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Wednesday 9 July 2014
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Pipes dream KINGSTON City organist Scott Harrison is hosting tours and offering playing lessons for anyone who has ever imagined playing the mighty Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ at Kingston City Hall in Moorabbin. Keen musicians may even get the chance to regularly play the Wurlitzer. See page 7. Picture: Yanni
Advice cuts to hit homes Steve Taylor steve@baysidenews.com.au
FUNDING cuts by the state government will mean struggling Kingston families miss out on free financial counselling – and many fear they will simply not be able to cope. The counselling services staff help them control their debts, keep water
and power connected, plan how to pay outstanding bills and even negotiate with providers on their behalf to forestall service cut-offs. The cuts will affect a part of Melbourne where complaints about utility bills and disconnections by utility companies are on the rise. They will result in 1050 fewer free consultations over a 12-month period. But the Liberal members for
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suffering from the anticipated closure of the previously free community based services of Financial Counselling Victoria, in Centre Dandenong Rd, Cheltenham, voiced their concerns last week. They are angry that the service is losing all its funding. One client, Margaret Kelly, 73, of Highett, said that – like many other clients – she “would not have been
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Mordialloc and Carrum, Lorraine Wreford and Donna Bauer, deny counselling services have been diminished. “There is no cut in funds nor in the number of counsellors across the state, but providers have changed based on needs. The new service is better targeted and more efficient,” Ms Wreford said. Despite these assurances, those
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able to cope” without the free service over the past three years. Her story echoes that of others assisted by the service: Under pressure from a bank chasing a $23,000 debt brought on by a business failure and unconscionable conduct by a family member, she was at her wits’ end. Several falls compounded her problem and she was put on WorkCover. Continued page 6
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