Victoria Without Poverty
1
Authorised by:
Emma King, Chief Executive Officer
© Copyright 2014 Victorian Council of Social
Service
Victorian Council of Social Service
Level 8, 128 Exhibition Street
Melbourne, Victoria, 3000
W: www.vcoss.org.au
E: [email protected]
T: 03 9235 1000
For policy inquiries:
Llewellyn Reynders
Policy and Programs Manager
E: [email protected]
T: 03 9235 1021
For media inquiries:
John Kelly
Media Coordinator
E: [email protected]
M: 0418 127 153
Photography by: Adam Kemp
Red Squared Photography
Design by: Rohan Reynders
Printed by: Blueprint
ISBN: 978-0-949748-87-4
Contents
About VCOSS.............................................................................................................................2
Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................3
Immediate priorities.....................................................................................................................4
Give every child a better start.....................................................................................................6
Boost early childhood learning and development.......................................................................7
Create schools where every child succeeds...............................................................................9
Protect vulnerable children and support families.......................................................................11
Support young people through life changes..............................................................................12
Liveable communities.................................................................................................................13
End homelessness.....................................................................................................................14
Expand the supply of social housing..........................................................................................16
Strengthen the rights of private tenants.....................................................................................18
Expand public transport services...............................................................................................20
Improve mobility.........................................................................................................................21
Plan for thriving cities and regions.............................................................................................22
Create change through place-based strategies ........................................................................23
Manage emergencies better......................................................................................................24
Respond to climate change.......................................................................................................25
Healthy communities..................................................................................................................26
Reduce violence against women and children...........................................................................27
Prevent illness and improve access to health care....................................................................29
Improve mental health and wellbeing........................................................................................30
Reduce harm from alcohol and other drugs...............................................................................31
Work and financial security........................................................................................................32
Create jobs and skill development.............................................................................................33
Respond to financial crisis.........................................................................................................34
Design concessions to cut the cost of living..............................................................................35
Use energy and water more efficiently.......................................................................................36
Justice reinvestment and human rights....................................................................................37
Divert young people from the justice system.............................................................................38
Reform the corrections system..................................................................................................40
Promote equal access to justice................................................................................................42
Protect, respect and promote human rights...............................................................................43
Better services from a stronger community sector.................................................................44
Provide fair funding for community organisations......................................................................45
Get the best from sector workers and volunteers......................................................................46
Reimagine the relationship between organisations and government........................................47
Strength in diversity....................................................................................................................48
Promote women and gender equity...........................................................................................49
Close the gap for Aboriginal Victorians......................................................................................50
Include people with disabilities...................................................................................................52
Support cultural diversity............................................................................................................54
Support carers...........................................................................................................................55
Recognise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Victorians.................................56
Better governance.......................................................................................................................57
Secure a growing revenue base................................................................................................58
Strengthen Commonwealth-State cooperation..........................................................................59
Govern social policy strategically...............................................................................................59
Strengthen civil society..............................................................................................................60
Victoria Without Poverty
1
About VCOSS
The Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) is the peak organisation of the nongovernment social and community services sector in Victoria. VCOSS raises awareness
of the existence, causes and effects of poverty and inequality, and works to create a
more just society through sector support, policy and advocacy.
Our vision is for a society where people are interdependent of one another and
committed to living out the principles of equity and justice. We respect the land we live in
and recognise its Aboriginal custodians. VCOSS is committed to a society that:
•Makes social wellbeing a national priority;
•Ensures that everyone has access to and a fair share of the community’s services
and resources;
•Involves all people as equals without discrimination; and
•Values and encourages the participation of people in decision making about their
own lives and community.
Acknowledgements
Every four years, VCOSS prepares a comprehensive statement of our social policy
platform in preparation for the State Election. We could not do so without drawing on
the extensive knowledge and experience of our member organisations, who generously
give their time and expertise to help ensure we produce the highest quality information
and insight.
VCOSS wishes to acknowledge the contribution of:
•The more than 40 member organisations who participated in our Strategic Policy
Workshop in July 2013 to identify and develop themes for inclusion in this platform;
•An additional 40 organisations who participated in our State Election Platform
consultations in November 2013 to provide additional detail on specific policy areas;
•The many member organisations who completed our State Election Platform survey
in March 2014, giving detailed commentary on social issues of high importance;
•The many additional organisations who individually contributed ideas, background
information, case studies, data sources and reference material; and
•Members of the VCOSS Board, who provided strategic oversight and feedback
through the process of developing the platform.
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VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Introduction
The 2014 Victorian election will be a debate about what type
of community we wish to live in. Do Victorians want to live in
a community that looks after its most vulnerable, or do we
want to leave these people further behind?
At the moment, one in five Victorians lives near or below the
poverty line. The division between rich and poor is widening.
Our schools are becoming more unequal, more children are
being taken into child protection, homelessness is rising,
and the prison population is exploding. There are rising numbers of reports of violence
against women and their children. The continuing transition of the Victorian economy
from manufacturing to services risks stranding workers without jobs. If we continue
down this path, we will see more and more Victorians trapped in a cycle of entrenched
poverty, unable to escape.
This is not the type of community Victorians wish to live in, nor is it a future we have to
choose.
VCOSS has identified the top 12 ways we could build a Victoria without poverty in
the next term of government. From helping every child succeed in education, to
reducing housing costs, improving public transport access, reducing violence against
women and their children, improving workforce participation, delivering energy
efficient homes, reducing crime through justice reinvestment, delivering fair funding
to community sector organisations for better services, developing a plan for social
policy change and delivering better governance, these immediate priorities will build a
Victoria without poverty.
Beyond these, there is more to do to give all Victorians a chance at a decent life.
We need to train people for a modern workforce, improve access to health care,
support diverse and vulnerable communities, respond to climate change and manage
emergencies better. We need to consider where jobs, transport, health and community
services are, and ensure people can afford safe and stable housing nearby. There
is much to do, and the VCOSS State Election Platform spells out in detail how it can
all be done. When we improve the lives of vulnerable Victorians, we will improve the
wellbeing of all Victorians.
This State Election Platform spells out the immediate priorities and a full vision for
the 2014 Victorian election. Victorians want to eliminate poverty and disadvantage.
They want their community to prosper at every level. We urge all sides of politics to
consider the platform presented here as a map they can follow to improve the lives of
all Victorians and build a Victoria without poverty.
Emma King
VCOSS
Chief Executive Officer
Victoria Without Poverty
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Immediate priorities
The top 12 ways to build a Victoria without poverty
Give every child a better start
1. Help every child succeed in education
The experience of disadvantage impoverishes lives from birth. The most effective way to
reduce poverty in the future is for every child to participate in high quality early childhood
education and fully participate in school. We call on all parties to provide dedicated funds to
cover schooling costs for vulnerable children, and free kindergarten for every 3- and 4- year
old child.
2. Develop integrated early childhood services that support vulnerable children
Children in families experiencing disadvantage can benefit enormously from a range
of services that help their families nurture them to grow and learn in a positive, healthy
environment. We call on all parties to develop innovative and locally-based models that
support vulnerable children and their families by integrating early years learning, health and
community services, as exemplified by the approaches taken at Doveton College, Bendigo
Community Health and Yuille Park Community College.
3. Make child protection work
Children in the care of the Victorian Government are among our most vulnerable people.
Despite inquiries, reports, reviews and plans, children are still at risk of harm in our child
protection system. We call on all parties to invest in early and integrated family support
services to reduce risks to children, and to provide every child living in residential care with
the therapeutic support they need.
Liveable communities
4. Reduce the cost of housing
A safe, secure and affordable home is the foundation of a dignified life. Without it, people
can rarely achieve other life goals. We call on all parties to develop a whole-of-government
affordable housing strategy that reduces the cost of housing for low-income Victorians, by
expanding social housing, improving rental laws, using targeted planning tools, creating new
financial products and leveraging taxation policies.
5. Expand the public transport network
Good public transport can be used by young people, older people, people with disabilities
and those who cannot afford a car. A car-dependent transport system traps our most
vulnerable people and stops them accessing employment, services and social opportunities.
We call on all parties to invest in building a frequent public transport network, including
frequent bus connections to local centres and train stations, especially in under-served
communities in outer Melbourne, and rural and regional Victoria.
Healthy communities
6. Reduce violence against women and children
Over the past decade reports of family violence have more than doubled, and both police
and family violence services are overwhelmed by demand. We call on all parties to commit to
a package of services and reforms to combat violence against women and their children by
establishing a Minister for Violence against Women and Children, a central coordination role
for the Premier’s Department, a comprehensive primary prevention strategy, multi-agency
responses to protect women and children at risk, and a significant expansion of support
services across health, housing, legal assistance and support programs.
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VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Work and financial security
7. Improve workforce participation
Unemployment rates are at decade highs, especially for vulnerable groups including young
people, older people, Aboriginal people, refugees and people with disabilities. We need to
develop people’s work skills and remove barriers to employment, so more people can enter
paid work. We call on all parties to develop a workforce participation plan, that incorporates
community services, vocational education providers and potential employers, to increase
employment for vulnerable groups.
8. Deliver one million energy efficient homes to cut the cost of living
Many Victorian families have high energy bills because they can’t fix their energy inefficient
homes or install efficient appliances, as they have low incomes or are renting. We call on all
parties to commit to improving one million low-income households’ homes, through retrofits,
minimum standards and appliance upgrades, to cut their energy bills and cost of living.
Justice reinvestment and human rights
9. Reduce crime through justice reinvestment
Changes to sentencing laws have resulted in an explosion in our prison population, while
recorded crime rates continue to rise. We call on all parties to develop a justice reinvestment
plan to reduce crime, divert people from prison, improve treatment for prisoners and
rehabilitate people leaving prison.
Better services from a stronger community sector
10.Deliver funding fairness for community services
Community organisations are not funded for the full cost of delivering services. We call on
all parties to establish a fair funding model for community organisations, indexed to meet the
real costs of providing services, so they can deliver quality, effective services that meet the
needs of vulnerable people.
Better governance
11.Develop a whole-of-government plan for social policy change
Too often, effective social change is thwarted because government agencies do not work
together. For government to work effectively, it needs a high level vision for the social goals
it is trying to achieve. We call on all parties to develop a whole-of-government plan for social
policy, centrally coordinated by the Premier’s Department, with clear goals, targets and
funding.
12.Create a sustainable revenue base
The Victorian Government needs more revenue to pay for essential services and
infrastructure. We cannot cut our way to prosperity. We call on all parties to commit
to reviewing Victoria’s revenue streams, to build up sufficient resources to meet the
community’s future needs and aspirations.
Victoria Without Poverty
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Give every child a better start
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to:
¥¥Help every child succeed in education by providing dedicated funds for
schooling costs for vulnerable children and free kindergarten for every threeand four-year-old child.
¥¥Develop integrated early childhood services that support vulnerable children
using innovative and locally-based models.
¥¥Make child protection work by investing in early intervention family support
services and provide every child in residential care with therapeutic support.
Building a Victoria without poverty means giving all children the best possible
start in life.
Vulnerable children and their families must be supported throughout their infancy,
childhood and teen years. They need integrated early years learning options,
along with health and community services using innovative and locally-based
models. They must be able to attend kindergarten for free. All children and young
people must be able to fully participate in school and must be assisted to meet
the costs of bags, books, uniforms, IT and excursions.
Despite significant progress in recent years, Victoria’s vulnerable children remain
at risk of harm, and at risk of falling behind their peers in health, wellbeing and
education. The number of children and young people being placed in out-of-home
care is increasing by 5.3 per cent each year. The number of Aboriginal children
and young people being placed in out-of-home care is growing at a greater rate,
of 9.5 per cent per year.
The gaps in an overstretched and underfunded out-of-home care system
leave vulnerable children exposed to greater risk. The best solution is early
intervention, not ignoring the problems until a crisis unfolds. If vulnerable
children do enter care, they need high quality supervision and therapeutic
support. It is unsuitable and unsustainable to have four young people – who
are often deeply traumatised – under the care of a single staff member. Beyond
residential care, kinship and foster carers need more support to care for
vulnerable children.
Boost early childhood learning and development
Challenges
•The cost of kindergarten poses a barrier for many low-income families.
•Vulnerable children and their families visit maternal and child health services
less frequently.
•Children with disabilities and developmental delays are not getting access to
early intervention services fast enough to get the best results.
Strategies
•Fully fund three- and four-year old children to participate in kindergarten, so that
vulnerable children can access high quality early learning.
•Develop integrated early childhood services that support vulnerable children
using innovative and locally-based models.
•Extend the Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Service for vulnerable children
from one year of age, to two years of age.
•Extend the support available for children with disabilities and developmental
delays.
Access to high quality and affordable early
childhood services increases a child’s chances
to learn, develop, and achieve good physical
and mental health and social connections.
It also contributes to economic growth,
productivity and social progress. The economic
and productivity gains for investing in early
childhood services are up to $16 for every
dollar invested, with the highest social return
on investment coming from investment into
services for vulnerable children, who gain the
most from these services.1
All parties should commit to fully funding five
hours a week of kindergarten participation for
three-year-olds and15 hours a week for fouryear-olds, to provide high quality early learning
for vulnerable children.
with a high concentration of disadvantage.
Their families may sometimes live too far
away, face difficulty managing the costs of
travel and other commitments, or slip through
the cracks of care. These children would
benefit enormously from integrated early
childhood services that use innovative and
locally-based models. This will help their
families nurture them to grow and learn in a
positive, healthy environment.
“A decent and wise society protects and
nurtures all its children, particularly those
[who experience] disadvantage, so that
they grow up to be productive adults and
because it’s the right thing to do.”2
Many vulnerable children in Victoria do not
or cannot access maternal and child health
services, often because there are not enough
services in rural and regional communities,
metropolitan growth areas and in communities
1 Committee for Economic Development, The economic
promise of investing in high-quality preschool: Using early
education to improve economic growth and the fiscal
sustainability of states and the nation, 2006, Washington,
United States, p. 3.
Victoria Without Poverty
2 D Phillips and J Schonkoff, From neurons to
neighbourhoods: The science of early childhood
development, National Academy of Sciences, Washington
DC, 2000.
7
The Enhanced Maternal and Child Health
Service helps prevent abuse and neglect and
provides intensive support for more vulnerable
children and families. The Protecting Victoria’s
Vulnerable Children Inquiry recommended that
this intensive support be available to children
of up to two years of age, rather than one year
of age, and that Maternal and Child Health
(MCH) intensive outreach be expanded to
better connect with those families not visiting
their centres.
The Inquiry also recommended other
strategies, such as linking MCH checks to
immunisation clinics, playgroups, child care,
family day-out activities, local libraries and
shopping centres. Doing this will require more
resources, but will benefit the families who
most need support.
“(The Maternal and Child Health Service)
is widely considered a cornerstone of
the preventative effort that is required
to support all Victorian children and
families.”3
Children with a disability, developmental delay
or other additional needs are among our most
vulnerable. Many are on waiting lists to access
services. Lengthy waiting times, or missing out
altogether, can mean they may not develop
the skills to learn, work and live independently.
These children need more support to access
the services that will help them fulfil their
potential and lead meaningful lives.
Average NAPLAN scores in Year 3, by preschool attendance, Australia
Source: DEECD, State of Victoria’s Children 2012: Early childhood - A report on how Victoria’s young children are
faring, State of Victoria, Melbourne 2013, p. 40.
3 Department of Premier and Cabinet, Report of the Protecting
Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry, 2012, p. 132.
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VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Create schools where every child succeeds
Challenges
•About a quarter of Victorian students’ families need support to meet their school
costs, and face missing out on learning opportunities because their parents
cannot afford to meet these costs.
•Too many young Victorians disengage early from schools, leaving with low
literacy and numeracy skills, and low expectations for their future.
•Children with a disability do not receive the same respect and educational
opportunities as their peers.
Strategies
•Provide dedicated funds for the costs of schooling for students facing
disadvantage.
•Work with the Federal Government to reinstate a funding model that directs
school resources where they are needed most, as identified by the Gonski
Review.
•Provide more flexible education for students who struggle in mainstream
schooling.
•Support children with disabilities and their parents to participate in school.
Too many Victorian children miss school days,
excursions and camps because of the costs
involved. They skip school because they
do not have a uniform or lunch, miss out on
excursions, and choose their electives based
on what their family can afford, rather than
what they are good at or aspire to.
Indicative costs of government schooling
in Melbourne 2013
In 2012, about a quarter (24 per cent) of
Victorian school students were supported by
the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA)
to cover these school costs. With the Victorian
Government cutting the EMA to families facing
disadvantage from 2015, vulnerable students
will find it harder to fully participate in and
finish school. A new government initiative is
required to replace the EMA.
39 per cent of families accessing
emergency relief go without up-todate school books and new school
clothes4
Source: Australian Scholarships Group, How much will
you pay for your child’s schooling? Metropolitan Victoria
Schooling costs in 2013.
4 Salvation Army Australia, It’s not asking too much! National
Economic and Social Impact Survey, 2013, p. 3.
Victoria Without Poverty
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Too many young Victorians disengage early
from school or leave with low-level literacy
and numeracy skills. They often feel ignored,
unsupported, and may have low expectations
and little aspiration. These students are more
likely to experience unemployment, poor
health, offending behaviour, alcohol and drug
misuse, homelessness and a lower lifelong
income.
“Socioeconomic status is a major
influence on educational attainment.
This was true in 1975 and is still true
today.” 5
Flexible learning options respond to students’
needs to learn at different rates, in different
ways and at different times, particularly
when they face disadvantage including
homelessness, mental and physical health
issues at home, abuse and neglect. Effective
flexible learning practices operate in pockets
across the Victorian school system. In the
next term of government, we need to extend
these models to suit local needs. Schools
also need to be better linked with health and
community services – as at Doveton College in
Melbourne’s south-east – so they are not left to
manage complex social issues in isolation, and
so vulnerable children and young people are
well supported.
The six-year $3.7 billion schools funding deal
signed between the Victorian and Federal
Governments in 2013 could transform Victorian
schools and set students on the path to a
better life. The Gonski-inspired deal increases
funding for more vulnerable students and
should be implemented in full. The recent
Federal 2014-15 Budget only committed to four
years of the agreed funding deal. Victoria’s
leaders must lobby and negotiate with the
Federal Government to reinstate the full six
years of funding and provide the resources to
5 G Redmond, M Wong, B Bradbury & I Katz, Intergenerational
mobility: New evidence from the Longitudinal Surveys
of Australian Youth, National Vocational Education and
Training Research Program, 2014, p. 9.
10
help students experiencing disadvantage to
succeed.
People with disabilities are also less likely
to complete Year 12 or hold a post-school
qualification and are more likely to be
unemployed because they have not been
able to access the same education as their
peers. Victorian schools need specialist staff,
teacher professional development, specialised
equipment/materials, and more educational
support staff to address this.
Case Study: Doveton College
Doveton College in Melbourne’s outer
south-east provides an integrated
learning approach from birth to Year 9,
with integrated support for children and
families in a low socio-economic area
where levels of educational achievement
are low and many children are
developmentally vulnerable. Aside from
the Prep–Year 9 school, other important
components provided on and off-site
include:
•An on-campus early learning
program incorporating both child
care and kindergarten supported by
other early years programs such as
playgroups and maternal and child
health services, adult education
opportunities and study support
groups for parents and families.
•Partnerships with external agencies
such as Centrelink, local community
health services and allied health
services and mental health services.
•An integrated and shared case
management system, including a
collaborative referral review process.
•Community outreach.
•Extended school opening hours to
include evenings and weekends.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Protect vulnerable children and support families
Challenges
•Child protection reports continue to rise and growing numbers of vulnerable
children are being placed in out-of-home care.
•Family services that provide early intervention cannot keep up with demand.
•Foster carer numbers are decreasing, while demand grows.
Strategies
•Invest in early and integrated family support services so families get the right
support when they need it.
•Provide therapeutic support to all children and young people in residential care to
promote healing and recovery from trauma.
•Expand Aboriginal guardianship and focus more on early intervention for Aboriginal
children and families.
• Improve support for foster carers.
All political parties should commit to building
on the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable
Children Inquiry reform momentum, as the
number of reports to child protection continues
to rise, and family services are overwhelmed
by demand. More than 7,300 children and
young people are expected to be placed in outof-home care in 2015.
Families need a strong and coordinated family
services sector, supported by universal and
specialist services able to act early. Once
children and young people are placed in
residential care, the government needs to
ensure they are receiving the therapeutic
support they require to rebuild their lives.
This issue is about more than pay and
conditions, but the cost of caring for a 10-yearold in foster care has been estimated at
$265 per week, yet Victoria pays just $165.
All parties must commit to better training and
remuneration to attract and retain more foster
carers and better cover their costs.
Victorian child protection notifications
2003-04 to 2014-15
Aboriginal children and young people in
Victoria are 16 times more likely to be in outof-home care than their peers.6 The Victorian
Government needs to expand Aboriginal
guardianship and focus more on early
intervention for these families.
Demand for foster care placements is growing.
But the number of foster carers is declining
dramatically, pushing more children into
residential care.
6 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Child Protection
Australia Report 2011-12, p. 42.
Victoria Without Poverty
Sources: 2003-04 to 2012-13 from SCRGSP, Report on
Government Services 2014, Attachment Table 15A.5; 2013-14
and 2014-15 from Victorian Budget 2014-15, Budget Paper No.
3, p.168.
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Support young people through life changes
Challenges
•Children in the ‘middle years’– aged 8 to 12 – are often unsupported at important
transition periods, including moving from primary to secondary school.
•People leaving out-of-home care at 18 are at greater risk of homelessness,
offending behaviour and disengagement.
•Young people who disengage from education or employment are at risk of longterm joblessness without case managed employment support.
Strategies
•Develop transition plans for children between primary and secondary school.
•Give young people a ‘housing guarantee’ when leaving institutional care.
•Support young people leaving care with housing, health, training and employment.
•Invest in youth employment programs that provide targeted, whole-of-life support
for highly vulnerable groups, particularly those leaving care and youth justice.
To have the best chance at a decent life,
Victoria’s vulnerable young people need
housing support, integrated youth support
services and services for the ‘middle years’
children aged 8 to 12 years.
Children aged 8 to 12 undergo significant
physical and emotional change and face
heightened risks of peer group pressure,
bullying, substance use, initial contact with the
criminal justice system and disengagement
from school. The beginning of disengagement
can occur during the transition from primary
to secondary school, but there is no formal
process to help children make this transition. A
transition planning process for children should
be implemented to bridge this gap.
Approximately 10 per cent of
Victorian young people aged 15-19
years are not in education,
training or employment.7
Victoria urgently needs safe, affordable and
appropriate housing for vulnerable young
people, including supported accommodation
services for young people with a disability.
Without it, they are at risk of violence,
deteriorating mental health and school
disengagement.
7 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census Data 2011, taken from
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
and Youth Partnerships, Reforming support to vulnerable
young people: A discussion paper, Victorian Government,
2013, p. 1.
12
Young people leaving residential care need a
‘housing guarantee’ before leaving and support
through health, training and employment
services.
Long term youth unemployment is on the rise
in Victoria and the Federal Government is now
proposing that young people under 30 must
‘earn or learn’. The Victorian government must
assist vulnerable young people with casemanaged support that considers barriers to
work including employability skills, health and
wellbeing, housing and family issues.
Past programs that worked with vulnerable
young people, including those leaving youth
justice and residential care, mothers, those from
low socioeconomic backgrounds, early school
leavers, and those experiencing mental health
problems and family breakdown, have been
scrapped. In the next term of government there
must be renewed investment in supporting
young people to move from school into further
study and work.
“I don’t know what is going to happen
to me, and I don’t feel that it is right for
young adults at 18 years old to leave
care. I think it is too early.”
(17-year-old girl)8
8 J McDowall, Experiencing Out-of-Home Care in Australia: The
views of children and young people, CREATE Foundation,
2013, p. 76.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Liveable communities
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to:
¥¥Reduce the cost of housing by developing a whole-of-government affordable
housing strategy.
¥¥Expand the public transport network by investing in a frequent bus network in
outer Melbourne and rural and regional Victoria.
Melbourne is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most liveable cities, yet many
people cannot find work or affordable housing, and lack access to public transport
and community services. We must make our communities truly ‘liveable’ for all
Victorians.
Victoria’s population is predicted to increase by millions of people in the coming
decade, and we need to ensure they can all lead decent lives, afford a good home, find
a secure job, have regular public transport nearby, access great education or training,
and be able to easily attend their local health and community services. We cannot
keep expanding Melbourne’s fringe and regional Victoria without also increasing jobs,
infrastructure and services there.
When discussing transport, the 2014 election campaign must be about more than
which mega-project is best, or tinkering at the edges of the system. Both major
parties must commit to a vision for public transport that delivers more public
transport services, across all modes, in places and at times people need it.
Victoria must expand its social housing supply to address the chronic shortage of
affordable housing for low-income earners. We need a strategy that includes a mix of
tax policy, planning strategies, land use and social housing.
End homelessness
Challenges
•More than 22,000 Victorians are homeless on any given night, including more
than 5,000 children, and these numbers are rising.
•Homelessness services are being swamped with requests for help.
Strategies
•Strengthen homelessness prevention programs, including support to prevent
evictions, financial advice and assistance to negotiate rental arrears and security
for women seeking to stay ‘safe at home’ from family violence.
•Establish a rapid re-housing program with subsidies to secure private rental
properties for people experiencing homelessness, combined with support to
maintain tenancies.
•Establish a permanent supportive housing program, which houses and supports
people with a history of long-term homelessness who face multiple and complex
disadvantage.
The widespread prevalence of homelessness
in Victoria is emblematic of our failure to
provide liveable communities. Even as the
Victorian economy grew between 2006 and
2011, homelessness increased by 20 per
cent. Homelessness is traumatic, and when
it persists, people’s existing vulnerabilities
are exacerbated and new ones develop.1
Homelessness can disrupt schooling for
children, result in job loss, sever social
connections and lead to multiple physical and
mental health conditions and problems with
drug or alcohol use. Beyond the social costs,
the financial costs of homelessness can be
staggering – a single homeless individual can
cost the community more than $1 million.2
Homeless people in Victoria
“People who are homeless should be
able to get help and assistance wherever
they are and whatever their age or
circumstances.” 3
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population
and Housing: Estimating homelessness, Cat. No. 2049.0,
2011.
1 C Chamberlain, G Johnson & J Theobold, Homelessness
in Melbourne: Confronting the Challenge, 2007, RMIT
University Press, Melbourne.
2 E Baldry, L Dowse, R McCausland & M Clarence, Life-course
institutional costs of homelessness for vulnerable groups,
University of New South Wales, 2012, p. 45.
3Hon. Wendy Lovell MLC, Minister for Housing in the
Department of Human Services’ Victorian Homelessness
Action Plan 2011-2015, p. 2.
14
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
We have the means and the knowledge to end
homelessness permanently in Victoria – we
need only the will to invest in doing it. The
focus must be on preventing people becoming
homeless in the first place, and moving them
to permanent housing as quickly as possible if
they do. We need services that can intervene
before people lose their homes: by paying
rent arrears, devising ‘early warning systems’
with landlords to identify tenancies at risk,
negotiating and mediating tenancy conflicts
and providing representation if cases proceed
to court.
Prevention also includes ‘safe at home’
measures for victims of family violence, and
helping tenants with budgeting, financial
planning and debt management. It includes
planning to make sure people move to stable
housing when they leave hospitals, prisons
or residential care, and providing follow-up
support.
Rapid re-housing or ‘housing first’ is the best
way to immediately help people who become
homeless. If funding is made more flexible,
a range of supports can be provided, such
as time-limited rent subsidies or incentive
payments and guarantees to landlords.
This will work best when connected with
mainstream services, such as education and
health, where staff may often be the first to see
the warning signs that a tenancy is at risk.
Permanent supportive housing is the best
way to support people with health conditions
or disabilities who have experienced chronic
homelessness. This involves a range of
permanently affordable housing options
and connections to services that can help
rebuild a person’s life. These services need
to be expanded and co-located with other
community services to best help those at risk
of, or already experiencing, homelessness.
Reasons people seek support from homelessness services in Victoria
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Specialist Homelessness Services 2012-13, Supplementary
Tables: Victoria, Table VIC2.14.
Victoria Without Poverty
15
Expand the supply of social housing
Challenges
•Private housing and rent costs are rising faster than the incomes of vulnerable
households.
•The supply of social housing is stagnant, and new allocations are low.
•People on low incomes are being pushed out to communities with limited jobs,
services and transport.
Strategies
•Reduce the cost of housing by developing a whole-of-government affordable
housing strategy.
•Implement a Social Housing Development Fund to grow and redevelop social
housing stock.
•Maintain income-linked rents and security of tenure.
•Improve access and tenant outcomes in social housing.
•Streamline the governance and regulation of social housing.
Safe and secure housing is the foundation of
a meaningful life. Without it, people are not
able to live with dignity, make headway on
longer-term goals or attend to other difficulties.
The housing market fails many Victorians
and VCOSS member groups say housing
affordability is the single biggest barrier facing
their clients. Political leaders can improve
affordability through taxation policy, planning
and building regulation, land use and its
disposal, financing mechanisms and public
expenditure on social housing. In the next
term of government these policy areas should
be brought together to produce a coordinated
whole-of-government affordable housing
strategy.
41 per cent of low income rental
households were in housing stress
in 2010-114
Expanding social housing must be the
centrepiece of any affordable housing plan. At
present, social housing growth is stagnant and
its finances are appalling5 – not least because
Victoria spends less than half the national
average per capita. The lack of social housing
is making the affordability crisis worse.
“The availability of affordable,
sustainable and appropriate housing
underpins good health and the social,
educational and economic participation
of individuals.” 6
A long-term Social Housing Development
Fund could expand social housing by at least
800 properties each year7, transform existing
housing stock using community housing
providers to redevelop more good quality
homes, and pursue new housing finance
options, such as housing bonds, revolving
loans and shared equity schemes.
5 Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, Access to Public Housing,
March 2012, p. viii.
6
4 Steering Committee for the Review of Government Services
Provision, National Agreement Performance Reporting:
National Affordable Housing, 2011, p. 138.
16
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Housing
Assistance in Australia 2012, Cat No. HOU 266, 2012, p. 1.
7 Community Housing Federation of Victoria, VCOSS et al,
Making Social Housing Work, March 2014, p. 6.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Social housing expenditure per capita
Net recurrent expenditure on social housing per person in the population 2012-13
Source: Steering Committee for the Review of Government Services Provision, Report on Government Services 2014, Productivity
Commission, Attachment Table 17A.2.
Social housing must also give tenants the
chance to live decent, meaningful lives and
contribute to their communities, by delivering
a streamlined access system to better match
tenants with properties, retaining incomelinked rents to maintain affordability, and
actively resolving difficulties before they spiral
into eviction proceedings or affect others.
The Department of Human Services is
conflicted in its roles of regulator, funder,
policy-maker and provider of housing. A
separate statutory authority for managing
public housing assets should be created
and housing policy centralised with a single
Minister for Housing who covers all housing
policy areas, including social housing, private
rental, housing planning, regulation and tax
concessions.
Gap between public housing rental income and expenses 2002-11
Source: Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, Access to Public Housing, No 118, 2012, p.9.
Victoria Without Poverty
17
Strengthen the rights of private tenants
Challenges
•Half of Victoria’s low socio-economic households live in private rental homes.
•An increasing number of Victorians will rent for life.
•Renters are exposed to poor quality housing and are often forced to move at
short notice, causing poor health, high costs and risk of homelessness.
Strategies
•Improve tenants’ security of tenure by improving their notice periods and ability
to end a lease without penalty.
•Implement a minimum quality housing standard that covers efficient heating and
cooling, energy and water efficiency, safety, health and security.
•Improve accountability and enforceability with regard to repair requests.
There are almost 250,000 low-income
rental households in Victoria.8 People are
increasingly living in private rental for longer
periods of their lives; a third of private renters
have been renting for more than 10 years.9
“The private sector is characterised
by major affordability problems, lack
of tenant security, tenant-landlord
disputation and low-end supply
shortfalls.”10
Australia has weak security of tenure in the
private rental market compared with other
developed countries.11 Our current protections
are based on the outdated idea that a rental
property is merely another type of financial
asset, and a renter is simply a revenue stream
that can be turned on and off like a tap.
8 Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service
Provision, National Agreement Performance Information
2010-11: National Affordable Housing Agreement, 2011,
Productivity Commission, Canberra, p. 138.
Tenants’ security of tenure must be
strengthened. Private rental housing is
no longer a transitional housing option for
many people and the shrinking share of
social housing means some of Victoria’s
most vulnerable families and individuals are
now exposed to the private market. Strong
protections are needed against unnecessary
evictions, and enough time provided so that
people can find new homes if absolutely
necessary. Laws need to encourage longerterm leases and minimise the disruption of
forced moves to people’s lives.
Current rental laws do not prescribe decent
standards for homes. The lack of enforceable
standards to guard against run-down, unsafe
and unhealthy rental homes exacerbates
long-term tenants’ disadvantage, leading
to poor health and higher costs of living.
In the next term of government, minimum
quality standards should be introduced for
rental homes, with stronger requirements for
landlords to comply with minimum standards
and tenant requests for repairs.
9 W Stone, T Burke, K Hulse & L Ralston, Long-term private
rental in a changing Australian private rental sector, AHURI
Final Report No.209. Melbourne: Australian Housing and
Urban Research Institute, 2013, p. 2.
10 T Burke & J Stone, Transport disadvantage and low-income
rental housing, AHURI Positioning Paper No.157. Australian
Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2014, p. 4.
11 K Hulse, et al. Secure occupancy in rental housing:
conceptual foundations and comparative perspectives,
AHURI Final Report No.170. Melbourne: Australian Housing
and Urban Research Institute, 2011, p. 8.
18
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Typical rental conditions in selected countries
Source: Jane Frances Kelly, Renovating Housing Policy, Grattan Institute, 2013, p. 20.
“In one snapshot study, only two per cent of Melbourne rental homes were
affordable for working single-parent families, while none were affordable
for a single person on the minimum wage or income support.”1
1
Department of Human Services, Rental Report March 2012, Melbourne, 2012, p. 15.
Insulation, heating and cooling in Victorian homes, by tenure
Source: Department of Sustainability and Environment, Housing condition/energy performance of rental properties in
Victoria, 2009 and Roy Morgan Research, Victorian Utility Consumption Household Survey: Final report, Department
of Human Services, 2008.
Victoria Without Poverty
19
Expand public transport services
Challenges
•Many people and communities are car-dependent, which means high costs, long
periods spent driving, and exclusion of people without car access.
•Outer metropolitan, rural and regional areas have little or no public transport
service, meaning many Victorians cannot access the opportunities and services
they require for full, productive lives.
•Increasing numbers of older Victorians, people with disabilities and families
cannot use the public transport system, as it lacks accessibility features.
Strategies
•Prioritise public transport over building roads and freeways.
•Expand the public transport network by investing in a frequent bus network in
outer Melbourne and rural and regional Victoria.
•Invest in a long-term accessibility program to ensure older people, people with
injuries, disabilities, prams, groceries and luggage can all use public transport.
There has been much debate over road and
rail options in recent years, but little expansion
of public transport services. More people are
living in Melbourne’s outer suburbs with little
access to public transport to reach jobs and
services.12 The majority of Melbourne’s lowcost private rental dwellings have poor public
transport access, and only 7 per cent have
very good access.13 VCOSS members report
this is far worse in regional Victoria.
If people can’t get to jobs, education, health
care, community services and their families
and friends, their lives are limited and often
impoverished. In new outer suburbs, it is
almost impossible to get around without a car,
yet not everyone has the ability and means to
do so, especially children and young people,
older Victorians, people with a disability and
people living on low incomes. The next term
of government must prioritise the expansion
of public transport over building roads and
freeways.
12 Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, Developing Transport
Infrastructure and Services for Population Growth Areas,
2013.
13 T Burke & J Stone, Transport disadvantage and low-income
rental housing, AHURI Positioning Paper No.157, Australian
Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2014, p. 29.
20
Buses provide the most effective and efficient
way to connect people with local jobs and
services, and to interchange with the rail
system. We can never hope to provide a
train station within walking distance of every
Victorian, but we can provide a well-connected
frequent bus network. In the next term of
government we must expand the frequency
and coverage of bus services, particularly in
Melbourne’s outer suburbs and in rural and
regional Victoria.
“You can’t build your way out of
congestion.” 14
Our public transport also needs to be made
accessible for people with disabilities, older
Victorians, parents with prams and pushers,
people with shopping trolleys or travellers with
luggage, in line with targets established by
the Disability Standards for Accessible Public
Transport 2002.
In the next term of government, Victoria must
invest in upgrading old infrastructure, replacing
old stock, and working to meet the diverse
accessibility needs of all Victorians.
14 Terry Mulder, then opposition spokesman on public transport,
quoted in The Age, East-west rationale to stay a secret, 25
August 2013.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Improve mobility
Challenges
•Vulnerable people need travel options other than private cars.
•People are missing out on essential services due to the costs of travel.
Strategies
•Establish a central wheelchair accessible taxi booking service, and expand the
multi-purpose taxi program.
•Expand community transport and travel training and assistance programs.
•Expand the Victorian Patient Transport Assistance Scheme.
Some of our most vulnerable people simply
cannot reach the services they need. Taxis
continue to be expensive and unreliable.
Community transport coverage is patchy
and underfunded. Health transport services
struggle to get sick people to health care
services, with regional patients often footing
large bills to get to treatment. Travel assistance
and training programs do not meet demand.
The Victorian Industry Taxi Inquiry has
recommended reforms to address the
inaccessibility of taxis for people with
disabilities. In the next term of Parliament, the
government must commit to these reforms,
including creating a central booking service
and expanding the multi-purpose taxi program.
Wait times for metropolitan taxis
The total value of community transport
to the Victorian economy is estimated at
approximately $215 million per annum.15
Victoria lags behind other states in community
transport services, which are cost effective
ways to fill gaps where public transport is
scarce or cannot be used. Travel assistance
and training programs help people use
available transport, including in emergencies
or to access appointments. These programs
are underfunded and should be expanded to
meet demand.
86 per cent of rural councils report that
the ‘amount of community transport
services’ they provide are inadequate to
meet community needs. 16
The Victorian Patient Transport Assistance
Scheme (VPTAS) provides subsidies to eligible
patients who need to travel long distances to
access medical specialist services. The current
program is inadequate. Reimbursement rates
must be increased to reflect the true costs of
travel and accommodation, eligibility should
be widened, and the scheme’s administrative
burden reduced.
Source: Victorian Taxi Industry Inquiry, Draft Report – Customers
First: Services, Safety, Choice, 2012, p. 357.
15 SGS Economics and Planning, The Value of Community
Transport: Draft Report, 2011, p. 5.
16 Municipal Association of Victoria, Community Transport
Research Report, 2009, p. 20.
Victoria Without Poverty
21
Plan for thriving cities and regions
Challenges
•Victoria’s population continues to grow, set to increase by millions over coming
decades.
•There is a growing spatial divide, with pockets of entrenched disadvantage.
•Communities are being built without sufficient access to jobs, infrastructure and
services.
•There is not enough accessible housing for people with disabilities or impaired
mobility.
Strategies
•Create planning incentives for a more efficient, compact urban form.
•Use planning tools to leverage more affordable and social housing in established
areas.
•Slow the rate of expansion on the urban fringe to manageable levels.
•Use social and population-based planning to create jobs, infrastructure and
services in new communities.
•Enshrine universal housing features into building regulations.
Victoria’s population has boomed over the
last decade, with Melbourne adding more
people than any other Australian city. This will
continue over the coming decade – but we
can barely meet the needs of the population
we have now. Our challenge is to manage this
growth well, rather than being overwhelmed.
Our current approach produces a growing
spatial divide between flourishing, job and
service-rich inner areas of Melbourne, and
job-poor and under-serviced outer suburbs.
There is also a divide between some thriving
regional centres, and other, often smaller rural
communities experiencing job loss, service
cuts and an ageing population. The lack of
affordable housing is funnelling low-income
households into already disadvantaged
areas, or new suburbs on the urban fringe.
This risks descending into a downward spiral,
with people with the least resources pushed
to places with few jobs and a lack of social
services.
To reverse this we need to invest in the
schools, social services and economic
development of areas facing disadvantage;
22
and provide opportunities in flourishing areas
for people to move there if they wish. More
homes must be located in existing areas
that already have jobs, infrastructure and
services. Planning and development systems
can use inclusionary zoning, density bonuses
and development levy offsets to encourage
affordable housing. With good planning and
services systems we can begin to undo this
poverty trap.
“Melbourne should “stop spreading at
the edges like some sort of stain.”17
New housing must also be suitable for a range
of people, throughout their lives. People with
disabilities and older people need accessible
housing. We must enshrine accessibility
features in building regulations so that new
homes will be accessible to anyone who needs
to live in them.
17 Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor, City of Melbourne, 19 March
2014.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Create change through place-based strategies
Challenges
•Many parts of outer Melbourne and rural and regional Victoria have poor access to
services.
•Fragmented, narrowly focused and siloed programs block communities from
working together on common goals.
Strategies
•Take place-based approaches in local communities, bringing together services,
businesses, local leaders and residents to identify shared goals and strategies.
•Develop community hubs where services and programs are co-located and
integrated with schools and other services.
•Develop programs and services that best respond to local needs.
Building strong, vibrant and sustainable
communities requires more than bricks and
mortar. Communities work best when people
can help develop and deliver the programs
and services they need. Every community is
different, their nature, depth and causes of
disadvantage vary, and their strategies for
change need to vary as well.
Place-based strategies bring together schools,
health providers, police, community service
providers, local government, local businesses
and residents. They enable communities to
prioritise urgent problems and coordinate
responses. State government leaders
must ensure funding streams and local
organisations have the flexibility and autonomy
to align their activities with shared goals.
In the next term of government, service hubs
should be established in growth areas and
areas of particular disadvantage, ideally based
around existing facilities, with the range of
services that community needs. This could
include counselling, maternal and child health,
community information, Centrelink assistance,
financial counselling, emergency relief,
housing information and referral, community
health centres, youth programs or free internet
access.
Victoria Without Poverty
Case study: Go Goldfields
Go Goldfields is an alliance of
organisations, created to respond to social
issues that are too complex and long-term
for previous solutions. The alliance has
developed community-driven approaches
to improve social, education and health
outcomes for children, youth and families.
The identified whole-of-community
outcomes are:
•A reduction in the incidence of
notifications to DHS Child Protection
Services.
•Improved communication and literacy
skills, opportunities and positive life
experiences for children and their
families.
•Improved community connectedness
for children, youth and families.
•Improved youth connection to
appropriate training and education to
achieve employment outcomes.
•Increased breastfeeding rates.
23
Manage emergencies better
Challenges
•People and communities facing disadvantage suffer more from emergencies.
•Community organisations often lack the resources, skills and expertise to respond
in an emergency, placing clients at risk.
Strategies
•Support community organisations for emergency management planning, risk
management, business continuity planning and assisting vulnerable clients to
prepare personal plans.
•Plan for vulnerable people and communities in emergencies, including heatwaves.
•During heatwaves, provide cool spaces in all communities and social housing,
provide at-risk groups with ‘heatwave packs’, and develop targeted information
about how to reduce heatwave risk for vulnerable groups.
Natural disasters and extreme weather
events cause great physical, financial and
psychological hardship. For people who are
already facing disadvantage, they can be
overwhelming.
Community sector organisations support
vulnerable Victorians on a day-to-day basis
as well as during and following emergency
events. They are key in delivering services
and emergency relief to affected communities,
and in supporting individuals and communities
throughout recovery. Victoria’s new emergency
management structure, which supports
collaboration and reinforces an ‘all-hazards allagencies’ approach, needs to recognise and
resource the community sector.
Victoria needs to improve its response to
heatwaves, the most deadly natural disaster
we face. During heatwaves, we must provide
cool spaces in all communities and in public
and community housing, provide at-risk groups
with ‘heatwave packs’, and develop targeted
information about how to reduce heatwave risk
for vulnerable groups.
“…the most appropriate approach to
help vulnerable people (through) an
extreme weather event, is through the
agencies that work with them on a
regular basis.” 18
Incidence of health problems during
heatwaves
Percentage of SA households that faced
health problems due to heat waves by group
A Sevoyan et al, Impact of Climate Change on Disadvantaged
Groups: Issues and interventions, National Climate Change
Adaptation Research Facility, 2013, p. 79.
18 Australian Red Cross, 2013, Public Submission to
the Senate Standing Committee on Environment and
Communications Inquiry into recent trends in and
preparedness for extreme weather events, Australian Red
Cross, Melbourne.
24
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Respond to climate change
Challenge
•People and communities experiencing disadvantage are more heavily affected by
climate change.
Strategies
•Inform different communities how to adapt effectively to extreme weather events.
•Fund local government and community sector organisations to include climate
change in risk management and business continuity strategies.
•Help vulnerable people develop climate change strategies, and connect them to
services.
Climate change can lead to higher costs of
living through energy, water, food, fuel and
insurance price increases. It also raises the
risk of bushfires, storms, floods, droughts and
heatwaves that can result in deaths, injuries,
ongoing health problems, and displacement of
vulnerable people.
The community sector is also at risk in the face
of floods, bushfires and storms. Up to a quarter
of small and medium-sized organisations state
they might have to close if they experience
major damage and service disruptions.20 The
consequences of this for vulnerable people are
serious.
Climate change affects vulnerable people and
communities more heavily, as they have less
ability to prepare for, respond to and recover
from the hazards and damage of flood, fire,
storms and heatwaves. Vulnerable people face
a greater risk of death in disasters.
In the next term of government, the resilience
of vulnerable groups to climate change needs
to be built up. Communities should be involved
in decision making and encouraged to plan for
changing conditions. The underlying causes
of vulnerability should be tackled to improve
people’s resilience and capacity to adapt,
and the costs and risks of addressing climate
change should be spread fairly across the
community. Local communities, community
organisations and local government require
help to respond effectively to extreme weather
and climate risk, to protect vulnerable people
from the dangers climate change poses.
“There is a growing recognition that the
distribution of weather-related health
impacts has been, and will continue
to be, uneven, falling more heavily on
low-income populations and those with
chronic health conditions. Other factors
associated with increased vulnerability
include age, disability, homelessness,
social isolation, poor English language
skills, and residing in rural and remote
communities.”19
20 K Mallon, E Hamilton, M Black, B Beem, J Abs, Adapting the
Community Sector for Climate Extremes, National Climate
Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, 2013, p.
3.
19 Senate Standing Committees on Environment and
Communications, Recent trends in and preparedness for
extreme weather events, 2013, p. 82.
Victoria Without Poverty
25
Healthy communities
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to commit to a package of services and reforms to
combat violence against women and their children.
A good health system needs more than just hospital beds. It is about
preventing people becoming unwell in the first place, and supporting them
to live well if they develop chronic health problems. By helping people
live healthier lives, and reducing inequalities that contribute to bad health,
we will address the fact that at the moment, how well you are in this state
depends to a large extent on where you live and how much you earn.
Victoria needs to do more to end family violence. Violence against women
by their partners is the biggest contributor to ill health, disability and death
in Victorian women aged 15–44. All parties need to commit to invest in
a comprehensive primary prevention strategy that can stem this tide of
violence.
With a proposed $7 co-payment for visiting a GP and cuts to federal
hospital funding, the Victorian government needs to act so that people
don’t have to make the choice between going to the doctor and paying
other essential bills.
Building a strong and equitable primary care system across the state that
enables all Victorians to address their physical and mental health issues
will help prevent disease and free up hospital beds for those needing
acute care, improving the health of all Victorians, including those most
vulnerable.
Reduce violence against women and children
Challenges
•Violence against women by their partners is the biggest contributor to ill health,
disability and death in Victorian women aged 15–44.
•Family violence is a major cause of homelessness and can lead to unemployment,
disconnection from family, and has other social and health effects.
•Police and family violence services are facing overwhelming demand from a
growing number of people reporting family violence, and increased prosecutions.
Strategies
•Establish a Minister for Preventing Violence against Women and Children.
•Relocate the Office of Women’s Affairs to within the Department of Premier and
Cabinet to better support a whole-of-government approach.
•Invest in a comprehensive primary prevention strategy.
•Expand services available to respond to increasing numbers of family violence
reports, including crisis response, case management, women’s health, housing,
legal assistance and specialist court support.
•Adequately resource multi-agency risk-management service partnerships in all
regions, that focus on keeping women safe from high risk ,violent offenders.
•Fund the work of the Victorian Systemic Review of Family Violence Deaths.
•Strengthen the focus on helping women and children stay safe in the family home.
Increased community and media focus and
a strong stand against family violence by
Victoria Police has led to a large increase
in family violence reports, as more women
choose to seek help and feel more confident
that the perpetrators of violence will be held
accountable by police, the court system and
the community.
Family incidents reported to police
Violence against women and children is
a society-wide problem that needs to be
addressed in a coordinated and integrated
way across government and the community.
To begin to effectively do so, in the next term
fo government we need a dedicated Minister
for Preventing Violence against Women and
Children, and a centrally coordinated wholeof-government response from the Premier’s
Department.
Source: Victoria Police, Official Release
Crime Statistics 2012-13, p.21.
Victoria Without Poverty
27
To stop family violence happening in the first
place we must invest in a comprehensive
primary prevention strategy delivered through
schools, sporting clubs, workplaces and the
media, to address the causes of violence
against women and their children.
“My ex-partner harassed and stalked me
for the last four years. He has breached
intervention orders constantly. He
has contacted colleagues and friends
…. spread rumours…and has made
public calls and ‘pages’ on Facebook
for people to come and take our child
from me so I ‘get what I deserve’. In
between these incidents of abuse he has
proposed marriage to me, begged me
to go back to him and sent me gifts. He
has previously broken into my home... I
report everything to the police.”
- Family violence survivor
Women and children already facing violence
in the home need housing, legal and specialist
services to become safe and stay safe.
Currently those services are overwhelmed
by demand. Victims of family violence can
become disconnected from employment,
school, friends, extended family and other
support networks. Women and children
escaping violence are at greater risk of
homelessness. Helping them remain safe in
their homes is now national policy that should
be supported at a state level, including through
more funding for Safe at Home brokerage.
The Victorian Systemic Review of Family
Violence Deaths plays a critical role in
understanding and addressing factors leading
to family violence fatalities so they can be
prevented in future. Recent funding cuts leave
the review, a division of the Coroner’s Court,
poorly resourced and unable to fulfil this vital
function. VCOSS calls on all parties to properly
fund the Victorian Systemic Review of Family
Violence Deaths.
Violence against women by their
partners is the biggest contributor
to ill health, disability and death in
Victorian women aged 15–44.1
In 2009 it was estimated that
violence against women and
their children cost the Victorian
economy $3.4 billion.2
Over the last 10 years, the number
of family violence intervention
orders finalised has more than
doubled.3
Family violence also affects
children who witness or
experience it, and is a factor in
more than half of all cases where
children are removed from their
families in Victoria.4
1VicHealth, The health costs of violence: Measuring the
burden of disease caused by intimate partner violence, 2004,
p. 10.
2 Department of Justice, 2012, Measuring Family Violence
in Victoria: Victorian Family Violence Database Volume 5
Eleven Year Trend Analysis 1999-2010, State Government of
Victoria, p. 23.
3 Magistrates Court of Victoria, 2012-13 Annual Report, 2013,
p. 52.
4 Department of Human Services Vulnerable babies, children
and young people at risk of harm; Best practice framework
for acute health services, 2006, Victoria, p. 3.
28
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Prevent illness and improve access to health care
Challenges
•Victorians experiencing disadvantage have much poorer health than others.
•Rates of chronic disease are rising, more rapidly in rural and remote areas and low
socio-economic communities.
•Many Victorians cannot access health services when needed.
•Demand for community health services is rising.
Strategies
•Invest in stronger, better targeted primary care and early intervention programs.
•Expand health promotion programs for exercise, smoking and high blood pressure.
•Increase funding for community-based primary care mental health, drug and
alcohol, and chronic health condition services.
•Improve the cultural responsiveness of mainstream health services.
•Increase patient travel subsidies for rural and regional Victorians.
Victoria’s health care system needs to be more
accessible to everyone, as people living on low
incomes, in some rural and regional areas, and
Aboriginal Victorians, have poorer health, die
earlier and receive less care. These people
need improved primary care and early
intervention services, information and health
care access.
Primary care services are many people’s first
point of contact with the health system and
can help them to get the right care, when and
where they need it. With chronic disease rates
rising, demand for primary care services is also
rising. Strengthening primary care services will
improve the health care system and the health
of Victorians facing disadvantage.
People from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds can have difficulty understanding
health options and services available.5 A
good health system will reach out to people
of different languages, cultures and levels of
understanding.
Chronic diseases are continuing to increase
at an alarming rate and particularly in
disadvantaged communities. Known risk
5 Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, An investment not
an expense: Enhancing health literacy in culturally and
linguistically diverse communities, 2012.
Victoria Without Poverty
factors for heart disease, diabetes and kidney
disease include physical inactivity, smoking
and high blood pressure. In the next term of
government, information and services about
these chronic conditions needs to be targeted
to vulnerable communities.
High out-of-pocket expenses disadvantage
people on low incomes and contribute to
poorer health. The Victorian Patient Transport
Assistance Scheme gives subsidies to patients
travelling to specialist healthcare providers, but
needs more funding to cover the costs for rural
and regional Victorians.
Australians living in the most
disadvantaged areas are twice as
likely to develop diabetes as those in
the most advantaged regions.6
59 per cent of Australians have
difficulty understanding health
information.7
6 SK Tanamas, et al., AusDiab 2012,The Australian Diabetes,
Obesity and Lifestyle Study, Melbourne: Baker IDI Heart and
Diabetes Institute, August 2013, p. 5.
7 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Social Trends, Cat.
No. 4102.0, 2009.
29
Improve mental health and wellbeing
Challenges
•Mental health issues limit people’s ability to work, and affects families.
•Under-funding of community-based mental health services leads to more people
reaching crisis point, and presenting at hospitals for acute care.
•Mental health services are often not closely integrated into broader health and
community service systems.
Strategies
•Expand early intervention services to ease demand for hospital care.
•Establish community-based mental health services in underserviced areas.
•Strengthen community-based mental health services for young people.
People’s mental health can be affected by
financial stress, poor housing, lack of social
support and access to and use of health
services. Community-based mental health
services address the need to help people
recover with a range of services.
Early intervention can prevent people’s mental
health deteriorating and further disrupting their
lives. But a lack of community-based mental
health services prevents many vulnerable
Victorians getting this early support.
“Investments that directly reduce the
disability and disadvantage associated with
mental illness not only enhance people’s
wellbeing but also lead to savings by
reducing demand for costly health and
welfare services.”8
Mental health services are limited or nonexistent in rapidly growing rural and regional
and outer metropolitan areas. These service
gaps must be addressed. Young people
and Aboriginal people also experience
mental illness at higher rates than other
Victorians.9 But only a quarter of young people
experiencing a mental health problem actually
receive help from a mental health service.10
8 VICSERV, Community Managed Mental Health: An agenda for
the future, 2012, p. 1.
9AIHW, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
Performance Framework 2012 Report: Victoria, 2012, p. 40.
10 T Slade et al, Department of Health and Ageing, The Mental
Health of Australians: Report on the 2007 National Survey of
Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2009, p. 11.
30
There is a need to expand services that
provide targeted support to these groups.
Mental illness is the largest single
contributor to disability burden in
the population.11
75 per cent of mental illnesses
emerge before the age of 25.12
Suicide is the leading cause of
death for young people 14-24.13
Mental health service consumers
die, on average, 25 years earlier
than the general population.14
11 Department of Human Services, Because Mental Health
Matters: Victorian Mental Health Reform Strategy 20092019, p. 3.1.
12 R.C Kessler, et al., Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset
distribution of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity
Survey Replication, Arch Gen Psychiatry, Vol. 62, No.6, pp.
593-602.
13 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Causes of Death, Cat No
3303.0, 2012.
14 Mental Health: Research Findings Program Brief, Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, September 2009, http://
www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/mental/mentalhth/
index.html
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Reduce harm from alcohol and other drugs
Challenges
•Alcohol and drug misuse cause significant community and economic problems.
•Harm minimisation is often weakened by punitive law and order approaches.
•Alcohol and drug treatment services are facing growing demand.
Strategies
•Shift alcohol and drug policy towards harm minimisation and public health
responses.
•Increase funding to alcohol and drug treatment services and build on reforms.
Alcohol and drug use can contribute to family
breakdown, unemployment, homelessness,
family violence and accidents. Current law
and order approaches to drug and alcohol use
in Victoria work against harm minimisation
approaches that can deliver much more
effective outcomes for illicit drug use.
Both the major parties need to shift the way
they deal with drug offending, but also commit
to providing resources for a long-awaited major
reform of drug and alcohol services.
“Misuse of alcohol and use of drugs
affect our health, families, economy,
criminal justice system and, most
importantly, the lives of too many
Victorians.”15
In 2011 there were 26,000 drug
and alcohol related emergency
presentations.17
One in four Australians report
being victims of alcohol-related
physical or verbal abuse.18
Drug and alcohol use is estimated
to cost the Victorian community
about $14 billion.19
The Auditor-General recently found that wait
times for alcohol and treatment services
have increased and services are not aligned
with demand.16 Despite this, funding for drug
treatment and rehabilitation decreased by 4.5
per cent in real terms in the 2013-14 Victorian
Budget. More funding is needed to meet the
growing demand for services. The current
Government is recommissioning services, but
the funding committed will not meet future
demands on the sector.
15 Department of Health Victoria, Reducing the Alcohol and
Drug Toll; Victoria’s Plan 2013-17, Victorian Government,
January 2013, Minister’s Foreword.
16 Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, Managing Drug and
Alcohol Prevention and Treatment Services, March 2011. pp.
20-21.
Victoria Without Poverty
17 Department of Health, Victorian Government, Reducing
the Alcohol and Drug Toll; Victoria’s Plan 2013-17, January
2013, p. 7.
18 Ibid, p. 8.
19 Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, Managing Drug and
Alcohol Prevention and Treatment Services, March 2011,
p. VII.
31
Work and financial security
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to:
¥¥Develop a workforce participation plan that incorporates community
services, vocational education providers and potential employers, to
increase employment for vulnerable groups.
¥¥Deliver one million energy efficient homes to cut the cost of living.
As big losses loom at Ford, Qantas, Alcoa and other major employers, jobs
will be a major focus in the 2014 election. But it is not just these workers who
face difficulty in getting and keeping work.
With the state’s unemployment rate at a decade high, declining workforce
participation, high youth unemployment and sluggish jobs growth, we must
help all Victorians find and keep work, continuing the Victorian economy’s
transition from a manufacturing to a services jobs base without stranding
workers. Disadvantaged job-seekers need support to expand their skills,
employability and confidence, to overcome employer discrimination, and
have a stable housing and healthcare base from which to work.
Many Victorians are also struggling to keep up with the costs of essentials,
whether because their jobs and wages are precarious, they act as primary
carers to family or friends in need, or they rely on pensions and other income
supports. Our concessions system must be made fairer, including helping
those eligible to understand their entitlements and access support. It would
also be efficient and effective to help vulnerable people cut their energy
bills by improving the energy efficiency of their homes. All parties should
commit to helping one million low-income households improve the safety and
efficiency of their homes.
Create jobs and skill development
Challenges
•Unemployment rates are at decade highs, especially for young people.
•Jobs are increasingly precarious, particularly for low-skilled workers.
•Vocational education has undergone immense reform, and needs oversight so it
can help disadvantaged people to train and re-train for real jobs in the future.
Strategies
•Develop a workforce participation plan that incorporates community services,
vocational education providers and potential employers.
•Connect people with skills and jobs alongside other support, building on
successes such as Work and Learning Centres and Youth Foyers.
•Review vocational education funding and quality assurance.
•Re-orient economic development to employment-intensive growth.
Australia is set to lose 40,000 manufacturing
jobs in the five years to 2018, with 25,000
of these in car manufacturing particularly
concentrated in Victoria.1 In 2014, the state’s
unemployment rate hit 6.4 per cent, the
highest since 2002. As Victoria continues to
transition from traditional manufacturing to
services-based jobs, we must ensure workers
are not stranded, and help disadvantaged jobseekers find work.
The Government can help all Victorians
gain the skills to work in the changing labour
market. It should also fund community
services to help vulnerable people find
housing, education and healthcare support, so
they can then find and keep work.
Vocational education reforms have led to huge
increases in enrolments, including among
students experiencing disadvantage, but it is
unclear whether this is translating into better
jobs. Recent vocational education funding
cuts could result in fewer of these students
being able to start or complete their course,
and having weaker job prospects when they
do.
We also need to ensure industry assistance
programs deliver the best employment
outcomes, directing initiatives towards
employment-intensive and growing industries.
Enrolments in VET qualifications by equity group
Change in enrolments between Q3 2012 and Q3 2013 for selected equity groups
Source: DEECD, Victorian Training Market Quarterly Report Q3 2013, pp.38-42.
1 Department of Employment, Industry Employment
Projections to November 2018, Canberra, 2014.
Victoria Without Poverty
33
Respond to financial crisis
Challenges
•People in crisis can descend into long term disadvantage without appropriate
support.
•Many low-income households are prevented by small up-front costs from
reaching a sustainable financial position.
•Some households perpetually in financial difficulty require assistance to meet
basic needs.
Strategies
•Expand financial counselling services to better meet demand.
•Fund community organisations to help more people apply for no-interest loans.
•Increase resources for emergency relief and financial assistance providers.
With rising unemployment, costs of living and
housing costs, demand for Victoria’s financial
counsellors has risen considerably in the
last year, with the average waiting time to
see a financial counsellor increasing from 30
to 45 days in some areas. Recent changes
have increased counsellor numbers in some
underserviced areas but reduced them in
others. Financial counselling helps people
exercise their rights when dealing with banks,
utility providers and other creditors. Investment
of about $3 million a year for 30 new financial
counselling positions would make substantial
progress in addressing the problem.
A Salvation Army survey of financial
counselling clients found 75 per cent
reported improved skills in managing
debt and 68 per cent felt their financial
situation improved as a result of
counselling services.2
Struggling households often pay exorbitant
interest rates from payday lenders to fund
essential or emergency purchases, sending
them into a spiral of debt. No-interest Loan
Schemes (NILS) give low-income households
small loans for much-needed purchases such
as furniture, computers, medical aid, or urgent
repairs. The NSW Government has provided
52 NILS programs $2.2 million over two years,
enabling them to make twice as many loans
in 2012-13 as Victoria, despite having fewer
providers. The Victorian Government should
invest similarly.
Most of Victoria’s emergency relief agencies
are community-run and staffed primarily
by volunteers. A state government funded
volunteer coordinator in each agency (as was
introduced to the Neighbourhood House sector
over a decade ago) would enable them to
get the most from volunteers, extend opening
hours, deliver higher quality services, and
enable long term planning.
Purpose of no-interest loans
Victoria, July-December 2012
Source: Data provided by Good Shepherd Microfinance
2 Dr N Brackertz, I Wish I’d Known Sooner: The impact
of financial counselling on debt resolution and personal
wellbeing, The Salvation Army, 2012, p. 1.
34
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Design concessions to cut the cost of living
Challenges
•Many Victorian concessions are unfairly structured and fail to help those most in
need.
•Essential services demand a greater share of low-income households’ budgets.
•Up to 30 per cent of eligible households do not claim concessions they are
entitled to.
Strategies
•Remove energy and water concession caps.
•Expand concession eligibility across more services and to Health Care Card
holders.
•Better promote concessions and simplify the process for those eligible.
Thousands of Victoria’s most vulnerable
people, including pensioners, veterans, and
sole parents rely on concessions to afford
council rates, TAC insurance, and the Fire
Services Levy. However these concessions
are inexplicably withheld from Health Care
Card holders, who typically have even lower
incomes and higher expenses. Health Care
Card holders should be eligible for these
concessions.
We also need to simplify and better promote
concession programs. VCOSS member
organisations report that a significant
proportion of eligible households do not claim
the concessions they are entitled to.
Effective water concession,
by household size
Effective concession on water bills by typical
usage by different sized renter households.
The energy concession was recently ‘soft’capped, requiring households with very high
expenditure to apply for an extra concession
above the cap. Many of those who are eligible
will likely miss out due to language barriers
or the complexity of the application process.
It would be more efficient and effective to
help vulnerable people improve the energy
efficiency of their homes, to cut energy bills.
The cap on the water concession is inequitable
and increasingly ineffective, as it does not
increase in line with water prices. It should be
removed.
The Asylum Seeker Transport Concession
helps Victoria’s 3,000 asylum-seeker
households, who are among our most
impoverished community members, to meet
their travel costs. Prohibited from working and
ineligible for Commonwealth concession cards,
these people struggle to cover essential costs
of living. An energy and water concession
would make a big difference to their lives.
Victoria Without Poverty
Source: VCOSS calculations based on estimates provided by City
West Water
35
Use energy and water more efficiently
Challenges
•Low-income households struggle to pay the increasing costs of energy and water.
•Fresh water will be increasingly scarce as our population grows and climate
variance increases, and energy sources will need to start using low-emission
technologies.
Strategies
•Deliver one million energy efficient homes to cut the cost of living through retrofits,
minimum standards and appliance upgrades that reduce energy bills.
•Conduct energy and water audits and upgrades for low-income households.
Energy and water efficiency has slipped off
the agenda in Victoria over the past four
years, despite increasing costs and evidence
of the impact of a changing climate. Victoria’s
deadly 2009 and 2014 heatwaves show the
vulnerability of low-income households that
cannot afford to cool their homes. They are at
similar risk in winter if they cannot afford to turn
on their heating.
Vulnerable Victorians need to be able to afford
energy and water, and use them as efficiently
as possible. Mounting evidence shows high
energy bills are often the result of poor energy
and water efficiency of homes and appliances.
Free energy and water efficiency audits should
be conducted and the homes of one million
low-income households improved through
retrofits, minimum standards and appliance
upgrades. As well as improving the health
and reducing the financial stress of vulnerable
people, more efficient water and energy
usage in low-income households will produce
significant savings to the concessions budget.
Lessons from energy audits
Kildonan UnitingCare’s Energy Audit program yielded an average annual energy usage saving
of 1,637 kWh and a bill saving of $212 between 2004 and 2006.1 While behaviour change
and low-cost remedies (such as draught-proofing) are effective, the potential for greater
savings (via retrofitting more efficient fixtures and insulation, or upgrading appliances) was
in many cases constrained by tenure (with tenants unable to make changes to fixtures or
dwelling structure) or lack of capital. A more recent (2009–12) Brotherhood of St Laurence
program found that around two thirds of more than 600 participants faced similar barriers to
implementing the recommendations of energy efficiency audits.2
With energy costs having risen by more than 50 per cent since 2006,3 equivalent savings to
those reported by the Kildonan project represent over $300 a year for low-income households
and over $40 million in concession savings. If major appliance replacement (e.g. fridges and
washing machines) and dwelling retrofitting (e.g. heaters, hot water systems, insulation) were
included, savings would be much higher, reaching over $150 million a year if all concession
households’ dwellings were brought to a 4 or 5-star efficiency standard.4 Emissions savings
would also be significant.
36
1
J Borrell & S Lane, Energy Audit Program Evaluation (2004–2006 data), Kildonan UnitingCare, 2009.
2
V Johnson, D Sullivan & J Totty, Improving the energy efficiency of homes in Moreland: Warm Home Cool Home and Concession
Assist social research final report, Brotherhood of St Laurence, 2013.
3
Essential Services Commission, Energy retailers comparative performance report: Pricing 2012–13, 2013.
4
Alternative Technology Association, 2.5 billion reasons to invest in efficiency: Modelling the impact of improving the energy
efficiency of Victoria’s homes on the Victorian Energy Concessions Budget, One Million Homes Alliance, 2012.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Justice reinvestment
and human rights
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to reduce crime by developing a justice reinvestment
plan that diverts people from prison, improves treatment for prisoners and
rehabilitates people leaving prison.
Being tough on crime doesn’t equal being smart on crime.
When elections are fought on ‘tough on crime’ grounds, voters end up paying
the costs through overloaded prison and court systems bursting at the seams.
There is an abundance of evidence showing that longer sentences and harsher
treatment do not reduce crime rates or make the community safer. But they do
pour taxes into a burgeoning prison system, taking away money for schools,
hospitals, community services, housing and public transport.
We need to find the right balance, of using prison sentences appropriately when
they will deter offenders and protect the community, while finding other ways
when a prison sentence will not achieve either of these things.
Victoria needs justice reinvestment strategies that are more cost-effective in
reducing crime, by addressing the underlying causes of offending, diverting
people from the justice system, and providing stable housing and better
employment opportunities. Victorian community organisations work at the
grass roots to address these complex social issues, and should be supported
to do so.
Most prisoners in Victoria have histories of physical and sexual abuse, mental
illness, drug and alcohol misuse or cognitive impairment. If they do go to
prison, it should be a chance to treat their health and dependence problems,
and improve their skills and ability to leave prison as productive members of
society.
Vulnerable and disadvantaged people are more likely to face legal issues and
discrimination, but are less able to access quality legal assistance. All parties
should commit to investing more to ensure everyone can have a decent go at
life, free from unfair treatment, with the equal protection of the law.
Divert young people from the justice system
Challenges
•Young people have inconsistent access to diversion options across Victoria.
•Current diversion programs are limited in their eligibility, catchment or funding.
•Many young people are held on remand unnecessarily due to a lack of bail
support.
Strategies
•Introduce legislation to enshrine diversion for young people from first police
contact through to court attendance.
•Invest in a continuum of programs that aim to divert young people early and
address the underlying causes of offending.
•Reduce the number of young people on remand by expanding bail support
services.
Diverting young people away from the justice
system and custodial sentences makes sense.
There is no strong evidence to suggest that
custodial penalties deter young people from
offending.1 In fact, custodial sentences can
contribute to further criminal behaviour due
to negative peer influences and community
disconnection.2
Diversion aims to prevent someone from
moving further into the criminal justice system.
Effective diversionary programs help young
people address the underlying causes of their
offending by tackling issues such as substance
use, housing, mental health issues, education
and training needs. They aim to help reduce
reoffending rates, improve community safety
and save money on police, courts, prisons and
legal services. However, Victoria’s approach
to diversion for young people is described as
“somewhat ad hoc” with no state-wide funded
programs.3
Community-based diversion costs
10 per cent or less of the amount
required to detain someone in a
juvenile justice facility.4
Remand admissions for young
people tend to be for short
periods:
•64 per cent of all remand
admissions in 2010 were for 21
days or less
•39 per cent were for seven
days or less
•25 per cent were for one to
three days.5
1 D Weatherburn, S Vignaendra and A McGrath, The
Specific Deterrent Effect of Custodial Penalties on Juvenile
Reoffending, AIC Reports Technical and Background Paper
33, Australian Institute of Criminology, p. 10.
38
2U Gatti, R Tremblay and F Vitaro, ‘Latrogenic Effect of Juvenile
Justice’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 50:8,
2009, pp. 991–998.
4 KPMG, Department of Human Services – Review of the
Youth Justice Group Conferencing Program, 2010.
3 Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing Children and
Young People in Victoria, Melbourne, 2012, p. 28.
5 Jesuit Social Services, Thinking Outside: Alternatives to
remand for children, 2013.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Diversion options for young people need to
be available at every point of the system,
from early contact with police through to
court attendance. The Criminal Justice
Diversion Program for adult offenders exists
in all Victorian Magistrates Courts through
the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 but there is
nothing comparable enacted for young people.
The police caution program for young people is
entirely at police discretion.
It is positive that the Youth Support Service
recently received recurrent funding, but many
other valuable diversion programs for young
people such as ROPES, Right Step, and
the Youth Referral and Independent Person
Program are limited in their eligibility criteria
and catchment areas, or lack ongoing funding.
There is also a need for culturally specific
programs that meet the needs of diverse
community groups.
Children and young people continue to be
detained on remand because bail support is
not available. In Victoria, about 22 per cent of
children and young people in detention are unsentenced. Bail support programs, including
the Central After Hours Assessment and Bail
Placement Service and the Intensive Bail
Supervision Program, need to be expanded to
provide more consistent coverage and flexible
services, to reduce the number of young
people on remand, particularly short-term
remand.
Access to diversionary programs
Young people residing in regional and rural areas are less likely to have access to
diversionary programs. The blue locations are Magistrates/Children’s Courts where
diversionary programs are offered.
Source: Smart Justice for Young People, Youth diversion makes sense, 2012, p.5.
Victoria Without Poverty
39
Reform the corrections system
Challenges
•The escalating costs of imprisonment and prison-building are unsustainable.
•Prisoners have a higher rate of serious health issues than the general population.
Untreated health issues increase rates of reoffending on release.
•Prison does not address the underlying causes of offending.
•Most prisoners are released with limited or no access to transition support,
increasing the risk of reoffending.
•Young people continue to be transferred from the youth justice system into the
adult corrections system and into solitary confinement.
Strategies
•Adopt a five-year prison population reduction target.
•Address the causes of offending behaviour through a justice reinvestment
approach to community safety.
•Invest in prison health services, including preventative health, alcohol and drug
treatment, psychiatric care and primary care.
•Increase pre- and post-release transition support to reduce the risk of
reoffending, particularly in the areas of housing, education and employment.
•Adopt the Victorian Ombudsman’s recommendation that young people no longer
be transferred from youth justice to adult corrections.
The costs of imprisonment and prison building
in Victoria are escalating. Annual prison
spending in 2012-13 was $108 million higher
than in 2008-09, with prisoner numbers
increasing by 12 per cent in that time. The
Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council found
prisons have little deterrent effect and “may
create a criminal learning environment”.6
This is reflected in recent increases in the
recidivism rate from 33.7 per cent in 2009-10
to 39.5 per cent expected in 2013-14.7
Prisoners in Victoria have typically experienced
significant disadvantage, often contributing to
their offending behaviour. Aboriginal people
are over-represented in prison, with Aboriginal
women the fastest growing segment of the
Victorian prison population. Two thirds of male
and almost half of female Victorian prisoners
6 Sentencing Advisory Council, Does Imprisonment Deter? A
Review of the Evidence, 2011, p. 17.
7 Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance, Budget
Paper No. 3 Service Delivery, 2014-15, p. 196.
40
were unemployed when imprisoned.8 Many
have a history of drug and alcohol use directly
related to their offending, and 87 per cent of
female prisoners have experienced sexual,
physical or emotional abuse.9
“Imprisonment has, at best, no effect
on the rate of reoffending and often
results in a greater rate of recidivism….
Harsh prison conditions do not generate
a greater deterrent effect, and the
evidence shows that such conditions
may lead to more violent reoffending.”10
Victoria needs a plan to keep people who
face disadvantage out of prison, instead of
continuing to increase prison capacity. Justice
reinvestment, where funding is redirected to
8 Smart Justice, Factsheet: More prisons are not the answer to
reducing crime, 2011.
9Ibid.
10 D Ritchie, Does Imprisonment Deter? A review of the
evidence, Sentencing Advisory Council, April 2011, p. 61.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Case Study: Neighbourhood
Justice Centre
The Neighbourhood Justice Centre (NJC)
serves the City of Yarra and involves a
multi-jurisdictional court with a range of
support services attached. An evaluation
of the NJC found that the centre:
•Reduced re-offending
•Recidivism rates were reduced from
41 per cent to 34 per cent
•Offenders were 14 per cent less likely
to re-offend compared to other courts
•Increased offender compliance
•Completion of Community Based
Orders was 10 per cent higher than
the state-wide average
•NJC offenders did an average of 105
hours of unpaid community work in
the City of Yarra, compared to the
state-wide average of 68 hours
community initiatives that target the causes
of crime, would be a more efficient use of
resources. This means investment in crime
prevention, diversion, rehabilitation and
transition strategies. A justice reinvestment
approach will create safer communities and
significantly reduce spending on prisons and
related costs.
Victoria has some effective early intervention
and multi-disciplinary court programs, such
as the Neighbourhood Justice Centre and the
Victorian Court Integrated Services Program.
These models need to be expanded, taking
into account the needs of local communities.
10.11 Left untreated, mental health issues
increase the likelihood of re-offending, and
along with transmission of blood-borne viruses,
may also have adverse impacts on the greater
community when offenders are released.
We must invest in more preventive health
measures to reduce the transmission of
blood-borne viruses in prisons, more drug and
alcohol treatment programs for prisoners with
a history of use, rapid expansion of psychiatric
care services for prisoners experiencing
mental ill-health, greater access to primary
health care and an expansion of the role of the
Health Services Commissioner in overseeing
prison health programs.
The Victorian Ombudsman has recommended
legislative change to ensure children under
the age of 18 can no longer be transferred to
the adult prison system. In 2012-13, 26 young
people were transferred from a youth justice
centre to a prison and many were placed in
solitary confinement. The youth justice system
must be able to provide young people in
detention the therapeutic input and drug and
alcohol and mental health supports they need.
The Children, Youth and Families Act 2005
should be amended to remove the option to
transfer children to the adult prison system,
once additional accommodation becomes
available at the Malmsbury Youth Justice
Centre. The Ombudsman’s recommendations
that Corrections Victoria check the date of
birth of young offenders to ensure that no
child is incorrectly remanded to prison, and
that the Minister for Corrections considers
making the Office of Correctional Services
Review separate and independent from
the Department of Justice, should also be
implemented.
There are high rates of blood-borne infectious
diseases, health problems associated with
substance abuse and serious mental health
issues among the prison population. The
available forensic mental health and alcohol
and other drug (AOD) treatment services are
inadequate to meet the growing need. Forensic
AOD treatment referrals increased from about
2,000 in 1997-1998 to about 15,000 in 200911 J Pollard, M Berry, S Ross and M Kiehne, Forensic AOD
treatment in Victoria, Department of Health, Melbourne,
2011.
Victoria Without Poverty
41
Promote equal access to justice
Challenges
•People facing disadvantage are more vulnerable to legal problems than others.
•People facing disadvantage are less able to access quality legal assistance.
•Tightened eligibility for legal aid has put pressure on community legal centres.
Strategies
•Increase funding to Victoria Legal Aid to meet demand.
•Fund community legal centres and Aboriginal legal services to meet demand.
•Expand innovative approaches that successfully engage vulnerable people.
Vulnerable people are more likely to face
legal issues in their lives and can experience
multiple legal problems. Many people are
unable to obtain low-cost legal assistance.
New eligibility guidelines introduced in 2013
by Victoria Legal Aid restrict disadvantaged
clients from accessing legal services in areas
including family law and family violence. As
a result, more people are forced to represent
themselves, and some victims of family
violence have been cross-examined by selfrepresented perpetrators.
People with low incomes, single parents,
people experiencing homelessness and
Aboriginal people have significantly
higher prevalence of legal problems.12
Community legal services cannot currently fill
the gap. Almost two thirds of community legal
service providers report they cannot meet
demand, and one in five clients is turned
away.13 Funding must be increased to Victoria
Legal Aid and community and Aboriginal legal
centres.
Disadvantaged people are less likely to
take action on their legal problems, possibly
because they don’t understand their legal
nature, or know how to meet legal needs.14
Innovative justice approaches that focus on
early intervention and prevention, such as the
Homeless Persons Legal Clinic and Taxi Driver
Legal Clinic, need to be expanded. Another
example is legal health checks, which assist
community workers to identify legal issues and
encourage people to seek assistance earlier,
or take steps to prevent problems escalating.
Community legal centres can inform and teach
people how to head off legal problems before
they occur, and help quickly resolve disputes
before they become more complex or costly.
Incidence of legal problems in Victoria, selected groups
Source: C Coumarelos et al., Legal Australia-Wide Survey: Legal Needs in Victoria, 2012, p. 67.
13 Australian Council of Social Service, Australian Community
Sector Survey 2013 National Report, 2013, p. 9.
12 C Coumarelos et al., Legal Australia-Wide Survey: Legal
Needs in Victoria, 2012, p. 1.
42
14 Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, Updating Justice: No.
9, October 2012, Taking no action; Unmet legal need in
Victoria, p. 2.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Protect, respect and promote human rights
Challenges
•Some Victorians are denied access to services, rights and opportunities.
•Victoria’s Charter of Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 prioritises some rights
over others, by failing to include economic, social and cultural rights, and rights
contained in other international instruments.
•Community organisations need more education about the Charter.
Strategies
•Incorporate additional rights into the Charter, in accordance with international
conventions.
•Expand the ability of VEOHRC to deal with human rights complaints.
•Strengthen the Equal Opportunity Act, and improve VEOHRC’s ability to
investigate.
•Establish human rights and discrimination education programs and remedies
for violation, and promote their adoption in business, government and
organisational policy and practice.
Victoria was the first Australian state to
introduce a charter of human rights through
the Charter of Rights and Responsibilities Act
2006, which was a welcome step. The time
is now right to strengthen the Charter. The
2011 review of the Charter recommended
against including additional rights or remedies.
This should be reconsidered in the next
term of government, as the absence of
remedies substantially reduces the Charter’s
effectiveness. To strengthen the remedies
available, the Charter should be amended
to empower the Victorian Equal Opportunity
and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC)
to receive and conciliate human rights
complaints, in the same way it receives
discrimination complaints under the Equal
Opportunity Act 2010.
The Charter should also be broadened to
protect human rights enshrined in international
instruments Australia has ratified. This would
include economic, social, cultural, Indigenous,
women’s, children’s and people with
disabilities’ rights. The protection of economic,
social and cultural rights is necessary for all
people to live with dignity and participate fully
and equally in the community.
Victoria Without Poverty
Community sector organisations would benefit
from more training to implement the Charter
in their planning and operations. The review
recommendations of developing human rights
education and training programs should be
tailored to individual sectors and areas.
Despite the Victorian Charter, some people
continue to experience racism, bullying and
discrimination in employment, education
and other parts of their lives. The Equal
Opportunity Act 2010 should be strengthened
to help prevent discrimination against
vulnerable Victorians. Permanent exemptions,
such as the religious exemption, should
be removed, and replaced with temporary
exemptions in cases where it is reasonable
and proportionate.
“For most Australians the main concern
is the realisation of primary economic
and social rights, such as the rights
to education, housing and the highest
attainable standard of health.” 15
15 National Human Rights Consultation Committee,
Report of the National Human Rights Consultation,
2009, p. 365.
43
Better services from a stronger
community sector
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to establish a fair funding model for community service
organisations, that is indexed to meet the real costs of providing services.
The community sector provides essential support for vulnerable Victorians and
helps to build strong communities. All parties need to make a strong commitment
in this election to support the sector and improve the way community services
work.
Community sector organisations are not paid what it costs to deliver services and
are hampered by compliance burdens and inflexibility. This can lead to problems,
such as when inflexible arrangements for out-of-home care units mean vulnerable
young people are living in inappropriate placements or under inadequate
supervision, resulting in child protection crises. Creating more flexible regulation
and funding structures must be a priority for the next term of government.
Rising demand for services also poses a huge challenge for future Victorian
governments, with Victoria’s population expected to increase 30 per cent to 7.3
million by 2031 – with nearly 20 per cent aged over 65. Additional funding is
essential to meet the need.
The community sector is struggling to recruit and retain the numbers of skilled
workers it needs, and is unable to compete with the health and public sectors
on wages and career opportunities. We need to build a strong and sustainable
community sector workforce and volunteer base, or the Victorian community will
no longer get the services it needs and expects.
Provide fair funding for community organisations
Challenges
•Community services are not funded for the full cost of service provision.
•Community services face rising costs not matched by increases in funding.
•Many community services lack the IT systems required to measure performance.
Strategies
•Establish a fair funding model for community organisations, that is indexed to
meet the real costs of providing services.
•Fund the Equal Remuneration Order for community services over the full life of
the decision.
•Index community sector funding across all programs.
•Ensure government funding includes the cost of evaluation, data and IT systems.
The community sector provides essential
support for vulnerable and disadvantaged
Victorians and helps build strong communities.
Community service organisations face rising
demand for their services and increasingly
complex client problems. The cost of
providing these services is increasing due to
rising wages, transport, electricity, rent and
superannuation costs, and rising costs of
compliance with government regulation and
standards.
Community services funding must cover
the costs of staff, infrastructure, information
and communication technology, reporting,
evaluation and other management and
governance requirements.
The Victorian Government has funded
increases in community sector wages resulting
from the Equal Remuneration Order. For the
past three years the Victorian Government has
indexed funding by 2 per cent per annum to
cover wage increases not related to the Equal
Remuneration Order. However, organisations
face further wage cost increases due to the
increase in the Superannuation Guarantee
Levy and National Minimum Wage Order
increases.
No indexation is provided for non-wage
cost rises or increased regulatory burden.
Insufficient indexation means the gap between
an organisation’s costs and revenue will
Victoria Without Poverty
widen. The situation will only get worse and
organisations will be forced to cut services if
appropriate indexation is not provided.
A VCOSS-commissioned report1 found that
funding for community sector wages should be
indexed to the Australian Wage Price Index,2
while the best estimate of increases in nonwage costs was the Melbourne Consumer
Price Index.3 If these findings had been
applied, the community services sector would
have received indexation of 3.2 per cent in
2012-13 and 2.8 per cent in 2013-14.
Funding does not account for the cost of
evaluating services. Data and IT systems
are often old and not regularly replaced due
to cost. The community sector’s ability to
evaluate its effectiveness would be assisted by
having improved data and IT systems.
1 Allens Consulting Group, NGO Price Indexation: Report to
VCOSS, Melbourne, 2008, p. iv.
2 The Australian Wage Price Index was 3.7 per cent at June
2012 and 3.0 per cent at June 2013. (Cat. No. 6345.0). It is
projected to be 3.5 per cent at June 2014 (Budget Paper No.
2).
3 The Melbourne Consumer Price Index was 1.2 per cent at
June 2012 and 2.2 per cent at June 2013 (ABS Cat. No.
6401.0) and is forecast to be 2.5 per cent at June 2014
(Budget Paper No 2).
45
Get the best from sector workers and volunteers
Challenges
•The community sector is a large, fast growing industry with an ageing workforce.
•Community sector organisations are finding it harder to attract and keep skilled
staff and volunteers.
Strategies
•Develop and activate a community sector workforce plan.
•Recognise and support volunteer recruitment and management.
The health and community services sector
is the fastest growing industry and largest
employer in Australia, employing 9 per cent of
the workforce.4 Its workforce and volunteer
base is ageing faster than the total workforce.
The proportion of the sector’s workers aged
15-49 fell between 2006 and 20115 and in
2011, 21 per cent were aged 55 years or
over. The ageing workforce means many
experienced and skilled workers will soon
leave, potentially leading to skills shortages.
Community sector work is becoming more
complex. Clients have more challenging issues
and governments are reforming how services
are delivered. The community sector needs
to attract new skilled workers and volunteers,
including ‘work ready’ graduates, while facing
increased competition from other sectors, such
as health.
Community organisations struggle to keep
skilled workers, especially those with
experience and expertise, due to relatively low
wages compared with the public sector. Career
pathways, linked to training and experience,
are also urgently required.
There must be commitment to developing a
community sector workforce plan. This should
include a comprehensive workforce profile of
demographics, trends, projected growth/gaps
and recruitment capacity, an industry-wide
needs assessment, strategies to address skills
shortages, changing client needs and ways
4 Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council,
Environmental Scan 2013; The Care Industry: A Time for
Action, 2013, p. 5.
5 Ibid., p. 16.
46
to improve the profile of the community sector
among prospective employees.
Volunteering is also one of the state
government’s indicators of community
strength.6 It contributed $4.9 billion to the state
economy in 2006 and this is projected to grow
to between $30.3 billion and $42.1 billion by
2021.7 Many community organisations rely
on volunteers. Almost 80 per cent of people
who work in Victorian emergency relief
organisations are volunteers.8
Recruiting new volunteers from diverse
backgrounds is increasingly difficult,
and volunteers are ageing. Community
organisations require an investment of time
and effort to manage and support volunteers, a
fact rarely recognised in funding contracts.
Community organisations require assistance
to attract and retain volunteers and recognise
and support volunteer management in budget,
policy and program development processes.
The community services and
health industry is projected to
grow by at least 35 per cent over
the next 10 years.9
6 Department of Planning and Community Development,
Indicators of community strength: A framework and evidence,
Jul 2011, Fig. 1, p. 6.
7 Department of Planning and Community Development, The
Economic Value of Volunteering in Victoria, 2012, p 4.
8 Benno Engels et al, Under Pressure; Costs of living, financial
hardship and emergency relief in Victoria, VCOSS and ER
Victoria, 2009, p 11.
9 Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council,
Environmental Scan 2013; The Care Industry: A Time for
Action, 2013, p. 5.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Reimagine the relationship between organisations and
government
Challenges
•Community services are hampered by poorly designed funding and regulatory
arrangements, and inadequate coordination of policy and services.
•Population growth and ageing is driving greater demand for community
services.
Strategies
•Build a more equal partnership between government and community service
organisations.
•Improve coordination between all services and agencies supporting vulnerable
Victorians, including schools, police, health care, and community services.
•Enable funding to be used flexibly for more responsive and coordinated
service delivery.
•Focus policy and service delivery towards measuring outcomes rather than
outputs.
Not-for-profit community services significantly
benefit Victorian communities, but change
is needed in the way they are funded,
coordinated, regulated, designed and
delivered. According to the Productivity
Commission, services report being “swamped
by contractual regulation, a multiplicity of
reporting requirements, micro-management,
restrictions on other activities and significantly
greater compliance burdens.”10
Community services have highlighted
problems with the community service system
that include:
•Narrowly defined services that are
hamstrung by prescriptive and output
driven accountability mechanisms.
•Limited flexibility to deliver services that
respond to the needs of individuals or
families receiving assistance.
•Services and government programs that
are insufficiently well coordinated with each
other, with the universal service system,
and across different levels of government.
We must build on community sector reform
processes to produce better results for
vulnerable people. Reform processes need
to better use community organisations’
knowledge and experience in policy and
program design, by establishing a more equal
partnership between government and the
community sector. Recognising the missiondriven and advocacy role of community
organisations is an important step towards
achieving this.
“The efficiency and effectiveness of
delivery of services by not-for-profits
on behalf of governments is adversely
affected by inadequate contracting
processes. These include overly
prescriptive requirements, increased
micro-management, requirements to
return surplus funds, and inappropriately
short-term contracts.”11
11 Australian Productivity Commission, The Contribution of the
Not-for-Profit Sector: Productivity Commission Research
Report, 2010, p. XXI.
10 Australian Productivity Commission, The Contribution of the
Not-for-Profit Sector: Productivity Commission Research
Report, 2010, p. XXI.
Victoria Without Poverty
47
Strength in diversity
Victoria’s population is among the fastest growing and most diverse in Australia.
These many different people bring different perspectives, strengths and skills to our
community, making it vibrant and dynamic. However some groups are at risk of poorer
outcomes on a range of social measures.
Victoria’s Aboriginal community faces distinct disadvantages in a number of areas
including health, employment participation, education and exposure to the criminal
justice system.
Despite the gains made, Victoria’s women continue to face difficulties accessing
health care, employment, equal pay and promotion, and political participation and
representation.
People with disabilities face disadvantage on virtually every social indicator. They are
more likely to live in poverty, less likely to be employed, have poorer health and are less
likely to go to university. Their carers also face significant problems holding down jobs,
preventing them living full lives.
Migration consistently accounts for more than half of Victoria’s population increase. The
source countries of new migrants are changing and new arrivals have special needs,
particularly refugees.
LGBTI people experience more discrimination and poorer health than the general
population.
To be an inclusive society we must address the challenges these groups face. The
government must respect the diversity of Victorians, with a range of policies and services
that includes them all.
Promote women and gender equity
Challenges
•Gender inequality contributes to poorer health and social status for women.
•Women have lower participation in work than men, and earn less on average.
•Gender analysis of government policy and data is rare.
Strategies
•Produce a gender equity strategy.
•Collect, analyse and publish gender data across a wide range of health and
social indicators including homelessness.
•Extend initiatives under the Women’s Economic Participation and Action Agenda
2013-15.
Although women’s average life expectancy is
longer the men’s, more of their lives are lived
with ill-health and disability.8 Women are also
less likely to have a job than men, and when
they do, they earn less. Women’s average
wages in Victoria are 14 per cent less than
men’s.9
Services are reporting that these
unequal outcomes for women in pay and
superannuation combine to leave older women
at greater risk of experiencing homelessness.
Additional resources are required to support
older women to access safe, affordable and
stable housing.
“Experience shows us that access
alone is not enough – that we also
need to dismantle the stereotypes and
relationships which limit the social and
professional realities of girls and boys
(and ultimately men and women) if
we’re to achieve genuine and lasting
change.”10
Victoria needs a government strategy to
promote women’s full economic and social
wellbeing and participation. This would be a
valuable primary prevention tool in combatting
violence against women, by making the
links between gender inequity and violence
experienced by women (including family
violence, sexual abuse, child marriage,
trafficking and female genital mutilation).
Systematic collection, analysis and use of
gender-disaggregated data across indicators
would help identify trends and patterns and
highlight better ways to promote gender equity.
Workplace segregation, career choice, caring
responsibilities, hours of work and negotiating
power all contribute to gender pay gaps. The
successful Rural Women’s Leadership Network
and the Women’s Economic Participation and
Action Agenda 2013-15 need expansion and
ongoing funding.
Labour force participation rates, by
gender
8 Public Health Group, Victorian Burden of Disease Study:
Mortality and Morbidity in 2001, Department of Human
Services, Melbourne, 2005, p. 2.
9 Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Factsheet: Gender pay
gap statistics, February 2013.
10 Speech by Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination
Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission, What
does a world of gender equality look like? Melbourne, 17
June 2010.
Victoria Without Poverty
Source: COAG Reform Council, Tracking Equity:
Comparing outcomes for women and girls across Australia,
November 2013, p. 28.
49
Close the gap for Aboriginal Victorians
Challenges
•Aboriginal Victorians have poorer health across all age groups and measures,
including life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, mental health admissions,
child mortality, tobacco use and alcohol related harm.
•Aboriginal Victorians commonly experience racism and discrimination.
•Aboriginal Victorians have higher rates of imprisonment and contact with the
criminal justice system, but limited access to services.
•Aboriginal Victorians are often reluctant to access mainstream services that
do not recognise and respect their cultural needs.
Strategies
•Continue to work on ‘close the gap’ actions tackling Aboriginal disadvantage.
•Increase funding to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to expand
culturally specific services.
•Conduct a comprehensive education campaign in schools, workplaces and
the general community about racial vilification laws.
•Promote recognition and understanding of Aboriginal history and culture
through funding cultural education programs, including the Aboriginal
language pilot.
•Invest in diversionary programs to keep ‘at risk’ Aboriginal people out of the
justice system.
•Remove barriers to Aboriginal employment, including enacting spent
convictions laws.
Aboriginal Victorians experience significant
disparity in their results in health, education,
employment, justice and child protection
compared to other Victorians.1 In the next
term of government, self-determination must
be the basis of Aboriginal policy, empowering
Aboriginal communities to take control of their
future and decide how to make progress.
The commitment by governments to ‘close the
gap’ on Aboriginal disadvantage is ambitious
and necessary. Victoria is on track to meet the
target of halving mortality rates for Aboriginal
children under five by 2018, but has not
made enough inroads into closing the life
expectancy gap by 2031. All parties should
commit to improving Aboriginal health across
a broad array of measures, with a primary role
for Aboriginal-controlled health organisations
in delivering services.
Histories of dispossession, marginalisation,
discrimination and negative experiences
with justice, legal, education and other
government authorities leave many Aboriginal
people reluctant to use mainstream services.
Aboriginal community-controlled organisations
need ongoing support from government to
provide culturally safe, trusted support to their
communities.
In 2011, 97 per cent of Aboriginal Victorians
surveyed had experienced racism, with more
than 70 per cent experiencing eight or more
1 Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victorian Government
Aboriginal Affairs Report 2012, 2013, p. 10.
50
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
racist incidents.2 Poorer mental health was
linked to higher numbers of racist incidents.
A comprehensive education campaign should
be conducted in schools, workplaces and the
media about Victorian racial tolerance laws.
Aboriginal people are over-represented in
our criminal justice system and the justice
system is struggling to respond. We need to
invest in keeping Aboriginal Victorians out of
the criminal justice system through funding
diversionary, transition and community support
services that address the underlying causes
of offending behaviour. Culturally specific
programs for Aboriginal women, in particular,
are poorly funded, with haphazard coverage.
Rates of Aboriginal unemployment remain
high, at almost 19 per cent. The Victorian
public service is yet to meet its target of 1
per cent of the public sector workforce being
Aboriginal employees. More work is required
to break down barriers preventing Aboriginal
people obtaining and maintaining employment,
including addressing racism. The introduction
of spent conviction laws would also bring
Victoria in line with other jurisdictions, and
prevent old and irrelevant criminal convictions
impacting on Aboriginal people’s future
employment prospects.
Aboriginal adults were 13.2 times
more likely to be under justice
supervision than non-Aboriginal
adults. 3
Over 80 per cent of Aboriginal
women in prison are mothers. 4
Aboriginal people are hospitalised
at twice the rate of non-Aboriginal
people from diabetes and almost
twice the rate from respiratory
diseases. 5
62 per cent of Aboriginal adults in
non-remote areas of Victoria have
a disability or long term health
condition. 6
Child mortality for Aboriginal
children aged under 5 is more than
twice the non-Aboriginal rate. 7
Aboriginal Victorians experience of racism
Frequency of witnessing racism by Aboriginal Victorians (% of respondents)
Source: VicHealth, Mental health impacts of racial discrimination in Victorian Aboriginal
communities, November 2012, p. 5.
3 Department of Premier and Cabinet (2014) Victorian
Government Aboriginal Affairs Report 2013, p. 53.
4 Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission,
Unfinished Business: Koori women and the justice system,
Victoria, 2013, p. 18.
5 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2012
report, Canberra 2013, p. xii.
2VicHealth, Mental health impacts of racial discrimination in
Victorian Aboriginal communities, November 2012, p. 4.
Victoria Without Poverty
6 Ibid., p. xii.
7 Ibid., p. xii.
51
Include people with disabilities
Challenges
•People with disabilities have poorer results on virtually every social measure.
•There are long waiting lists for disability support.
•The NDIS will significantly affect state government-funded disability services.
Strategies
•Increase the availability of Individual Support Packages.
•Fund the disability sector to prepare for the transition to the NDIS.
•Protect services for people with less severe disabilities who will not be eligible
for the NDIS.
•Reform and invest in disability accommodation services to give people choice in
where they live, the support they require, and to ensure professional standards of
care are delivered.
•Introduce targets for people with disabilities in the public sector and in
businesses providing government services.
•Introduce Universal Housing Standards into the Building Code to ensure new
homes can be easily adapted to meet the needs of people with disabilities and
home-owners as they age.
•Develop and implement a Disability Justice Plan.
Victorians with a disability, including a
psychiatric disability, are currently prevented
from achieving lives equal to their peers on
virtually every indicator. They are more likely to
live in poverty, less likely to be employed, have
poorer health and are less likely to go to
university. The NDIS will provide basic care
and services for some people with disabilities,
but it does not tackle all barriers for every
person with a disability, and will not be fully
rolled out in the next term of government.
The NDIS will support about two per cent
of Victorians, but about 20 per cent of
Victorians have a disability. Most Victorians
with disabilities will not be eligible for the
NDIS. Many of these people use the existing
service system, and will still require services
not funded by the NDIS to go about their daily
lives. The Victorian Government often funds
these services, and must continue to do so
after the NDIS is in place.
The transition to an NDIS will affect many
VCOSS member organisations. As the NDIS
52
is primarily a market-driven system, services
must radically change their operations,
providing individualised fee-for-service billing,
undertaking marketing and advertising, and
often complete service re-design. Ultimately,
this is intended to produce services that are
individually tailored for people with disabilities.
It is of little benefit, however, if organisations
simply flounder or collapse, leading to service
disruptions for people with disabilities,
severance of long-established personal
relationships, and loss of expertise and skills
from the sector. The Victorian Government
must help the sector to prepare for the
changes required, so services can operate
seamlessly in a new environment.
“More often than not, people with
disabilities are seen as recipients of
services and a burden rather than equal
members of the community.”14
14 Department of Social Services, SHUT OUT: The experiences
of people with disabilities and their families in Australia,
2009, p. 12.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
The full roll-out of the NDIS is still some years
away. In the meantime, more than 4,000
Victorians with disabilities are on the waiting
list for Individual Support Packages (ISPs),
many with limited support and unable to live
independently in the community. The number
of ISPs must be increased to reduce this long
waiting list.
Australians with disabilities are also less likely
to be employed than other Australians,15 and
are employed at a lower rate than people with
disabilities in most OECD countries.16 By using
their purchasing power, and targeting their own
workforce, governments can help create jobs
for people with disabilities, and encourage the
private sector to do likewise.
“We want to contribute to Australian
society but we usually find that we
can’t access the workplace, can’t
access public venues, can’t have a
holiday because there is no suitable
accommodation.” 17
People with disabilities have the right to
safe, accessible and affordable housing that
meets their specific needs. But the disability
supported accommodation system remains
chronically under-resourced. It needs urgent
reform and investment to meet demand and
the standard of service required. We must
examine new models of support, including
empowering residents to determine their daily
lives and longer-term options.
People with disabilities are likely to get
worse results from the justice system, be
more vulnerable to crime, be more fearful of
becoming a victim and less well represented
in the legal system. Large numbers of
prisoners in Victoria’s corrections system
have disabilities, and often do not receive
appropriate services in custody to manage
their disability. A Disability Justice Plan should
be developed to divert people with disabilities
away from the justice system and give them
appropriate care and support in custody.
Self-assessed health status, by disability status
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, General Social Survey: Victoria, Cat No
4195.05, 2012.
15 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, ageing and carers,
Australia: state tables for Victoria, Cat. No. 4330.0, 2011.
16 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriers – A
Synthesis of Findings across OECD Countries, 2010, p. 22.
17 Department of Social Services, SHUT OUT: The experiences
of people with disabilities and their families in Australia,
2009, p. 42.
Victoria Without Poverty
53
Support cultural diversity
Challenges
•Victoria is home to increasing numbers of refugees, international students
and new migrants who face barriers to accessing services, finding work and
participating in the community.
•Asylum seekers and refugees are unable to access some basic services and
concessions.
Strategies
•Improve access to services, including reviewing eligibility for concessions and
services to ensure they do not unintentionally exclude asylum seekers and
refugees.
•Ensure asylum seeker support organisations are funded to meet growing need.
•Fund culturally responsive training for health and community service workers.
•Improve the availability and workforce skills in translation services.
Victoria’s cultural diversity is worthy of
celebration, and is a valuable economic asset.
However people from different cultural
backgrounds do not have equitable access to
public and community services and broader
opportunities.
About 4 per cent of Victorians
speak English ‘not well’ or ‘not at
all’.11
People from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds need support to communicate
when they cannot speak English. The Law
Institute of Victoria has found a significant lack
of interpreters available in the state, mainly
because of poor remuneration.12
The number of refugees and asylum seekers
settling in Victoria has increased substantially
in recent years. Most have experienced torture,
war, poverty, periods in immigration detention
and poor health care prior to arrival. Refugees
and asylum seekers need support to overcome
past traumas and participate fully in community
life. Services that support asylum seekers and
11 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Proficiency in Spoken English
/ Language by age for time series, 2006, Census Tables –
Victoria (State).
12 Law Institute of Victoria, Final report: interpreting fund
scoping project, 2009, p. 6.
54
refugees must be funded to meet the needs
of the growing number of people seeking their
assistance.
The Victorian Government has led the way
nationally in increasing asylum seekers’
access to transport, health care and other
universal services. However, asylum seekers
remain unable to access energy and water
concessions. All concessions and service
programs should be reviewed to ensure they
do not exclude asylum seekers. Government
should also ensure its service providers
receive clear directions about eligibility of
asylum seekers.
“Citizenship is one of the pillars of a
successful multicultural society, where
all Victorians actively contribute to and
respect the richness and diversity of our
state’s social, cultural, economic and
civic life.”13
13 Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, Department
of Premier and Cabinet, The Government’s vision for
citizenship in multicultural Victoria, 2012, Foreword from the
Minister.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Support carers
Challenges
•Carers shoulder much of the work in supporting vulnerable Victorians, often at
the expense of their own health, and ability to work and live full lives.
•Some carers of children with disabilities relinquish the care of their children to
the state, as they are unable to cope with limited support.
•Many carers are not aware of or find it difficult to navigate supports and services
and are not well informed about the implications of the NDIS reforms.
Strategies
•Increase investment in carer support programs.
•Improve evaluation of carer supports, as identified by the Auditor-General.
•Improve identification and early support for families of children with disabilities.
•Ensure the roles and needs of carers are recognised in the roll-out of the NDIS.
Victoria’s family and friend carers are integral
in our health system and the foundation of our
aged, disability and community care systems.
There are more than 700,000 informal carers
in Victoria (14 per cent of the population).18
In 2010 it was estimated that carers provided
1.32 billion hours of unpaid care each year,
which would cost the Australian economy
$40.9 billion per year to replace.19
However, many carers are not well supported.
In 2012, the Victorian Auditor-General found
that lack of referral processes, inconsistent
practice, gaps in data collection and failures
to identify need were creating barriers to
supporting carers.20 These issues could
escalate as the National Disability Insurance
Scheme (NDIS) is implemented. The
government should implement the AuditorGeneral’s recommendations to improve
support for carers.21
Without adequate support, families of children
with disabilities can reach crisis point, and feel
they have no option but to surrender the care
of their children to the state. The government
should implement the Victorian Human Rights
18 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Survey of Disability, Ageing
and Carers, 2013, Table 36.
19 Access Economics for Carers Australia, The economic value
of informal care, 2010, p. i.
20 Victorian Auditor-General, Carer Support Programs, August
2012, p. vii.
21 Ibid., p. vii.
Victoria Without Poverty
Commission’s recommendations to help
identify families at risk of relinquishment and
provide intensive early intervention support.22
The introduction of the NDIS has the potential
to transform the lives of many people with
disabilities and their carers. Carers must be
supported to understand what the new system
means for themselves and their families.
Labour force participation rates, by carer status
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing and Carers
Australia: Summary of Findings, Cat No 4430.0, 2012.
Carers experience poorer physical
and mental health, greater financial
disadvantage and greater exclusion from
life opportunities and activities than other
people.23
22 Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission,
Desperate Measures: The relinquishment of children with
disabilities into state care in Victoria, May 2012, p. 16.
23 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Disability, Ageing and Carers
Australia: Summary of Findings, Cat. No. 4430.0, 2012.
55
Recognise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and
Intersex Victorians
Challenges
•LGBTI Victorians experience discrimination and poorer health than others.
•LGBTI inclusive practice is not well understood and implemented across health
and human services.
Strategies
•Remove Equal Opportunity Act exemptions that allow discrimination against
LGBTI people.
•Ensure consistent implementation of LGBTI inclusive practices across
government departments, through increased training and promotion.
•Develop, promote and implement the LGBTI health and wellbeing strategy.
•Legislate to make adoption legal for same-sex couples in Victoria.
Despite reforms recognising their rights, LGBTI
people continue to experience discrimination
and violence, suggesting that social attitudes
may lag behind legislative reform. In a 2012
study, one quarter of LGBTI people reported
experiencing verbal abuse in the previous year
and nearly 80 per cent reported experiencing
at least one episode of intense anxiety in that
time.24
Discrimination compounds depression and
anxiety. Reducing discrimination experienced
by LGBTI people will assist in improving their
mental health. The development of a health
and wellbeing plan for the LGBTI community is
very welcome, but needs sufficient resources
to achieve its aims.
Victorian Equal Opportunity Act exemptions
allow discrimination against members of the
LGBTI community, particularly around their
employment in religious schools, impacting on
access to services, education and employment
opportunities. Both major parties should
commit to addressing these inequities in this
election campaign.
LGBTI inclusive practice must be part of
the cultural competence requirements of
24 W Leonard et al, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria, The
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society La
Trobe University, Private Lives 2: The second national survey
of the health and wellbeing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender Australians, 2012, p. vii.
56
government service delivery. The Well Proud:
a guide to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender
and intersex inclusive practice guide is a great
tool, but more promotion and training around it
is needed.
The Victorian Government has taken
several positive steps to recognise samesex relationships, but unlike other Australian
jurisdictions, Victoria is yet to legalise joint
adoptions for same-sex couples.
“…the single most important contribution
to improved health and wellbeing in
GLBTI people is likely to be increased
legitimation and acceptance of their
lives, their relationships and of the
positive contribution they make to
society.”25
A study of Victorians in same sex
relationships showed that over 80%
of participants had experienced public
insult, 70% verbal abuse, 20% explicit
threats and 13% physical assault.26
25 M Pitts et al, Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria, The Australian
Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, Private lives:
A report on the health and wellbeing of GLBTI Australians,
2006, p. 63.
26 R McNair, N Thomacos, Not yet equal: Report of the VGLRL
Same Sex Relationships Survey, 2005, p. 49.
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Better governance
Immediate priorities
We call on all parties to:
¥¥Create a sustainable revenue base by reviewing Victoria’s revenue streams to build
up sufficient resources to meet the community’s future needs and aspirations.
¥¥Develop a whole-of-government plan for social policy change, with clear goals,
targets and funding, centrally coordinated by the Premier’s Department.
In too many election campaigns, we hear big promises for spending on essential
services, only to be told later that governments cannot afford to meet them.
Governments face challenges in meeting the community’s need for high quality
education, health, transport and social services. The Victorian government must review
its revenue base to develop sufficient future revenue streams.
Too often, decisions involved in funding and supporting services are made unilaterally
by one level of government, without proper consideration of the effects on others.
Governments at all levels need to develop clearer shared goals and methods of
working together to deliver the right services where they are needed, with sensible
and cooperative funding and governance arrangements that minimise red tape while
maintaining accountability.
Community organisations are uniquely placed to inform and advise government. They
need to be able to do so through partnerships with government that allow them to speak
out. The alarming trend in Australia of using funding and contracts to limit the community
sector voice puts social policy development at risk and silences vulnerable people and
the organisations that serve them. All parties must guarantee the right of community
sector organisations to advocate on public policy.
Finally, Victoria needs cohesive public policy direction to bring together strategies to
improve the lives of vulnerable Victorians. We can learn from the recent A Fairer Victoria
initiative, and new international models like Scotland Performs.
Secure a growing revenue base
Challenges
•Expenditure growth required exceeds projected revenue growth.
•Vertical fiscal imbalance means states’ spending responsibilities exceed their
ability to raise revenue while the federal government’s revenue exceeds its
expenditure obligations.
Strategy
•Review Victoria’s revenue streams to build up sufficient resources to meet the
community’s future needs and aspirations.
Good government does not come cheap.
In the 2013-14 financial year, the Victorian
Government expected to spend around
$50 billion on services and operations. The
government’s capacity to provide services,
protect the environment, and administer justice
is limited by the amount of money it can raise
through state taxes, dividends, distributions
and tax equivalent payments, regulatory fees
and fines, sale of goods and services, and
interest.
State-based income was expected to raise
about $27 billion in 2013-14 (around 54 per
cent of total revenue). State taxes were the
largest component, expected to raise $16.5
billion. However, many of Victoria’s state taxes
are inefficient and inequitable.
Land transfer duty is a distortionary tax
that discourages people from downsizing
or moving to different locations for work or
other reasons. It is also an inequitable tax,
often hitting younger people trying to enter
home ownership, and taxing people who
move harder than people who stay put. An
over-reliance on gambling taxes tends to
inhibit governments from properly regulating
gambling, as they have a financial stake in
problem gamblers losing money.
Like all states and territories, Victoria also
receives money from the federal government.
A ‘vertical fiscal imbalance’ exists between the
states and the Commonwealth where states
rely on grants from the Commonwealth to fund
the services for which they are responsible.
Despite federal government grants, Victoria’s
total revenue grew at an average of 6.2 per
cent annually in the decade to 2010-11, less
than growth in expenditure, putting government
and social services at risk
The tax system needs to be reviewed
based on the principles of equity, efficiency,
sustainability and simplicity.
“Removing stamp duty will make it
easier for people to buy a home, and
also to sell their home and move to
places where employment opportunities
are better.”1
1 Matthew Lovering, Evidence Review 032: Why taxing policy
is housing policy, Australian Housing and Urban Research
Institute, 2013.
58
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014
Strengthen Commonwealth Govern social policy
-State cooperation
strategically
Challenge
•Lack of cooperation and disjointed
decision making in our federal
system undermines efficient and
effective government.
Strategy
•Pursue further national reform
to improve our federal system of
government.
Nearly 10 years ago the Victorian Government
led a push by the state and territory
governments for the National Reform
Agenda. Including human capital in these
reforms recognised the importance of social
policy for national economic performance.
Reforms introduced as part of the National
Competition Policy are credited with reducing
regulatory burdens, creating national markets
in industries such as the energy industry
and developing national institutions like
the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission.
We need to reinvigorate the role of nationally
coordinated social policy to deliver a more
equitable and inclusive society and a stronger
economy. The Victorian Government should
again lead efforts on national reform.
Governments have also worked together in
some cases to address social and economic
challenges, including the cross-government
commitment to the National Disability
Insurance Scheme and the Australian
Consumer Law, 2011.
However, there remain areas where policies
are poorly coordinated, and do not always
complement each other to deliver the best
community outcomes. It is now appropriate
to assess new priorities in CommonwealthState reform. This effort should emphasise
cooperative social policies and programs, to
deliver a more equitable and inclusive society
alongside successful economic performance.
Victoria Without Poverty
Challenges
•Lack of coordinated whole-ofgovernment approach to social
policy and programs.
•Lack of clear whole-of-government
goals for social policies and
programs.
Strategy
•Develop a whole-of-government
plan for social policy change, with
clear goals, targets and funding,
centrally coordinated by the
Premier’s Department.
Victoria lacks a cohesive whole-of-government
policy direction to improve the lives of
vulnerable and disadvantaged Victorians.
Various plans and strategies seek to address
particular barriers to successful economic and
social participation, such as the Victorian State
Disability Plan. However we need a whole-ofgovernment plan and political leadership to
bring all of these together.
A good example is Scotland Performs,
which measures and reports on the Scottish
government’s progress in creating a more
successful country, with opportunities for all
to flourish through increased sustainable
economic growth. Progress is tracked and
supported by 50 National Indicators, covering
key areas of health, justice, environment,
economy, and education.
In the next term of government, we should
develop a plan with goals for improving
community wellbeing. It should include targets
and compliance requirements for government
and government-funded agencies, and be
used by the government each year to help
formulate the state budget.
59
Strengthen civil society
Challenges
•Tension exists between community organisations’ dependence on government
funding and their ability to advocate for social change.
•In a rapidly changing media, technological and political environment, the need
for strong and fearless social advocacy is greater than ever.
Strategies
•Guarantee community sector organisations’ right to advocate publicly for policy
change.
•Develop stronger partnerships between the government and the community
sector.
•Draw on the community sector’s knowledge and experience to develop
government policies and programs.
A number of Australian governments – notably
the Federal Government and Queensland
Government – have sought to use funding and
contracting arrangements to limit the
community sector’s ability to advocate for
policy change based on its expert knowledge.
This is an alarming development and should
be explicitly guarded against. Victoria’s major
parties must guarantee the right of community
sector organisations to advocate publicly for
policy change. The role of community sector
peak bodies is central in advocacy, and their
right to advocate with funding security needs to
be respected and protected.
Not only should the community sector have the
right to speak out publicly on concerns without
fear or favour, governments should seek to be
informed by the sector’s frontline knowledge
and experiences.
In some circumstances, particular agreements
can be useful to pursue specific goals
agreed between the community sector
and the government. There are two formal
arrangements between government and the
community sector in Victoria that should be the
template for this partnership approach.
The Human Services and Health Partnership
seeks to sustain, strengthen and build the
working relationship between the health,
housing and community services sector,
including VCOSS as the peak body, and the
departments of health and human services. It
recognises and promotes all partners’ common
vision, values and goals.
VCOSS also works with the Department of
Education and Early Childhood Development
to foster community sector and government
partnerships to improve learning and
development for Victorians, particularly
those who are vulnerable or experiencing
disadvantage.
These types of partnerships should be
expanded to help ensure community sector
organisations feel respected, rather than
managed, across areas including contract
development, outcomes frameworks, service
and policy design, evaluation and shared
accountability.
“Civil society is at its best when the voice
of the not-for-profit sector can be heard
loud and clear.” 2
2 Reverend Tim Costello, Chair of the Community Council
for Australia, Time for Government to respect charities, 19
September 2012.
60
VCOSS Victorian State Election Platform 2014