lives.

This vision is based on the strengths perspective, which recognises that every person has skills and a contribution that they can make to society. The Byron Place Community Centre operated as a community centre, providing a place for the homeless and at-risk people to go during the day when night shelters (so-called) were closed. The service provided a baggage room where baggage could be securely stored for short or even longer-term periods. Byron Place was also the home address used by many homeless people. Providing assistance to find more permanent housing and dealing with issues to prevent homelessness have always been central to the day-to-day work of Byron Place.

The services that the centre had been providing included: counselling; assessment services; luggage storage, as I mentioned; a health service through the visiting nurse and doctors; classes, including numeracy, literacy and life skills; mail collection; drug and alcohol assistance; bathroom and laundry facilities; access to visiting lawyers, on occasions; a telephone service was available; there were recreation groups as well; emergency clothing and blankets; and general advocacy. The services have been provided by a large number of dedicated staff and volunteers. Up to 100 people per day visited the centre to use its services.

Funding has come from Uniting Communities, formerly known as Adelaide Central Mission, as well as state and commonwealth government grants. The decision to close the centre followed a review of the allocation of resources by Uniting Communities over a number of months. With investment income curtailed as a result of the GFC, Uniting Communities had to ask how best to allocate available funds so as to maximise the services that could be provided. Maintaining its funding for services like Lifeline remained top priority.

Services to homeless people also remained a high priority, including the Homelessness Gateway service and the new short-term housing service for Indigenous people. Uniting Communities was aware of other community centres operating in the CBD and decided that the best use of resources was to focus on providing drug and alcohol services to the homeless and those at risk of homelessness, both in the CBD and in suburban Adelaide.

The Byron Place Community Centre previously provided a drug and alcohol service called the New ROADS service. This will now be run from 10 Pitt Street, which is less than a five-minute walk from the Byron Place site. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Family First, to particularly thank the staff and volunteers who have contributed to the valuable work done at the centre over its 18-year history. We have all seen the benefit of its great work.