Backflip on charity cuts

Charities were relieved at last night’s Council meeting when a decision to cut funding was reversed.

At last month’s meeting of Northern Beaches Council (Tuesday, 28 March), three charities had been left reeling when they were blindsided by a proposed cut to their funding by Northern Beaches Council.

Community Northern Beaches, Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter and the Avalon Youth Hub said they only found out their funding was planned to be cut at that night’s meeting, and had been left unable to plead their case.

The disturbing oversight was confirmed at last night’s Council meeting (Tuesday, 18 April) by Executive Manager of Arts and Culture Kylie Walsh.

“Unfortunately, the three organisations were not explicitly told it was on that night, that was a mistake made by staff,” said Ms Walsh.

At the March meeting, Councillor Rory Amon, who had just been elected as the Member for Pittwater, moved an amendment to retain the funding to the three charities. That amendment was supported by Cr Candy Bingham, Cr Bianca Crvelin and Cr Kristyn Glanville, but was defeated on the night.

The fallout from the decision was immediate, and Councillors Amon, Bingham and Crvelin moved a rescission motion that was brought to the chamber last night. In the wake of the public outcry from the decision at the previous meeting, it was clear that no Councillor wished to oppose the rescission motion.

With the rescission motion passed however, the threat remained that no funding would be available unless a substitute motion was passed. A compromise motion was brought to the floor, retaining funding for two years, with a 50 percent cut in the third year.

This would hopefully give the charities time to either convince Councillors to reinstate the full amount, or seek alternative sources of funding. Cr Kristyn Glanville moved an amendment to that motion, that the funding be retained in full for all three years.

Kristyn Glanville

“I believe philosophically we should properly fund core social services, so that they can deliver services properly rather than spreading money over a number of smaller organisations that cannot deliver the sorts of big, beefy social services these organisations provide to the community.

“If I thought I could get away with increasing their funding I would, but I’m reading the mood of the room that the best I can press for is the status quo. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I commend the status quo to you and locking it in,” exclaimed Cr Glanville.

With Councillors who had not been present at the previous meeting, including Cr Stuart Sprott, Cr Georgia Ryburn and Cr Miranda Korzy all in favour of retaining full funding, support had clearly shifted to fully reinstating the funding for the next three years. The vote passed unanimously to applause from the gallery.

After the vote, representatives from each of the charities expressed their satisfaction at the outcome and gratitude for community support, which had clearly impacted upon the Councillors’ decisions.

Lead agency for the Avalon Youth Hub, The Burdekin Association CEO Justene Gordon (image above) said she had expected a compromise and was surprised Councillors had completely reversed their position.

“What was most exciting about tonight was the fact that they managed to have a robust, civil, informed conversation around the needs, the gaps, what equity is.

“I don’t think they realised what the impact it would have to reduce funding. We’ve just come out of COVID, and every one of the services have absolutely worked their butts off to provide critical service needs.

“I do strongly believe that there should be a transparent and equitable needs based process. There are going to be new emerging services, and they should have an opportunity to access funding that our three services have been given.

“What’s happened in the last three weeks is the Councillors have all contacted the different services. Some of them have come up to the [Avalon Youth] Hub, and understood what’s going on. Their eyes have been opened to actually what they’re voting on, and I really don’t think they had any understanding of what we all did and the implications.

“What happened over the past three weeks spurred every single Councillor to really critique what decision they were making, and if they made that particular vote, and what would that mean?

“To see that they did that, they thought about it, they read the papers, and showed much deeper, respectful understanding of that decision was what I wanted,” said Ms Gordon.

Chair of the Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter Rosy Sullivan (image above) said they were relieved the decision had been reversed and funding had been restored.

“We are very relieved that Council have at least listened to what we had to say, which hasn’t happened in the past. So we’re very happy to finally have the chance to have been listened to, and have our funding kept for three years.

“What it means now is that we have to advocate on behalf of maintaining that funding and increasing that funding. We do need to make it very clear what we do, and what impact we have on our local community.

“Every year, we’ve had to argue why we should continue to be funded. It’s never gone to the point of a motion to ultimately defund us, but the rescission notice was definitely the right decision by Council. We are very happy to have seen that happen,” said Ms Sullivan.

Ms Sullivan said she hoped the decision marked a turning point in their engagement with Council.

“They had three meetings about the process, but at not one of those meetings was one of the three organisations invited to speak and give a recital about what it is that we do, what our achievements are, and what impact we have on vulnerable people in our community.

“They failed to inform us, but not having included us in the multiple planning sessions was an absolute oversight,” said Ms Sullivan.

Community Northern Beaches CEO Craig Stevens (image above, left) said Council’s decision to reverse the funding cuts would benefit the most vulnerable members of the community.

“I was heartened by the process, that it’s clear that the Council has listened. It’s even clear that those that were unsure about supporting the motion, crossed the line and supported this.

“It really gives these three organisations three years to work with Council to work through these difficult economic times and try and advocate to the new Labor administration for sustainable community funding,” said Mr Stevens.

Clearly feeling charitable, Mr Stevens also had kind words for Council staff as he departed the meeting.

“My experience with Council staff has always been exceptional. I’ve found them to be supportive, compassionate, willing to engage with me. I’ve not had a negative experience. I genuinely have been well supported by the community development team [at Council],” said Mr Stevens.

Last night’s decision scuttles plans to transition grant funding for social services into a new model, with existing arrangements effectively locked in place for three years. While it is likely that situation will be reviewed, it will hopefully occur in a broader context of prioritisation of overall service delivery.

Images: Northern Beaches Advocate

Community Northern Beaches is a community-based organisation supporting vulnerable and at-risk people with a range of services for domestic and family violence, homelessness, refugees and families, youth and children.

The Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter provides crisis accommodation, supporting homeless women so they can rebuild their lives, reclaim their independence and re-join society.

The Burdekin Association was founded to inspire young people to believe that their lives can be enriched by experience and empowered by hope. They are the lead agency for the Avalon Youth Hub, which is a pathway to accessing free local youth and family related support services in the Pittwater area.