Agencies concern at forum cancellation

By Kath Gannaway
THE timing of the cancellation of a Welfare to Work (W2W) forum just a month before the federal election has raised concerns among some welfare providers in the Yarra Valley.
The forum was to be hosted by Eastern Access Community Health (EACH), which provides a range of welfare services to communities in Yarra Ranges Shire including a Federal Department of Education and Workplace Relations (DEWR)-funded employment program.
Ditching the forum was put down to the negative tone of the flyer promoting it, claims some of the information on the flyer was not “technically” correct and the fact it breached EACH’s contract with DEWR not to speak publicly in a negative way on government policy.
The flyer asked the question: “Is this welfare to work? Pension Cuts, Activity Requirements Increased, Harsh Non-Compliance Penalties.”
The flyer stated “our clients are already being affected” and it called on the welfare sector to act, saying it was a responsibility.
The forum was to provide information about the W2W legislation and to share examples and strategies for dealing with a system Jim Joyce of St Vincent De Paul told the Mail was causing unreasonable hardship for some people.
“The problems seem to stem from the unreal expectation of the job agencies in a lot of the cases. They seem to be playing it pretty hard,” said Mr Joyce who is on St Vincent’s Victorian Committee for Social Justice.
“If a person is offered a job within 90 minutes travel time and they don’t take it the job agencies can put them in breach of their Centrelink agreement. And, it does happen,” he said.
Mr Joyce said they had a client recently who had been unable to go to a job interview.
“She didn’t have the money for transport, and she couldn’t get it anyway,” he said. “When she rang to explain her situation, she was told she would be put in breach of her payments.”
Mr Joyce said people do get three chances, but said for some people their ability to meet what many welfare organisations regard as unreasonable expectations depends on their situation not from week to week, but from day to day.
He said welfare workers in the Yarra Valley dealing with the issues around W2W were keen to attend the forum.
He said it was able to talk about it only because St Vincent’s was not government funded.
The Mail contacted a number of government-funded employment providers including Salvation Army Employment Plus at Healesville and Yes Personnel in Ringwood but were told they could not comment.
EACH director Peter Ruzyla said the forum had been organised without any reference to the timing of the election.
He defended the cancellation, saying the forum had been advertised in a way that could have been construed as something other than what it was.
“The intention was for experienced welfare people to work out ways in which they can help assist clients best manage their Welfare To Work mutual obligations,” he said.
“When DEWR received a copy of the brochure I think they construed it in some way as being other than what was intended.”