A community service sector survey shows it is in crisis as 80% of organisations say they lack the resources to meet demand, which is rising due to budget cuts

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Welfare recipients face a bleak Christmas, as overstretched community service providers struggle to meet the increased demands of the holiday period.



A survey of welfare organisations recently released by the Australian council of social service (Acoss) showed a crisis in the delivery of frontline services – 80% of organisations said they could not meet demand with current resources.

The Christmas period can mean a threefold increase in demand for assistance from welfare groups, prompting a warning that some of Australia’s neediest may go without.

“There is a hump at Christmas time; it is an expensive time,” Major Bruce Harmer from the Salvation Army said, noting the biggest demand came from low-income parents wanting to provide gifts for their children and hampers for the family.



“Parents want their children to feel like other kids at Christmas time, to go back to school and say they had a great Christmas,” Harmer said.

The head of Acoss, Cassandra Goldie, said funding uncertainty had created a knock-on effect for services.

She has written to the federal social services minister, Kevin Andrews, on behalf of Acoss asking him to address funding cuts experienced by the sector, and allay fears of more to come.

“Many of our members have expressed alarm about the chronic uncertainty. An unknown number of organisations are now at serious risk of operating insolvent, with the inability to meet existing liabilities within committed resources,” the letter reads.

“We believe many organisations are experiencing loss of staff due to insecure work environments, or forced delays of critical decisions including recruitment and service planning, to responsibly manage the funding risks. This environment is leading to consequential reductions in service delivery.”

The St Vincent de Paul society said the poor had borne the brunt of budget cuts, and that the surge in demand for services would continue until funding had been reinstated.

“It is clear that the issues of homelessness, disadvantage and the subsequent demands on the community sector are not going away,” the society’s national president, Anthony Thornton said. “In 2015 we ask the government to work with charities which play a vital role in a robust civil society but which should never be the default mode of delivering social security.

“Greater investment in social expenditure including spending on social security, housing, health and education, makes economic sense because it is an investment in people and communities. The idea of Team Australia is hollow when so many people are left on the sideline.

Harmer said he expected high demand for services to carry on into 2015. “If there’s a bite from the government, the people we work with feel that immediately.

“Whatever we do as a country, whatever our government does.. please don’t take your eyes off those who need us the most. [Disadvantaged Australians] can’t give as much as the rest of us give.”

There is particular concern about the plight of asylum seekers who are expected to be released into the community following a deal struck in the Senate to reintroduce temporary protection visas (TPVs).

“Having released people into society, it is not fair to leave people to fund themselves,” John Falzon from St Vincent de Paul Society said.

Currently, refugees receive welfare payments equivalent to 89% of Newstart payments. However under concessions made by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, some refugees released into the community on TPVs will have work rights.

The national director of Uniting Justice, Eleni Poulos, said most refugees would struggle to find a job due to the uncertainty of being on a TPV.

“People are going to be left to their own devices,” Poulos said “It’s very hard when you don’t have a job, don’t speak English … and you have to compete on the open rental market.”

Poulos said some organisations had begun stockpiling material goods like clothing and household items in preparation for the expected surge in demand created when TPVs were reintroduced.

On 19 December 2014 this article was amended to correct the name of the St Vincent de Paul society’s national president.