RWA PHASE 2 HUMAN SERVICES
Proposals in the
draft plan to improve access to services involve new taskforces and working
groups, adding more meetings that will take away from service delivery. It is
hard to see how access will be improved without new funds to expand already
under-resourced services such as dementia support and help for older Aboriginal
people.
The draft plan
includes measures such as cultural awareness training and provision of
information in community languages - activities which the Government promotes
as standard services to be provided everywhere. While providing more
information will increase the demand for services, the plan does not identify
how existing service providers will cope without additional resources or
cutting services.
Similarly, the RWA
strategies do not address reduced resources for public housing, falling housing
affordability, and the impact of the Government's "Reshaping Public
Housing" policy which makes it more difficult for homeless people to get
public housing and concentrates people with complex needs in public housing
estates.
The RWA's proposed
Affordable Housing policy has not yet appeared and a plan for the extensive
Department of Housing properties is needed before public housing tenants have a
secure future. Against this, sensible proposals for reducing homelessness by
trying to help people as early as possible are inadequate.
While the draft plan
recognises that some people are "transport disadvantaged", its
proposed actions to reduce isolation will have little impact without improved
public transport. Instead the Government has cut bus and train services across
greater Sydney,
and there is still no plan, funds or timetable for upgrading Redfern Railway
Station.
The continued focus on "migrant communities" as a single group glosses over different language and cultural barriers, and ignores the experience of refugees and families of migrants.
Submissions on Phase
2 of the Human Services Plan can be made until Tuesday 7 November, with a final
plan due by the end of the year.
According to the
Redfern-Waterloo Authority, there will be an evaluation of the Human Services
Plan in mid 2007.
Information www.redfernwaterloo.nsw.gov.au
[CLOVER'S eNEWS - Friday 13 October 2006 - No. 318]