❓ The Minister for Community Services outlines the McGowan Labor government's commitment to strengthening relationships with the not-for-profit sector through improved procurement processes, longer contract lengths, and collaborative funding criteria, aiming for better outcomes for Western Australians.
AnsweredQoN 767Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NOT-FOR-PROFIT COMMUNITY
SERVICES
767. Ms E. HAMILTON to the Minister for Community Services:
Can the minister update the house on
how the McGowan Labor government is delivering on its commitment to work more
closely with the not-for-profit community services sector, build stronger
relationships and deliver more security for services? Can the minister also
outline to the house how this commitment will deliver positive outcomes for Western
Australians and greater support for these organisations?
SERVICES
767. Ms E. HAMILTON to the Minister for Community Services:
Can the minister update the house on
how the McGowan Labor government is delivering on its commitment to work more
closely with the not-for-profit community services sector, build stronger
relationships and deliver more security for services? Can the minister also
outline to the house how this commitment will deliver positive outcomes for Western
Australians and greater support for these organisations?
AnswerView source ↗
I am very happy to speak on this
topic. Before the last state election, the McGowan team—I was part of
the delegation—went to the not-for-profit sector represented by the Western
Australian Council of Social Service, but we also met with a range of
individual agencies and asked how we could work with them to make WA a better community and make their work easier. They raised
with us a number of key issues around procurement, and making sure that
there was more security around contract length, that there was uniformity
around reporting requirements across state government agencies, and that there
was collaboration as a default—as an automatic right—on the way
tenders were written. That is of course important, because most of those
community organisations rely very heavily on grants and contracts with the
state and various levels of government, including different agencies across
state government, and they spend a lot of time acquitting those grants. No
sooner have they received one lot of grant funding than they have to acquit
another lot and get on with making yet more applications.
Anyway, we worked with them. We took
a commitment to the last state election called the Supporting Communities
policy. I was very happy to work with the Treasurer and the Minister for
Finance last week to announce our policy that ensures that the $1.5 billion
that the state government spent on the community sector in 2017–18 is
put to good use under a framework that supports the community sector in partnership
with government. We were able to deliver on a number of those items that the
community sector across the state asked for, including longer contracts, with
five years as a default; working collaboratively in determining the criteria
for funding arrangements; and making sure that we are concentrating on
outcomes, not outputs. We are doing more work around refining that criteria. We
did that through the Supporting Communities forum, which is the peak
consultation forum with directors general and leaders in the not-for-profit
sector. That has been working very effectively. I am very proud of that policy.
Several members interjected.
Ms S.F. McGURK : It would be
good if people across the other side of the chamber were listening to this,
because we often talk about these difficult social issues —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, please!
Oh, we are pointing now, are we? It is like kindergarten.
Ms S.F. McGURK : We often talk about difficult social
issues and people have opinions about how we tackle them. It is quite clear
that government by itself will not be able to resolve those issues. The
community sector on its own will not be able to resolve those issues. The
community will not be able to resolve those issues. We all need to work together.
This policy, whereby we have really moved ahead in our procurement policy
across all state government agencies, is an important step to that end.
topic. Before the last state election, the McGowan team—I was part of
the delegation—went to the not-for-profit sector represented by the Western
Australian Council of Social Service, but we also met with a range of
individual agencies and asked how we could work with them to make WA a better community and make their work easier. They raised
with us a number of key issues around procurement, and making sure that
there was more security around contract length, that there was uniformity
around reporting requirements across state government agencies, and that there
was collaboration as a default—as an automatic right—on the way
tenders were written. That is of course important, because most of those
community organisations rely very heavily on grants and contracts with the
state and various levels of government, including different agencies across
state government, and they spend a lot of time acquitting those grants. No
sooner have they received one lot of grant funding than they have to acquit
another lot and get on with making yet more applications.
Anyway, we worked with them. We took
a commitment to the last state election called the Supporting Communities
policy. I was very happy to work with the Treasurer and the Minister for
Finance last week to announce our policy that ensures that the $1.5 billion
that the state government spent on the community sector in 2017–18 is
put to good use under a framework that supports the community sector in partnership
with government. We were able to deliver on a number of those items that the
community sector across the state asked for, including longer contracts, with
five years as a default; working collaboratively in determining the criteria
for funding arrangements; and making sure that we are concentrating on
outcomes, not outputs. We are doing more work around refining that criteria. We
did that through the Supporting Communities forum, which is the peak
consultation forum with directors general and leaders in the not-for-profit
sector. That has been working very effectively. I am very proud of that policy.
Several members interjected.
Ms S.F. McGURK : It would be
good if people across the other side of the chamber were listening to this,
because we often talk about these difficult social issues —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members, please!
Oh, we are pointing now, are we? It is like kindergarten.
Ms S.F. McGURK : We often talk about difficult social
issues and people have opinions about how we tackle them. It is quite clear
that government by itself will not be able to resolve those issues. The
community sector on its own will not be able to resolve those issues. The
community will not be able to resolve those issues. We all need to work together.
This policy, whereby we have really moved ahead in our procurement policy
across all state government agencies, is an important step to that end.
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.