❓ Ms McGurk questions the Minister for Community Services about cuts to financial counselling services and their impact on domestic violence victims. The Minister defends the changes, citing reallocation of funds and process improvements.
AnsweredQoN 800Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE — FINANCIAL COUNSELLING
800. Ms S.F. McGURK to the
Minister for Community Services:
I refer to research showing that 50 per cent of domestic violence
victims are also suffering from financial abuse, and that women who leave an
abusive relationship are often left bankrupt and homeless.
(1) Considering
that this government has halved the money allocated to financial counsellors,
how does the minister expect women leaving abusive relationships to access free
financial advice?
(2) Given that
women and children in violent relationships will be worse off because of the
minister's cuts to financial counselling, when will he reverse his cuts
in this crucial area?
VIOLENCE — FINANCIAL COUNSELLING
800. Ms S.F. McGURK to the
Minister for Community Services:
I refer to research showing that 50 per cent of domestic violence
victims are also suffering from financial abuse, and that women who leave an
abusive relationship are often left bankrupt and homeless.
(1) Considering
that this government has halved the money allocated to financial counsellors,
how does the minister expect women leaving abusive relationships to access free
financial advice?
(2) Given that
women and children in violent relationships will be worse off because of the
minister's cuts to financial counselling, when will he reverse his cuts
in this crucial area?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Fremantle for her question.
(1)–(2)
This matter was raised last Thursday morning with the member for Forrestfield
in his grievance and I referred to what we have done in this area. Financial
counsellors were funded through the Department for Child Protection and Family
Support. We have recently done some work to make sure that the financial
counselling comes over to my Department of Local Government and Communities.
One of the things is that we have identified a need for face-to-face financial
counsellors. My department and I have held two meetings with the sector and
worked with the sector to work out how we can put that back into the system. We
have allocated $2 million back into this process —
Ms S.F. McGurk :
Out of $4 million that you cut.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : No. Mr Speaker, there is an allocation of $5.8 million in the
budget for financial counselling services in Western Australia. We put back
into the system $2 million for face-to-face financial counselling services. We
acknowledge the sector and we work with the sector. Right now the services are
out for tender, which will close off in early October, and the sector can apply
for that tender. We have listened to the sector and have worked with the sector
to make sure we put this back in.
I make the point that as a government we have worked with the
sector, but members must bear in mind that prior to the changes in this year's
budget, people had to deal with a financial counsellor to access money through
the hardship utility grant scheme. We have changed those rules so that people
can go to the utility and put in an application to access that HUGS money
without first having to go to a financial counsellor to pay their utility
bills. That is a very good change and less work in terms of the burden for
financial counsellors.
Again, members should bear in mind that we have reallocated
money for face-to-face counselling services. I am confident that we have the
system right. We are going through the process of putting the services out to
tender and will have them in place by early November. We are happy to work with
the sector to make sure we can deliver financial counselling services back to
those people.
(1)–(2)
This matter was raised last Thursday morning with the member for Forrestfield
in his grievance and I referred to what we have done in this area. Financial
counsellors were funded through the Department for Child Protection and Family
Support. We have recently done some work to make sure that the financial
counselling comes over to my Department of Local Government and Communities.
One of the things is that we have identified a need for face-to-face financial
counsellors. My department and I have held two meetings with the sector and
worked with the sector to work out how we can put that back into the system. We
have allocated $2 million back into this process —
Ms S.F. McGurk :
Out of $4 million that you cut.
Mr
A.J. SIMPSON : No. Mr Speaker, there is an allocation of $5.8 million in the
budget for financial counselling services in Western Australia. We put back
into the system $2 million for face-to-face financial counselling services. We
acknowledge the sector and we work with the sector. Right now the services are
out for tender, which will close off in early October, and the sector can apply
for that tender. We have listened to the sector and have worked with the sector
to make sure we put this back in.
I make the point that as a government we have worked with the
sector, but members must bear in mind that prior to the changes in this year's
budget, people had to deal with a financial counsellor to access money through
the hardship utility grant scheme. We have changed those rules so that people
can go to the utility and put in an application to access that HUGS money
without first having to go to a financial counsellor to pay their utility
bills. That is a very good change and less work in terms of the burden for
financial counsellors.
Again, members should bear in mind that we have reallocated
money for face-to-face counselling services. I am confident that we have the
system right. We are going through the process of putting the services out to
tender and will have them in place by early November. We are happy to work with
the sector to make sure we can deliver financial counselling services back to
those people.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.