Local Communities office program just a trial, Minister says

WA’s Minister for Communities has confirmed a trial program which provided co-ordination of social services in Margaret River won’t be coming back. In Parliament last week, Simone McGurk was forced to defend the axing of the Local Communities Co-ordinator trial under questioning from Vasse MLA Libby Mettam who filed a grievance motion. Ms McGurk said the program, which started in 2018, was always intended as a “two-year prototype” because her department was focused more on the disability sector. “When the State transferred from the State-run services in disability services to the Federally-funded National Disability Insurance Scheme, a number of staff previously working as local area co-ordinators remained,” she said in Parliament. “With this body of staff available for a time-limited period, the Department of Communities was able to resource the Local Community Co-ordination trial.” But Ms McGurk said the trial was never expected to continue – raising questions about the expenditure in the first place. “The trial tested a model that looked at assisting residents to navigate social services and direct them to the appropriate bodies,” the Minister said. Since the trial’s end, local not-for-profit Mindful Margaret River was forced to secure Lotterywest funding to employ the former Communities officer in a near-identical role, now operating out of the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River offices. Ms Mettam said the Margaret River and Busselton communities were struggling to get adequate support because existing workers, including those in child protection, toiled under big workloads. “The feedback I have received is that this program acted as a glue, keeping these vital networks connected,” she said. The Local Communities Co-ordinator trial was “set up to fail” with the Government not assigning adequate resources, especially when positions fell vacant. “It was essentially an early-intervention community triage service helping people to find and gain the right kind of support at the right time before their situation reached crisis point,” Ms Mettam said. “The coordinators were a point of contact for Government agencies to ensure those vulnerable and potentially at-risk residents received care and support before the situation was so tenuous that they presented at the emergency services.” Communities assistant director Paul Isaachsen told the Times the report examining the trial would “offer insights into future design and implementation of services in regional centres,” but no details of planned services were provided.