• Implementing the Legislated Spent Convictions Scheme
  $1.2m in 2020-21 ($5.3m/4 yrs) funding is provided to establish the Spent Convictions Scheme, which will be administered by Victoria Police and provide a framework for controlled disclosure of certain criminal records after periods without serious reoffending.

• Legal assistance and critical early intervention support services
  $10.1m in 2020-21 ($31.1m/4 yrs) to maintain critical legal services and improve access to justice for Victorians who need support, through:

• • continuing grant payments to Community Legal Centres
  • expanding the Mabels family violence service
  • continuing the WEstjustice Mortgage Stress Service, which delivers a combination of legal, social, health and financial assistance to prevent the repossession of homes and reduce mortgage stress
  • supporting the Federation of Community Legal Centres
  • supporting the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s reference on stalking, harassment and similar conduct, and the use of Personal Safety Intervention Orders
  • continuing Victoria Legal Aid’s (VLA) Independent Advocacy and Support service
  • employing additional VLA lawyers and support staff to represent and assist parents and children in child protection legal proceedings
  • delivering the Coronial Council review into improving the experiences of bereaved families in the coronial process
  • providing specialist legal services to the LGBTIQ+ community
  • supplementing Victoria’s contribution to the Community Legal Assistance Service System, and
  • supporting the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and reducing its dispute resolution service backlog.

• Embedded Youth Outreach Program
  $1.5m in 2020-21 ($6.3m/4 yrs) to continue the embedded Youth Outreach Program in the existing locations of Werribee and Dandenong, where police officers and youth workers are paired to provide assessment, initial support and referral for vulnerable young people and prevent possible future reoffending.

• Preventing Aboriginal deaths in custody
  $10.9m in 2021-22 ($31.2/4 yrs) to reduce over-representation of Aboriginal people in the justice system and prevent Aboriginal deaths in custody, including after-hours family violence support, regional legal assistance, family violence and specialist family services, women’s and men’s diversion programs, and health, art and healing programs in prison.

• Justice system response to family violence
  $5.4m in 2021-22 ($13.7/4 yrs) to further strengthen, integrate and embed the justice system’s response to family violence, through:
  • • establishing legal services in The Orange Door network
    • continuing counselling and trauma programs to support women in prison
    • continuing family violence training and implementation of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) framework across the justice portfolio supported by specialist family violence practice leads embedded in Corrections Victoria and Youth Justice
    • building family violence capacity through dedicated research and evaluation functions, and
    • better identification of perpetrators and continuation of tailored intervention programs to support behaviour change and help break the cycle of family violence.
• Specialist family violence integrated court response
  $10.1m in 2021-22 ($42.6m/4 yrs) to establish specialist family violence courts at remaining Magistrates Court headquarters, including improvements to ensure user safety and accessibility, continuing the remote hearing service and expanding the Court Mandated Counselling Order Program.
• Disability Advice and Response Team for the Children’s Court
  $0.7m in 2020-21 ($3.9m/4 yrs) for a team to support young people with disability who have matters before the Children’s Court. This will lead to a clear pathway for young people to access disability support in a timely manner, helping to reduce the burden on the courts and reducing the time to hear a matter.
• Increasing justice system capacity and service availability
  $17.7m in 2020-21 ($55.4m/4 yrs) to improve the justice system’s service availability and capacity to respond to the increasing volume of matters moving through the courts, and to reduce delays caused by the COVID-19 public health restrictions.

• Online Magistrates Court and digital upgrades to VCAT
  $7.8m in 2021-22 ($30.7m/4 yrs) to expand the Online Magistrates Court program to hear more matters remotely, and $10.5m in 2021-22 ($27.8m/4 yrs) to upgrade digital services infrastructure, such as case management and process automation, in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

• Responding to critical needs in the prison system
  $8.7m in 2020-21 ($41.5m/3 yrs) to address immediate needs in the prison system through continuation of Vocational Education and Training across the prison system and the ATLAS psycho-educational and wellbeing support for prisoners on remand, and extension of the Disability and Complex Needs Service program for women, being piloted at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.

Analysis

This Budget funds the long-awaited spent conviction scheme, the new health response to public drunkenness and a package of initiatives aimed to prevent Aboriginal deaths in custody.

This funding acknowledges that punitive responses to health and social issues are ineffective. The initiatives are examples of justice reinvestment approaches, which re-direct money that would normally be spent on policing and prisons towards local, community-based initiatives that prevent people from getting mixed up in the criminal justice system in the first place. Future budgets should take this further, by adopting a justice reinvestment framework, so that communities can tackle disadvantage and implement place-based initiatives that address the health, social and legal problems that drive people to offend.

Funding has been provided for community-based diversionary services for young people and to retain the Embedded Youth Outreach Program at the existing locations of Werribee and Dandenong. While these are welcome initiatives, future budgets should further prioritise initiatives that keep kids safely away from the justice system, and fund therapeutic responses to children engaging in offending behaviour.

While we welcome the range of interventions funded under the ‘Preventing Aboriginal deaths in custody’ package, this investment will not be enough to address Aboriginal over-representation in the justice system. In particular, Aboriginal community controlled legal assistance is critical to preventing Aboriginal people from becoming involved in the justice system, but funding in this Budget is not enough to meet demand.

We welcome funding for community legal centres to ensure that Victorians can access affordable and timely legal assistance. Demand for legal help with tenancy, employment, family violence, consumer, fines and financial issues has significantly increased since the pandemic. It is not yet clear where the funding will be directed.

This Budget also funds initiatives that integrate legal assistance with other health and social supports, including the Mortgage Stress program delivered by WEstjustice, the Mabels Family Violence program delivered by the Eastern Community Legal Centre, and the provision of legal services in the Orange Door Network.

The Victorian Government should consider how to scale existing models to meet demand in other locations or to respond to other issues and cohorts. New innovative and place-based integrated legal assistance programs should also be supported with new funding.

This Budget raises the price of traffic infringements and court-imposed fines, by increasing the penalty unit value by 10 per cent, following a freeze in 2020-21. Fine increases have a disproportionate impact on people on low or no incomes. A concession-based fine system and special circumstances test would be much fairer.

VCOSS welcomes funding to establish Specialist Family Violence Courts in all the remaining Magistrates Court headquarters, improvements to ensure that victim survivors of family violence can access courts safely, and a Disability Advice and Response Team for the Children’s Court. This funding enables courts to apply specialist responses to specific needs, and future budgets should continue to invest in such problem-solving approaches in different court jurisdictions to meet demand.   

The Magistrates Court and VCAT continue to face backlogs, with court users experiencing delays in having their matters heard. The switch to virtual and remote engagement with courts during the pandemic has helped some people resolve legal issues more quickly, improved accessibility for some people with disability, reduced transport barriers for rural Victorians and helped victims of crime who may find attending court traumatising. 

But many Victorians still live on the wrong side of the digital divide. Without personal internet access, participating in virtual court proceedings is very challenging. An over-reliance on technology could make it even harder for people to enforce their rights or resolve legal issues.

The priority for digitisation should be on safety and access, not just efficiency and reduced delays. The Government should monitor the impact of the system changes – such as digital service delivery – on different users to ensure that low-income and vulnerable Victorians are benefiting from system changes.

$41.5 million is provided over three years for programs that respond to the needs of people in the prison system, including Vocational Education and Training across the prison system, support for people on remand, and extension of the Disability and Complex Needs Service program for women that’s being piloted at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.

The housing assistance package includes funding to provide additional support for people leaving prison. VCOSS has long advocated for the establishment of a ‘no exits into homelessness’ policy. We were disappointed that, while the Final Report of the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria recommended establishing such a policy to guide discharge planning and support from institutional settings, this recommendation was absent in the Final Report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.

The Government will respond to the Final Report of the Homelessness Inquiry in September 2021, and we hope to see this recommendation adopted and funded in future budgets, so that wraparound supports can be provided to people leaving prison, to prevent homelessness and further criminalisation once people have served their sentence.

Mental Health and Wellbeing 
$3.8 billion to begin implementation of the Mental Health Royal Commission recommendations. The package is vast, and includes: 

• $144.4m in 2021-22 ($954m/4 yrs) to establish 22 adult and older person’s areas mental health services, with greater capacity to treat, care and support adults, and 24/7 operating model
• $5.9m in 2021-22 ($264m/4 yrs) to establish the first 20 (of 50–60) local mental health and wellbeing services, where people can access community-based mental health treatment, care and wellbeing supports delivered by a multidisciplinary team 
• $173m for suicide prevention and response, including continuation of funding for 13 Hospital Outreach Post-Suicidal Engagement sites
• $22.9m in 2021-22 ($116m/4 yrs) to support the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal Victorians, including funding for ACCOs
• $22.5m in 2021-22 ($196m/4 yrs) for a new infant and children’s mental health and wellbeing system, and $266m/4 yrs for young people’s mental health. 

The package also includes funding for a new mental health emergency response, expansion of forensic services, integrated care for people living with mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions, and to create a pipeline of workers into the mental health sector. The package will be funded by a new payroll tax levy on businesses with payroll of more than $10m.  

Community health services 

$76.1m in 2021-22 ($91m/4 yrs) to address demand for community-based health services. The package includes public dental services, cancer services and maternal child health. It will also include three new residential AOD treatment facilities, additional community-based counselling and expanded forensic services. In addition, funding will be provided to women’s health services for gender responsive healthcare, family violence prevention services, women’s mental health and sexual and reproductive health services.  

Support for asylum seekers 

$3.9m in 2021-22 to continue existing mental health supports to people seeking asylum who are ineligible for Medicare and income support. Also includes nurse and GP care, homelessness assistance, case coordination and emergency relief like food, medication and utilities.    

Decriminalising public drunkenness 

$9.5m in 2021-22 to establish the health-based response to public drunkenness, including funding for trial sites, health outreach teams, transport and sobering up shelters.  

100,000 lives

$9.6m in 2021-22 ($45.6m/4 yrs) to improve the health and wellbeing of 100,000 Victorians by intervening early and reducing preventable hospital admissions, reducing unintended harms and limiting unnecessary medical interventions.

Expanding emergency departments

$2.9m in 2021-22 ($5.8m/2 yrs) funding is provided to increase emergency department capacity at Maroondah Hospital, Casey Hospital, Northern Hospital, Werribee Mercy Hospital and Austin Hospital.

Public fertility care services

$11.2m in 2021-22 ($50.1m /3 yrs) to deliver public fertility care, including help for more parents to access IVF and a public sperm and egg bank.  

Medically supervised injecting rooms

$18.7m in 2021-22 ($40.1m/2 yrs) continued funding for the North Richmond supervised injecting room, and funding to establish a second supervised injecting room in the City of Melbourne.

Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health Hub Expansion

$3m in 2021-22 to expand the community facilities and services at the Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health Hub.

Public health and local place-based delivery

$801m in 2021-22 ($823m/4 yrs) funding to continue the core public health response to COVID-19 and manage any further spread and outbreaks. Includes operation of local public health units, COVID-19 prevention activities, health promotion activities and specialised response capability to support Victorians living in public housing, disability accommodation and other high-risk settings.

Analysis

The State Budget matches the promise of the final report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System with significant funding. Funding has been provided to improve people’s access to community-based treatment and support, and deliver services for the vast ‘missing middle’; those people who were missing out. 

The major reforms outlined in the Royal Commission and funded in this Budget will be funded by a Mental Health and Wellbeing Levy. The levy will apply to businesses with a payroll over $10 million. This levy appears to be designed fairly, and if equally well applied, it will raise the money required to fix our broken mental health system. 

The focus on children and young people’s mental health, and the investment in mental health in schools, will help Victoria’s children and young people recover from the impacts of the pandemic and provide early intervention if they develop mental ill-health.  

This Budget also signals a welcome shift to early intervention, including by investing in reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and medical interventions. Early intervention keeps people healthier, reduces the risk of complications and is economically sound.  

VCOSS has long argued for Victoria to become a wellbeing economy, and adopt a wellbeing budgeting approach. We see positive signs in this Budget that this formal shift might occur soon. We look forward to working with the Victorian Government to identify how a wellbeing budget could help us measure social progress and track our recovery from COVID.  

While the significant investments in community health, alcohol and drug treatment and women’s health services are very welcome, the bulk of the funding is for only one year. With demand on these services increasing, sustained investment is needed beyond 2021-22. 

The second supervised injecting room in the City of Melbourne will save lives and help people struggling with drug addiction. It’s evidence based, smart policy. The North Richmond facility is the busiest supervised injecting room in Australia, so additional facilities are needed to take pressure off it, and reduce drug related harms for more Victorians.

• Support for Victoria’s LGBTIQ+ community
  $45.4m in 2021-22 to celebrate and support the LGBTIQ+ community, including $21.3m for mental health and wellbeing services for trans and gender diverse young people, $2.4m for Victoria’s Healthy Equal Youth project, $8.8m for wellbeing services and $9m to support community organisations and peak bodies to help LGBTIQ+ Victorians navigate vital services.

• Increased funding for disability advocacy support
  Funding for the Office for Disability has been increased by 16.7% to $15.6m for 2021-22, which will support the development of the State Disability Plan and deliver a $1.7m boost to disability advocacy services.

• Support to build inclusive and safe communities for Victorians with disability
  As part of a $9.2m package over 4 years, funding is provided for communications, preparedness and response to emergencies and disasters and Disability Liaison Officers in health services. $9.1m in 2021-22 ($29.3m/4 yrs) is also provided to support Working with Children Check and National Disability Insurance Scheme worker screening. 

• Building better connected communities
  $1.8m in 2021-22 ($3m/4 yrs) funding is provided to continue the Australian Red Cross hotline to support people feeling disconnected or lonely to engage with their local communities, to deliver a reimagined Seniors Festival, and to continue the Justice Connect not-for-profit law program.

• Public transport infrastructure, accessibility and amenity upgrades
  In addition to an investment of $986m in 2021-22 to build a fleet of 25 more accessible, reliable and energy efficient trains and related infrastructure, and $368m in 2021-22 to deliver enabling infrastructure for Next Generation Trams, the Budget commits $7.3m in 2021-22 ($9.9m/2 yrs) to improve public transport accessibility through a new strategy and a range of design and access improvements, including level-access upgrades to seven tram stop pairs aligned to the Metro Tunnel network. 

Analysis

The Budget commits funding to a range of initiatives focused on improving access, inclusion and support for Victorians who experience additional barriers, discrimination and disadvantage. COVID-19 exacerbated the issues and challenges faced by many Victorians, including people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, older people, people with disability, the LGBTIQ+ community, carers and support networks.

Lessons learnt through the pandemic – including the importance of partnering with and working alongside communities – have informed the delivery of further funding for continued and enhanced community engagement activities with residents of the North Melbourne and Flemington public housing towers, an expansion of the prevention and preparedness work of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities Taskforce, and accessible emergency communications and preparedness support for people with disability.

Support for culturally and linguistically diverse Victorians

Multicultural communities were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the associated economic downturn and increased racism. Continued and new funding in the Budget to support multicultural Victorians is welcomed.

Welcoming $23.7 million in #VicBudget for new initiatives for multicultural communities, including support for seniors, young people and migrants and refugees.
Read our budget response https://t.co/bVrJyJqFQw#springst pic.twitter.com/9XQ0sUHYlk

— ECCV (@ethnicvic) May 20, 2021

The Budget includes a focus on newly-arrived people, with $8.7 million over four years to improve settlement outcomes for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Through the funding, the capacity of programs delivering legal support, case management, and information on employment protections will be extended. The funding will also increase the capacity of Regional Community Hubs to improve services for new migrants, refugees and asylum seekers across Victoria. $3.8 million in 2021-22 is provided for continued health supports for people seeking asylum who are ineligible for Medicare and income support, including nurse and GP care, mental health programs, assistance with food, medication and utilities, homelessness programs and case coordination.

Funding is provided to support multicultural communities to build employment skills and improve access to services. Targeted economic security programs to support migrant and refugee women into employment and the Asylum Seeker VET program, providing eligible asylum seekers with access to subsidised training, are both funded. The Budget also commits $4.1 million over two years for jobs and stimulus initiatives for Victoria’s multicultural communities. The package supports the development of a cross-government bicultural worker strategy, focused on recruiting and supporting bicultural workers to assist diverse communities to navigate government services.

Racism is not new, but it is entrenched and persistent. A three-year funding package to tackle racism in Victoria is welcomed. The $1.5 million package will support the implementation of communication, community engagement and training initiatives to reduce vilification and hate-based conduct. These initiatives are part of the Government’s response to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Vilification Protections. Multicultural festivals, events and seniors’ groups will also have access to funding to celebrate and promote diversity, foster social cohesion and support community connections.

Advancing the rights, safety and wellbeing of older Victorians

The Budget makes a range of commitments to improve the quality of life, safety and wellbeing of older Victorians. The recently released recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care provide policy and program directions for all jurisdictions to better support older people living in residential care. The Budget provides an additional $28.8 million in 2021-22 to meet nurse-to-patient ratios in public sector residential aged care, and a further $1 million in 2021-22 to continue the work of Elder Abuse Prevention Networks and strengthen elder abuse identification and response in public health services.

Funding of $65 million over four years is allocated to rebuild the Glenview Community Care aged care facility in Rutherglen and to undertake detailed planning and design work for the future redevelopment of the Camperdown and Cohuna public sector aged care facilities. Close to $76 million will support ongoing infrastructure works for public sector residential aged care services in Cheltenham, Kew and Wantirna, and regional and rural facilities renewal.

The isolating impacts of the pandemic are unfortunately far from over for those who cannot risk returning to face-to-face social and community activities, particularly older Victorians and people with health conditions. We welcome continued funding for a hotline operated by the Australian Red Cross to provide emotional support and to help people connect and engage with their local community. Continued funding in 2021-22 of $2.5 million for the Victoria Together online platform, which shares a range of creative content and virtual experiences, and $400,000 for a reimagined Seniors Festival to provide outreach to isolated older people in aged care facilities through online, video and radio-based entertainment, will also support people to access and enjoy social interactions, arts and cultural experiences.

Promoting and realising the rights of people with disability

While the Victorian Government’s role as a disability support provider and funder has changed substantially through the roll-out of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the state’s vital and ongoing responsibility for delivering inclusive and responsive mainstream services and civic spaces, and in eliminating systemic disadvantage and inequity, remains unchanged. This includes, but is not limited to, child and family services, housing, health, education and training, employment, emergency management and response, justice, and transport.

The Budget includes funding for targeted initiatives, including $1.4 million for accessible communications before, during and after emergencies and disasters, $6.1 million for Disability Liaison Officers in health settings to improve access to services, continued funding for the Impact21 Program to support employment pathways for people with an intellectual disability, and $3.9 million over four years for a team to support young people with disability who have matters before the Children’s Court. A range of measures to support inclusion in education also received funding, as detailed in our Education analysis.

Funding for quality and safeguarding measures is provided in the Budget, including additional funding for regulators and complaints handling bodies like the Victorian Disability Worker Regulation Scheme and the Disability Services Commissioner, for workforce screening, and for advocacy services to promote the rights and voices of people with disability.

Disability advocacy has been consistently recognised by inquiries as an important safeguard to help prevent and report abuse, particularly for people who are afraid or unable to have their voices heard. The disability advocacy sector is struggling with the weight of demand associated with the NDIS, and COVID-19 has put additional pressure on services. While more is needed to reduce waiting lists and improve the sustainability of the sector, this Budget boost is nonetheless welcome. We look forward to additional detail about how funding will be directed to increase the coverage, reach and access to disability advocacy and self-advocacy support.

Supporting and celebrating Victoria’s LGBTIQ+ community

The Budget makes a range of commitments to deliver improved support for Victoria’s LGBTIQ+ community. $8.8 million is provided for mental health supports, including $6.4 million to expand the Rainbow Door program to support people who identify as LGBTIQ+ to access and navigate the mental health and wellbeing system, and $2.4 million to continue the Healthy Equal Youth project to support young LGBTIQ+ Victorians. A further $4.6 million is provided for the development of a diverse communities’ mental health and wellbeing framework and blueprint for action.

The Budget includes $21.3 million to support the mental health of trans and gender diverse young people through the Royal Children’s Hospital and Monash Health’s Gender Clinics. An additional $9 million is provided to support community organisations and peak bodies to help LGBTIQ+ Victorians navigate vital services. Specialist legal services for the LGBTIQ+ community are also funded as part of a $31.1 million, four-year package for legal assistance and critical early intervention support services.

Funding is provided to continue the LGBTIQ+ organisation grants program and the LGBTIQ+ Leadership Program, and $1 million for Melbourne Pride 2021, a major one-off event to celebrate and support LGBTIQ+ communities. Melbourne Pride 2021 will mark the 40-year anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality by the Victorian Parliament.

The first ever Victorian LGBTIQ+ Strategy is currently in development and will guide the Victorian Government’s efforts to achieve equality for LGBTIQ+ communities over the next decade. We look forward to the next phases of this Strategy and the priority areas for change it will progress.

Caring for carers

Over 730,000 Victorians care for someone with a disability, mental illness, terminal illness, chronic illness, or an older person with care needs. The Budget provides funding to assist carers and support those they care for.

A $93 million, four-year package will support families and carers of people with mental illness through the establishment of eight family and carer-led centres across Victoria and increased funding for the Carer Support Fund, Tandem and its carer participation registers. The Families where a Parent has a Mental Illness (FaPMI) program will be expanded, and funding will be provided to co-design and expand supports for young carers.

Today's State #Budget includes $93 million in dedicated support for families & carers in mental health, incl. $23 million for young people & children caring for a family member. Read more: https://t.co/eo1VeoffEr

— Tandem (@tandemcarers) May 20, 2021

Funding is provided to improve supports available to young carers and strengthen referral pathways across mental health and wellbeing and education systems. Other initiatives that will support carers to learn, upskill, work and maintain their health and wellbeing are also welcome. As the implementation of the Victorian Carer Strategy 2018-22 reaches its latter stages, we look forward to hearing more about how priority actions of the Strategy will continue to be pursued.

We are pleased to see that “Caring for Victorians” is a headline from the Victorian Government’s 2021-22 budget and we welcome the focus on wellbeing and early intervention. See our detailed analysis of the #VicBudget2021 – https://t.co/kS7WRQUxcQ

— Carers Victoria (@CarersVictoria) May 25, 2021

Community and social participation

Supporting Victorians to access and take part in social and community life is crucial to wellbeing. We welcome funding provided for the continued delivery of Reclink’s ActiVIC program, which supports diversity and inclusion by providing more equitable access to sport and active recreation for people with disability, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, First Nations people and people experiencing financial hardship. In addition to the public transport infrastructure investments outlined above, funding is provided to continue the Multi-Purpose Taxi Program lifting fee and wheelchair accessible vehicle subsidy, which aims to incentivise the supply of wheelchair-accessible vehicles and services for people with mobility needs.

Further investments should be targeted towards making public and community spaces accessible and inclusive for people with disability, older people and people with mobility or health conditions. The Budget’s modest $2.5 million investment in Changing Places accessible public toilets is positive, but only one piece of the puzzle. Infrastructure Victoria’s Draft 30-year Strategy recommended the immediate establishment of an accessibility upgrade fund for priority public building upgrades. Funding accessibility upgrades for public places would be a win-win for Victorians, businesses and the building sector alike. In addition, community participation and independence should be supported through the provision of additional resources for aids and equipment programs that support the independence and mobility of older people and people with disability who are ineligible for the NDIS. 

• Reducing bushfire risk in a rapidly changing climate
  $78.6m in 2021-22 ($384.2m/4 yrs) to reduce the impact of bushfires on Victorian communities.

• Initiatives to fast-track Victoria’s recovery from the 2019-20 Victorian bushfires
  $60.5m in 2021-22 ($104.4m/4 yrs) to assist communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires. This includes mental health support, legal aid and financial counselling.

• Zero and low emission vehicles: accelerating adoption
  $11.0m in 2021-22 ($46.1m/3 yrs) to introduce a $3,000 subsidy for zero emission vehicles for households and businesses.

• Building inclusive and safe communities for Victorians with disability
  Part of $8.1m in 2021-22 ($9.2m/4 yrs) to provide accessible communications for people with a disability during emergencies.

• Seizing the economic opportunity of a net zero, climate resilient state
  $5.0m in 2021-22 ($10m/2 yrs) to drive progress towards Victoria’s emissions reduction targets.

• More trees for a cooler, greener west
  $5.0m in 2021-22 to plant new trees in western Melbourne.

• Support for the expansion of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program
  $2.2m in 2021-22 ($7m/4 yrs) to deliver more subsidised energy efficiency upgrades for households and businesses.

Analysis

Communities impacted by the Black Summer bushfires are still struggling to recover and rebuild. These communities will benefit from investment in essential services to support their health and wellbeing. In 2021-22, $60.5m will be spent on initiatives in bushfire-affected areas including financial counselling, mental health support and legal aid. Part of the Government’s Good Money program will also continue pop-up stores in these regions to provide no-interest loans, low-cost insurance, and financial advice to households in need.

VCOSS supports the implementation of the Victorian Traditional Owner Cultural Fire Strategy to incorporate the expertise of Aboriginal cultural burning in bushfire preparedness.

It is also positive that the Government is investing in support for people with a disability to prepare for emergencies, as well as accessible communication during emergencies so people don’t miss out on urgent messages.

A gap in this Budget is funding for community service organisations to plan for emergencies. This would build the sector’s resilience during disasters and help staff members maintain business continuity. VCOSS also would have liked to see funding for a network of climate-resilient refuges for people to shelter from extreme heat and bushfire smoke.

The Budget was quiet on efforts to address and prepare for climate change, after the raft of announcements in 2020. VCOSS supports the planting of half a million trees in western Melbourne to reduce the impact of extreme heat and air pollution. Investment in zero emissions vehicles is also welcome, although it will be years before these announcements trickle down and make electric cars affordable for low-income households.

Various initiatives will support Victoria to reduce its emissions and reach its targets, but a missed opportunity is installing rooftop solar panels on public housing. This would lower residents’ energy bills and help them afford the running costs of the new reverse-cycle air-conditioners being rolled out to thousands of public housing properties as a result of last year’s Budget.

• Responding to community-based healthcare demand
  $78.3m in 2021-22 ($96.5m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to 12 women’s health services to meet growing demand for gender responsive healthcare, including prevention of family violence support services, women’s mental health and sexual and reproductive health services.
  
  Three new women’s sexual and reproductive health hubs will be established and the operating hours and scope of services at the eight existing hubs will be expanded. This initiative also supports community-based healthcare including catch-up care for dental services, cancer services, and maternal child health services to ensure clients who were unable to engage over the past 12 months receive the care they need.
  
  Increase in demand for alcohol and other drugs programs will be met by three new residential AOD treatment facilities, additional community-based counselling services and expanded forensic services.

• Support for victim survivors of family violence and sexual assault
  $21.9m in 2021-22 ($49m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to continue case management responses for victim survivors of family violence in emergency accommodation and for victim survivors of sexual assault, to extend family violence supports and services including sexual assault services, for state-wide 24/7 crisis services, flexible support packages, culturally safe responses for Aboriginal survivors, and case management and brokerage for women on temporary visas.

• Improving outcomes for women in Victoria: strengthening Victoria’s economic recovery through women’s participation
  $2.1m in 2021-22 ($4.2m/2 yrs)
  Funding is provided to establish a Gender Responsive Budgeting Unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance, working closely with the Office for Women to ensure outcomes for women are measured and considered as part of budget decision-making processes. This will embed gender impact analysis and understanding in the allocation of resources. The initiative will also deliver targeted economic security programs to support migrant and refugee women into employment.

• Specialist family violence integrated court response
  $10.1m in 2021-22 ($42.6m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to establish specialist family violence courts at the remaining Magistrates’ Courts, further acquitting the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

• Perpetrator accountability
  $12.8m in 2021-22 ($18.1m / 4 yrs)
  Funding has been allocated to enable family violence specialists to deliver perpetrator interventions and contribute to an increasing evidence base about what works to change behaviour and prevent violence, including delivering Men’s Behaviour Change programs.

• Responses for children and young people impacted by family violence and sexual assault
  $14.1m in 2021-22 ($44.1m / 4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to continue the statewide expansion of services to adolescents who use violence in the home, extend sexually abusive behaviour treatment services and provide sexual assault support services targeted to children and young people.

Analysis

The 2021-22 Budget invests $354 million to support victim survivors and address family violence. Funding will continue support for the operation of the Central Information Point, and support Phase 2 organisations to meet their obligations under the MARAM framework and Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes. Funding has also been allocated to enable family violence specialists to deliver perpetrator interventions and Men’s Behaviour Change programs, which will contribute to an increasing evidence base about what works to change behaviour and prevent violence.

VCOSS is particularly pleased to see the establishment of a Gender Responsive Budgeting Unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance. This unit will help overcome the inequalities experienced by women by further embracing gender impact assessments, gender budgeting and gender auditing.

VCOSS welcomes the commitment to build three additional sexual and reproductive health hubs and the commitment to provide additional support for Victoria’s 12 women’s health services. We know that COVID had a disproportionate impact on women’s mental and physical health, as well as sexual and reproductive health, and these commitments will help ensure more women can access the tailored, gendered health information they need to effectively navigate Victoria’s health system.

While this Budget does provide some investment in the prevention of family violence, including $44 million to develop tools and resources to address the drivers of sexual violence in young people and the delivery of youth-focused programs that promote healthy relationships and community understanding of family violence, we know that more funding is needed if we are to stop violence before it starts.

Respect Victoria has identified that currently only 3 per cent of the family violence budget is spent on primary prevention. Victoria must commit to boost overall spending on family violence prevention to at least 10 per cent of the family violence budget to help change behaviour within families and the community so that we can all live free from violence.

Increased funding for the specialist family violence sector is also needed to meet rising levels of demand and ensure that services can cover higher operational costs, retain experienced staff and pay workers at a classification/level commensurate with their qualifications, knowledge and skills.

• A new Victoria Skills Authority
  $17.7m in 2021-22 ($85.9m/5 yrs)
  Bringing together industry, providers and other stakeholders, the new Victoria Skills Authority will produce insights on priority training areas and inform an annual Victorian Skills Plan to better guide training delivery where it’s needed most.

• Getting Victorians back to work: our plan to minimise the risk and costs of greater inequality
  $7.6m in 2021-22 ($21.7m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to support community revitalisation and microenterprise development programs, support Victoria’s social enterprise sector and ongoing resourcing to monitor the Social Procurement Framework. This initiative also supports employment pathways for people with an intellectual disability through Impact 21 and establishing the Local Transition Response Service to support workers facing retrenchment.

• Tackling the digital skills divide to get Victorians into jobs
  $3.1m in 2021-22 ($6.2m/2 yrs)
  Funding is provided to increase places in pre-accredited digital literacy and employability skills training courses delivered by Learn Local providers to enhance the employment prospects of educationally disadvantaged Victorians.

• Recovery together: jobs and stimulus initiatives for Victoria’s multicultural communities
  $4.4m in 2021-22 ($4.5m/2 yrs)
  Funding is provided to develop a cross-government bicultural worker strategy aimed at recruiting and supporting bicultural workers to assist CALD communities to navigate government services.

• More training places for the TAFE and training system
  $84.5m in 2021-22 ($88.8m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to continue support for eligible students to enhance their skills and employment opportunities by providing subsidised vocational education and training.

• Increasing the funding of high-quality and accessible training
  $14.1m in 2021-22 ($99m/4 yrs)
  This will boost funding rates for TAFEs and other registered training providers in 2022, including subsidy rates, maximum concession contribution rates and non-Free TAFE fee waiver rates.

• TAFE reform
  $11m in 2021-22 ($15m/2 yrs)
  Funding will establish a new Office of TAFE Coordination and Delivery to enhance collaboration across the TAFE network and continue coordination of practical placements for TAFE students, including in priority industries such as allied health, individual support and community services, and early childhood and education and training sectors.

Analysis

Since the pandemic, employment in Victoria has rebounded with more than 200,000 jobs being created. Many of these jobs have been taken up by women and young people – two groups of workers who were among the hardest hit by job losses last year, during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even so, some jobseekers will require targeted support to participate in the state’s economic recovery. VCOSS welcomes funding in this Budget for community organisations to deliver economic security programs to support migrant and refugee women into employment, and investment in community-led initiatives that will provide increased education and employment opportunities for young people from African and Pasifika backgrounds.  

VCOSS has long advocated for place-based responses to job creation. We’re pleased to see the Government making investments that will help bring to life initiatives such as the Portland Economic Diversification Plan and the Hilldene Employment Precinct in Seymour, and activate the Food Manufacturing Precinct in Morwell as part of the Latrobe Valley’s transition and transformation.

We know that a sustained focus on building the community services workforce will be needed over the next decade to deliver on the Government’s significant investment across the sector.

Key investments in mental health, early childhood and teaching will also support thousands of new jobs across the community services sector. VCOSS welcomes the trial of Frontline Victoria, which will create a fast-tracked path for degree-qualified people to change careers and move into a role within child and family services. 

A fair indexation formula incorporating wage rises, the anticipated superannuation guarantee increase, portable long service leave levy and the different costs of delivering services in rural and remote areas is needed to ensure community service organisations can provide secure jobs, and maintain a high quality workforce.

VCOSS particularly welcomes funding to support the development of a bicultural worker strategy to support CALD communities’ engagement with government services. We know that during the public housing estate lockdowns, government relied heavily on volunteers as bicultural connectors; however, the type and volume of work performed and the expertise it required should have been professionally recognised and valued.

Student placements can play an important role in building the community services workforce Victoria needs. However, supporting student placements through investing in extra staff and supervision training takes time and costs money, and many community service organisations have limited capacity due to finite resources, high demand for services and short-term or inadequate funding. While this Budget provides brokerage funding for TAFEs to connect students with services to complete their placements, it doesn’t remove the burden from community service organisations. These organisations, which are heavily relied on for placements, are over-stretched and facing staff shortages. Government should build on the initiatives provided in the Budget by funding community organisations to host student placements to support a pipeline of workers for the future.

This Budget invests in key recommendations from the Macklin Review (Skills for Victoria’s Growing Economy), including the New Skills Authority, due to be launched in July 2021. The New Skills Authority is a welcome announcement and will support an integrated approach to planning for Victoria’s future training needs, including quality of teaching and training.

It is positive to see a funding boost for government-subsidised courses delivered by TAFE and other registered training providers; however, the devil will be in the detail about which courses will see a much-needed increase. For example, courses that disproportionately support disadvantaged learners, such as Foundation Skills and Certificate I and II courses, have subsidy rates so low that they make it hard for providers like Learn Local Organisations to give the intensive support some learners need.

Even with access to Free TAFE, the cost of vocational education and training can still be prohibitive for many students. We need to better support vulnerable learners at TAFE through providing bursaries and scholarships and ensuring that TAFEs can deliver more mentoring, pathways, literacy and numeracy support, assessment adjustments, counselling, and employer partnership development to facilitate workplace training.

Despite improvements in the youth unemployment rate, it still remains stubbornly high in Victoria. The state desperately needs a youth employment strategy that helps support young people into secure work. Designed in partnership with young people, this strategy should focus on increasing participation in education, training and employment, with a view to keeping young people in good jobs.

VICTORIAN BUDGET MEDIA RELEASE

The Victorian Government has unveiled a budget that invests significantly in mental health, matching big promises with significant funding.

In the first budget since the Mental Health Royal Commission recommended a system overhaul, Victoria will invest $3.8billion to rebuild the system ‘from the ground up’.

“The Victorian Government promised to fix a broken system. It’s now putting its money where its mouth is,” VCOSS CEO Emma King said.

“The government is now starting to fund the recommendations of the Mental Health Royal Commission, and shift the system’s focus to prevention and early intervention.”

The budget also continues and in some cases expands funding for a number of welcome social policy initiatives. These include:

• Delivering a truth-telling process and treaty, including the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission.
• Supporting Victoria’s school students’ mental health and recovery from the pandemic.
• Delivering cleaner air through more trees in Melbourne’s West.

Ms King described the 2021 budget as a blueprint for Victoria’s post-COVID recovery.

“The budget strikes a smart balance between funding the urgent support services that are needed right now, and allocating money to protect and empower the state’s most vulnerable over the long term.”

Ms King said the government’s new mental health levy must not become a political football.

“Victorians’ mental health should be above politics,” she said.

“If people want the government to fund services properly then it needs to raise revenue. A levy is the method recommended by the Royal Commission.”

“Designed properly and applied fairly, this levy will play a critical role raising the money required to fix our broken mental health system.

“VCOSS urges all parties and MPs be constructive and supportive to this approach.”

VCOSS is pleased by a noticeable focus on wellbeing in the 2021 budget papers, and the establishment of a Gender Responsive Budgeting Unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance.

“VCOSS has long argued for Victoria to become a wellbeing economy, and adopt a wellbeing budgeting approach. We see positive signs in this budget that this formal shift might occur soon,” Ms King said.

The amendment proposes an increase to the permanent rate of JobSeeker of about $25 per fortnight. That will not be enough to keep people out of poverty and will have long-term impacts on people’s health, wellbeing and prospects of employment.

To alleviate poverty, VCOSS strongly advocates the government increase the rate from the proposed $44 per day to at least $65 per day and commit to ongoing indexation of payments in line with wage movements at least twice per year.

The rate of JobSeeker should raise people above the poverty line

13 per cent of Victorians currently live in poverty.[1] Poverty exists in every Victorian community, with rates highest in regional and rural Victoria. Poverty stops people living healthy and happy lives. It can lead to isolation, to children disengaging from school, and to poor physical and mental health.

Receiving JobSeeker is the biggest risk factor for living in poverty. In January 2021 there were approximately 333,000 JobSeeker recipients in Victoria[2] or approximately 10 per cent of the Victorian labour force of 3.4 million people.

The proposed increase to the base rate of JobSeeker will leave these Victorians living well below the poverty line. For example, a single person without children will be $166 per fortnight short of the poverty line.

The Coronavirus Supplement lifted people out of poverty

The Australia Institute estimates that 425,000 Australians were lifted out of poverty due to the Coronavirus Supplement alone.[3] JobSeeker recipients told VCOSS that when they received the Coronavirus Supplement they were able to buy fresh food, eat three meals a day, and pay their bills for the first time.

All income support recipients, excluding disability support pensioners, “found themselves moving from incomes well below the poverty line to incomes above it, sometimes substantially so” as a result of the Coronavirus Supplement.[4]

People in households with two partners unemployed were the biggest beneficiaries, seeing their incomes rise collectively from between 10 to 20 per cent below the poverty line to between 35 per cent and 65 per cent above it.[5] This resulted in a rise in living standards for many JobSeeker recipients.

The proposed JobSeeker rate will send many families back to a life of poverty, forced to choose between medical care or energy bills, food or school supplies.

It’s hard to get a job when you live in poverty

Getting people back into work, post-COVID-19, is a worthy goal. But an inadequate rate of income support actually makes it harder for people to get work. It is more difficult to travel to interviews, pay for childcare, afford job-searching resources like the internet and devices, or look after your health, making the job hunt virtually impossible.

The impacts of an inadequate rate of JobSeeker may be particularly acute in Victoria. Victoria experienced a more prolonged COVID-19 related lockdown than any other Australian state or territory. As a result, Victorians have been hit harder by job losses than people living in other states and territories.

For example, between the week ending 14 March 2020 and the week ending 30 January 2021, payroll jobs in Victoria decreased by 3.7 per cent, the largest decrease out of all the states and territories.[6] Victoria’s unemployment rate is 6.3 per cent – the third highest in the nation, behind Queensland and South Australia.[7]

The system should enable and empower people to work and participate in society, and set them up to succeed. Overly strict and punishing compliance regimes may do more harm than good. Forcing people to apply for inappropriate jobs, or those they are not qualified for, to meet unreasonable mutual obligations does nothing to help people move into decent and secure employment. 

As well as making it harder for people to find jobs, the decision will likely have economic impacts. Most people who received the full Coronavirus Supplement last year reported they spent it on household bills, supplies and groceries. As the diagram shows, the lowest income quintile are in fact “dis-savers”, spending more than what they earn.[8]

That’s economic stimulus during a time when many Australian businesses are struggling. If the rate is low, people will have less money to spend on basics in local economies.

Demand for community services will increase if JobSeeker is inadequate

The inadequate rate of JobSeeker will place additional pressure on community service organisations. Prior to the pandemic, demand in the community services sector was already high and growing. Three-fifths of community sector staff surveyed in 2019 reported the number of clients that their service was unable to support had grown in the last twelve months.[9]

Many community organisations are reporting increased demand from people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] This includes a large group of Victorians who have never needed support from the community sector before.[11]

Rates of financial hardship are growing. Many Victorians are already accessing credit, savings and superannuation to spend on essential goods, and are worried about their ability to pay bills.[12]

When the JobSeeker rate is cut, and other COVID-19 measures end (like the evictions moratorium), there will be further increases in demand for Government and community services. This will mean stretched services, exhausted workers, longer waiting lists and people unable to get help when they need it.

To discuss this submission further, please contact Brooke McKail, Manager Policy and Research on  brooke.mckail@vcoss.org.au

[1] VCOSS, Every suburb, every town: mapping poverty in Victoria, November 2018.

[2] Department of Social Services, JobSeeker Payment and Youth Allowance Recipient – month profile, January 2021.

[3] Grudnoff, M, Poverty in the age of coronavirus. The impact of the JobSeeker coronavirus

supplement on poverty, Australia Institute Discussion Paper, Australia Institute, July 2020.

[4] Dr David Hayward, Liss Ralston and Hayden Raysmith, Social policy during the coronavirus recession: a fairytale with an

unhappy ending? A case study of Victoria, VCOSS Occasional Paper, 2020.

[5] Ibid.

[6] ABS, Weekly Payroll Jobs and Wages in Australia, 13 February 2021

[7] ABS, Labour Force, Australia, 18 February 2021,

[8] A Beech, R Dollman, R Finlay and G La Cava, The Distribution of Household Spending in Australia, Reserve Bank of Australia, March 2014.

[9] ACOSS, Demand for Community Services Snapshot, December 2019.

[10] VCOSS and FSSI, Stories into Evidence: Covid-19 adaptations in the Victorian community services sector, 2020, p.7.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Consumer Policy Research Centre, COVID-19 and Consumers: from crisis to recovery; Monthly Insights Report: October – December 2020, 2020.

“This budget is literally brimming with positive, smart and effective social policy measures that will make real inroads into poverty and disadvantage,” VCOSS CEO Emma King said.

“The pandemic has made bold interventions a necessity, and the government isn’t missing its shot.”

Ms King said VCOSS was particularly pleased with:

• A mammoth $5.3 billion on social and affordable housing
• $870 million to bolster Victoria’s mental health system
• Power bill relief and targeted energy efficiency upgrades
• A permanent extension to the Home Stretch program–so people in state care are supported until they’re 21.
• A jobs and training package that prioritises women and young people.

“Any of these measures by themselves would have made for a good budget,” Ms King said.

“Together, they make a great one.”

“Perhaps most importantly, this budget sets us on a new course. One where people come first, and community and individual wellbeing is the main game in town.”

###ENDS###

The 2018 Victorian Budget presents a pathway to a better and fairer Victoria, the Victorian Council of Social Service said.

The budget has a significant focus on education, getting young people ‘job ready’ and helping people retrain for new and emerging professions.

“Growing our state means growing opportunity for our children, through stronger schools, better job pathways and genuine employment opportunities,” VCOSS CEO Emma King said.

“This budget does that.”

Ms King said VCOSS had been advocating for fee waivers to help train Victorians ahead of rapid jobs growth in the social care sector.

“What we got was a whole lot more,” Ms King said, referring to;

• A promise of free TAFE training for Victorians in 30 ‘priority courses’ (including community services, disability, mental health, personal care and ageing),
• A new Head Start program so teenagers can complete an apprenticeship or traineeship while finishing high school,
• An extension of the Navigator and Lookout program to keep kids engaged in education, and
• More careers counsellors in government schools to advise on job opportunities

“These measures will keep kids engaged in education and help propel them into real jobs.”

“They will also help build the high-quality workforce needed to support and empower Victorians in need.”

Other positive initiatives in today’s budget include:

• Extra funding for Neighbourhood Houses, to build community resilience and combat social isolation,
• Investment in engaging with Aboriginal communities and pursuing self-determination,
• A funding boost for clinical mental health and drug & alcohol services,
• Targeted relief for people facing acute energy hardship,
• New support for people who have been unemployed for a significant period of time,
• More support for kids in state care until their 21st birthday (extending a trial program in Gippsland and Melbourne’s south-east), and
• Additional money to prevent family violence, support gender equality and implement the recommendations from the Family Violence Royal Commission.

Ms King said the budget comes six months before the state election, and VCOSS would expect further social policy announcements in the months ahead.

“We’ll be looking for more detail on the government’s plans to cut the cost of living for all Victorians, including making housing and essential services more affordable.”

“VCOSS will continue to push for new funding and initiatives to ensure every Victorian can lead a good life,” she said.

The Victorian Council of Social Service says the budget’s headline figure of $1.9 billion for family violence initiatives is a generous and welcome amount, and should be recognised as new money in addition to previous commitments.

“This is a budget with a heart,” Ms King said.

“The government has allocated a phenomenal amount of money to address family violence in a range of areas; from prevention to early intervention and support for victims and perpetrators.”

Specifically, the Government will protect women and children with a broad range of investments including:

• $448m to establish 17 Support and Safety Hubs for survivors
• $270.8 million to provide specialist support for victims and supporting recovery
• $269m to operate five specialist family violence courts
• $50.7 million to help stop the violence before it starts
• $20.5m to support community legal centres and financial counselors, which work on the frontline protecting families escaping violence

[View detailed analysis here.]

“The government should be commended for genuinely acting on the recommendations of the Family Violence Royal Commission,” Ms King said.

“These measures will save lives.”

The 2017 budget also formally allocates money towards initiatives to make housing safer, cheaper and more accessible for Victoria’s most vulnerable citizens, including the pre-announced $1b Social Housing Growth Fund.

Other highlights include;

• $81.2m to expand maternal and child health services and parenting support
• $87.1m to help kindergartens get kids from disadvantaged backgrounds ready for school
• $58.7m for the next phase of the Government’s Ice Action Plan
• $94m to boost jobs in disadvantaged areas, including the Latrobe Valley.
• $50.7m to help 350 poorly performing schools do better
• $19.9m to provide support to young people with disabilities in advance of the National Disability Insurance Scheme

“There’s a lot to be proud of in this budget,” Ms King said.

“VCOSS will work with the government to ensure fairness is central across all key government decisions and investments over the coming year.”

VCOSS will analyse the budget in more detail over the coming days, with updates available at vcoss.org.au

“With manufacturing jobs declining, a hostile housing market and the emergence of a two speed economy, many Victorians are being left behind,” Victorian Council of Social Service CEO Emma King said.

“A record 726,900 Victorians now live below the poverty line. This is simply not good enough. The policies of yesterday aren’t working.”

“However, with smart approaches and a collaborative mindset there are ways to empower all Victorians to succeed.”

VCOSS’ 2017 state budget submission presents practical budget proposals to empower individuals, strengthen communities and help address structural unfairness. It calls on the Victorian Government to:

• SLASH household power bills through energy efficiency programs ().
• BUILD more social housing and adopt a ‘home first’ approach to homelessness ().
• FUND more kinder places for three and four year olds ().
• IMPROVE legal assistance, especially for those identified as vulnerable ().
• HELP students with disability succeed, with needs based funding ().
• SUPPORT independent advocacy services for people with disability and their carers ().
• ESTABLISH a social innovation fund to support local initiatives (), and
• LOOK AFTER young adults in state care until their 21st birthday ().

“These measures shouldn’t be seen as ‘costs’ to the budget, but rather as investments,” Ms King said.

“Investments in these areas will empower individuals, strengthen communities and help address structural unfairness.”

“They are down payments on greater health, social equity and community cohesion, which are all key driver of economic growth.”

VCOSS recognise that a lot has been achieved over recent years, especially to combat family violence and provide more social housing to Victorians facing homelessness. But more action is needed to build on this progress and achieve substantial, lasting change.

“All Victorians should be supported to reach their potential—regardless of where they live, how long they stayed in school, what struggles they face or who they choose to love,” Ms King said.

The 2017 VCOSS state budget submission also urges the Victorian Government to develop a community sector workforce plan. Growth in the community sector will be a major source of new jobs in Victoria, but skill and worker shortages are likely without careful planning.

The full state budget submission includes more than 50 detailed policy initiatives and investments, and was developed after extensive consultation with the broader Victorian community sector.