HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-05-14 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

Emergency Relief Services Funding

Mr ODENWALDER (Elizabeth) (15:17): Thank you, sir. I would not dare interrupt you. The people of South Australia were rightly shocked by the severity of the state budget last year: the $46 million cut to public transport; the $38 million cut to SAPOL; the cuts to road safety, road maintenance, community safety grants, CCTV and managed taxi ranks in the city; and the cruel cuts and closures in the courts, TAFE, the Motor Accident Commission, Crime Stoppers and, of course, Service SA branches.

People were shocked by the severity of the cuts and the closures, but was anyone really surprised? It is in the Liberals' DNA. It is in the way they do things not just here but federally, too. The Morrison government—the government of Nicolle Flint, the government of Tony Pasin, the government that James Stevens aspires to join—has plans to cut the funding for many emergency relief services at the end of the year, a $5.5 million cut to relief services for the most vulnerable in our society.

Many of these services operate across the northern suburbs in my electorate and in adjacent electorates such as Ramsay, Taylor and Light. They pick up the pieces when people's lives take a turn for the worst. These services operate on a shoestring. They are largely volunteer driven, and they do things such as provide support to vulnerable people who have nowhere to turn. They provide food hampers when needed; funding for fuel to attend specialist medical appointments, job interviews and those kinds of things; and other financial assistance. It is a cruel cut, and the federal Labor Party has plans to reverse these cuts to emergency relief organisations.

On the weekend, Nick Champion, the member for Wakefield and shadow assistant minister for manufacturing, announced new funds to provide a much-needed funding boost to some of these life-saving organisations across the north. I am really pleased that one of those organisations is the Playford Community Fund, which, if a federal Labor Party is elected, will receive over $400,000 over the next four years. I have had a long and fruitful association with the Playford Community Fund that goes back long before I was the local MP. Indeed, I was introduced to them by my predecessor, Lea Stevens. She has remained a strong supporter of the fund and its work in Elizabeth.

From their humble offices in the old library building on the eastern edge of Elizabeth City Centre, Dennis Jarman runs a tight ship, but he does not do it alone. He is of course ably assisted in all things by his better half, Joy, and by his board: my old friend and Deputy Mayor of the City of Playford, Marilyn Baker; Meredith Keage from Women's Safety Services; Bryan Sellers, who is a pastor at Northern Communities of Hope; Barbara Kotesic, who volunteers with Peachey Place; Michael Scott from Telstra; Shirley Wissell, a former councillor for the City of Playford; and Diane Hickman, who is the current secretary and public officer.

As I said, I have had a long association with the Playford Community Fund, dating back to my life before this place. Like Lea Stevens before me, every year I collect non-perishable food and household items from the public and from church groups—and organise local school kids to run casual days and so on—for the fund to package up for families in need over the Christmas period. Of course, this is not nearly enough and we often ask people who are themselves doing it tough to help their neighbours. Most years, I go in and help give out these food hampers over Christmas. While it is an easy day's work for me, it brings home the real need out there and the absolute need for government intervention and help when people are in real need.

We on this side of the house and on this side of politics believe that government does have a role in helping people who are in need, who are doing it tough or falling through the cracks. This election is a choice between a Shorten Labor government with a plan for the services our communities need or more cuts and chaos from the Morrison government. The charities and not-for-profits that do this work are increasingly stretched and need more resources. Nick Champion, Nadia Clancy and all of the Labor team are committed to giving them more.

A federal Labor government will make sure our charities and not-for-profits have the resources they need to support our fellow Australians. Of course, this can only happen if people like Nick Champion are re-elected, if Nadia Clancy is elected and if the Labor team are all elected to government across this country. A re-elected Liberal government and a re-elected Nicolle Flint, Tony Pasin and James Stevens will continue the cuts and closures that we have come to expect from Liberal governments. I have faith that the people of South Australia will elect a government that cares about people in need.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT