Today’s Budget announcement was not what we were hoping for and impacts on both our direct work with communities, and the ability of the peak body to support the foundations of our Neighbourhood Houses.
Whilst some additional funding has been committed for the Community Connector roles across 34 Houses ($1.3 million), it falls short of the investment requested for a place-based expansion detailed in our budget priorities submission, which outlined an investment of an additional $6.6 million over four years. This level of funds would have created stability in the delivery of this essential support to communities, and taken the position to three days per week, per House for 2025/26, and four days per week, per House by 2026/27. While the additional funding is a welcome gesture, it represents only a modest step toward what is truly needed — our Houses remain significantly overstretched, and this limited allocation will do little to relieve the pressure or enable the sustained, place-based support our communities need.
There was also not support for the continuation of Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania to support the Governance Project: Unlocking Local Leadership. This will mean more pressure and more barriers for our community leaders, both in management and on our volunteer boards to have what they need to effectively lead our communities. Part of this work was to innovate for efficiencies, ensure safety, and provide models of group buying and shared services in new collaborative ways. We must find a way to progress with this work, as without this foundational support our communities will face more crisis and be forced to try to do even more with even less.
We appreciate TasCOSS’s advocacy and are also disappointed that most or our partner organisations have not received anywhere near the investment needed to make sure our industry is sustainable and can keep changing lives and supporting communities well into the future.