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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-30 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

DOME Funding

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:07): One of the great virtues of those of us elected in this place is that from time to time you get to meet some phenomenal people. I had one such instance this morning when I had the opportunity to visit an organisation by the name of DOME.

DOME has been an extraordinary contributor to the state of South Australia for approximately 38 years, providing assistance to those South Australians who are of mature age who have found themselves in the unfortunate circumstance of being out of work, more often than not being made redundant. DOME, of course, stands for Don't Overlook Mature Expertise. I think it is an important message.

All of us in this place would be aware that we reside in a state that has gone through a substantial period of economic transition. Part of our ethos, part of our central belief on this side of the house, is that under those circumstances working people should not be left behind. That is particularly true for those mature age workers who through no fault of their own have found themselves displaced in the course of a transitioning economy.

DOME is committed as an organisation to ensuring that older workers get access to job opportunities where they exist. They work with both employee and employer in a highly committed low-cost environment to deliver that important public service, not seeking accolades and not seeking large amounts of kudos. They have largely flown below the radar in a rather concerted, committed and compassionate way.

They are an organisation that relies on government funding, albeit not very much. They have been receiving funding of somewhere in the order of $510,000 per annum. I think it would disturb many South Australians to learn that the Marshall Liberal government decided to cut that funding last financial year to about $400,000 per annum. DOME then went through a substantial restructuring effort, drew on a greater pool of volunteers to undertake their important work, and established that they could continue to provide their service, albeit in a slightly diminished way, on the smell of an oily rag at $400,000 per year. However, recently, this calendar year they have become aware of the fact that their funding is going to be ceased completely. That $400,000 is gone, and that means that this organisation quite simply will fold. It will no longer be able to provide its service.

The fact that the state government has elected to make that funding decision, which the Premier himself is all too aware of, seems somewhat extraordinary. This funding decision, this closure of this fine South Australian organisation, is occurring in the midst of the biggest unemployment challenge that this state has seen since the Great Depression. At the very same time that we have a conga line of ministers talking about being stronger than before, they are cutting the funding of $400,000 to an organisation that is committed to seeing older workers get back into the workforce.

I would highlight to the Premier, his ministers and all those opposite some of the instances that I heard about this morning. I met a lady by the name of Sue, a mature age South Australian who had found herself out of work previously. Sue went to DOME, and very expeditiously and quickly DOME was able to get Sue back into work. She was utterly complimentary of that service. Just recently during the course of the pandemic, yet again, tragically, Sue has found herself out of work. She went back to DOME, and DOME were going through the process of getting Sue a job, but unfortunately Sue has found out that DOME will be no more.

I met Adrian, a former bank manager, a highly skilled individual, a rather charming gentleman. DOME was able to provide him with a job in the sales workforce. He has recently retired, and he has decided to volunteer and devote his own time, his own labour, unremunerated, back to DOME because of the way they were able to turn his life around. These are good people, often skilled people, ready, willing and able to contribute to our economy and our society, and this government has decided to cut their funding during the course of the pandemic. That is an appalling decision.

We will acknowledge that the Minister for Innovation and Skills does not appear to be a particularly compassionate individual to this cause, but the Premier should know better. There is an opportunity here for the Premier to intervene, overrule this appalling decision, reinstate the funding of $400,000, and he in turn will be assisting the 2,000 South Australians at any one time who are relying on DOME's services.

We know that 40,000 other individuals have been the beneficiary of this service for 38 years. We call on this government to show some compassion, show some heart, and reinstate the $400,000 so DOME can do their work and older, mature age South Australians who find themselves redundant during the course of this crisis have an opportunity to rely upon an important public service.

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