Lucas Digney: From chocolates to crumbling services

From chocolates to crumbling services

LUCAS DIGNEY

ASSISTANT STATE SECRETARY

IN FEBRUARY this year, former Premier Gutwein announced the government would abolish Communities Tasmania.

This relatively new department oversees vital services meant to provide direct support to our most vulnerable, and workers do not support its abolition. But the crucial areas of housing, family violence, youth justice and child safety will now go back into the giant department of education. The only place where these services have been combined is South Australia, an unmitigated disaster that resulted in children being neglected or worse. After a South Australian Royal Commission, the communities elements were pulled out of education and put back in their own stand-alone agency. Just four years ago the Tasmanian Government took these services from another giant department, Health and Human Services, because they were so vital they needed to be a priority and have their own oversight. We have no idea what's changed but something must have because the government wants you to believe returning to a mega department is the way forward. The fact is there are significant issues in all these crucial areas. We see child safety overwhelmed by demand, youth justice confused by a stalled reform agenda and ongoing Ashley issues, and housing and homelessness services failing struggling Tasmanians. Yet the government can't explain how getting rid of Communities Tasmania will address these issues. Since the announcement we've talked with various bureaucrats and in August met with the premier and the minister to express our opposition. but we still have no idea why the decision was made. Our attempts to engage in proper and meaningful consultation have been fruitless and frustrating. All the government wants to talk about is the creation of a new mega agency. Meanwhile, kids and other vulnerable Tasmanians are being let down so we’re ready to fight for our members and our community. Members from around the state, along with our colleagues from the CPSU, met in mid-August and resolved to fight this move every step of the way until real action is taken to address the crisis facing workers right now. Just one example of how bad things are is in Child Safety Services where in the Launceston region alone there are 215 children in care, or waiting to be placed in care, who have no case manager. That’s 215 vulnerable kids with no one they can count on. That's a disaster and tragedy in itself but has the potential to be even worse. We've demanded that a proper consultation process begins immediately with the government to discuss the real issues and what can and should be done to improve our services right now. We don't want pie in the sky structural change that delivers nothing. We’ll campaign and fight until there are well resourced and sustainable services for the most vulnerable in our community. We’d love you to join the fight too.