Key Points
A Rebecca White Labor Government will provide more help to the community services sector to help them help Tasmanians with the cost-of-living crisis.
After 10 years of a Liberal Government, Tasmanians are doing it tougher than anywhere else in Australia, with evidence that the community services sector is dealing with the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis, whilst also having to manage their own increased operating costs.
A Labor Government will help support these organisations to deal with increased demand, while working towards achieving fairer and more sustainable funding models.
As part of our Plan, Labor will:
- Provide Community Sector Organisations an increased indexation rate of 4% for our first year in office while we work with the sector to develop a framework for fairer funding.
- Continue the cost-of-living boost to funding for Neighbourhood Houses
- Provide more funding for the No-Interest Loans Scheme
- Continue funding the Energy Saver Loan Scheme
- Expand the Neighbourhood House Community Connector program
- Fund a new community wholesaler and mobile community supermarket
- Implement a State Volunteering Strategy
Why we need it
After 10 years of Liberal Government, Tasmanians are drowning under the cost of living.
“Labor will provide more help to the community services sector”
In 2023, a whopping 84,000 households struggled to have enough to eat – an increase of 18,000 on the previous year. This has added to demand on community services, who haven’t had the help or even the certainty they need to keep functioning.
A Labor Government will work with our community services sector to reduce the pressure on the cost of living and help the sector help Tasmanians when they need it most.
The details
Under our Plan for Community Services, Labor will:
- Provide indexation and fairer funding
A Rebecca White Labor Government will provide Community Sector Organisations an increased indexation rate of 4% for our first year in office while we work with the sector to develop a framework for fairer funding before the next budget – which the Liberals have promised but not delivered.
This is more than the 3.5% promised by the Liberals, and Labor is committed to giving these organisations fairer and more sustainable funding models to help Tasmanians in need.
- Boost funding for No-Interest Loans
A Rebecca White Tasmanian Labor Government will provide a boost to the vital No Interest Loans Scheme program to help Tasmanians doing it tough with devasting power bills in a cost of living crisis.
We’ll do this by increasing government investment in NILS by an additional $800,000 a year, and ensuring ongoing funding for the Energy Saver Loan Scheme for the next four years, giving families interest-free loans to purchase energy-efficient appliances and save more money on their power bills.
- Provide sustainable funding to Neighbourhood Houses
Labor will continue the cost of living boost to Neighbourhood House funding of $50,000 per house, per year, while working towards more sustainable funding. A Labor Government will also fund $6 million over three years for much needed infrastructure upgrades to Neighbourhood Houses.
We’ll also fund an expansion of the Community Connector program, providing funding for a Community Connector at each Neighbourhood House three days a week, as a dedicated resource, to continue the work that’s been so valuable during the pilot.
- Develop Tasmania’s first Volunteering Strategy
A Labor Government will commit to developing, resourcing, and implementing Tasmania’s first State Volunteering Strategy and Action Plan to curb the predicted 42% gap between the demand for and supply of volunteers by 2029 in Tasmania.
Volunteers are the biggest workforce in this state and the cost of volunteering has skyrocketed. This is how we will address that.
- Provide necessary food relief
A Rebecca White Labor Government will provide free, healthy lunches for all children in the state’s primary schools – improving kids’ wellbeing and saving families thousands of dollars a year.
Labor will also fund the Loaves and Fishes Food Procurement and Social Wholesaler project – operating as a community wholesaler, including a mobile community supermarket for remote communities.
It will run in partnership with Neighbourhood Houses, like the Clarence Plans Community Food Hub in the south, with the goal being to get fresh produce directly from producers to the community at a lower cost – helping with rising grocery bills.
- Address the cost of living
All of this is in addition to Labor’s other commitments to reduce cost-of-living pressures on Tasmanian households, including:
- Tasmanian prices for Tasmanian power,
- Labor’s GameChanger housing policy allowing Tasmanians to buy a house with zero deposit,
- Expanding childcare services across the state.