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Health Speeches | June 20, 2019

Supporting Accommodation for Vulnerable Victorians Initiative

Victorian Parliament - June 19, 2019 - Ms KEALY (Lowan) (11:42:56): (825) My question is to the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers, and it is great to see him at the table at the moment. The information I seek is why the minister refused a request to provide an additional allocation of Supporting Accommodation for Vulnerable Victorians Initiative (SAVVI) funding of $180 000 to support 80 new pension-level supported residential service beds in Bendigo, an area which currently has a substantially low allocation of only 29 pension-level SRS beds and a significant waiting list. Many organisations in Bendigo that support people with mental illness and other special needs who are at risk of homelessness have called for additional pension-level SRS beds. They have reached out to Kallara Care, a service currently operating similar services in Ballarat, to ask them to help address this need. Kallara Care Ballarat is the nearest pension-level SRS to my electorate of Lowan and provides support for my constituents. Following the minister’s refusal to provide additional SAVVI funding for Bendigo, the minister indicated that he would transfer funding from the Ballarat service should that facility close, meaning that community would lose an essential housing service. Both services need to be funded immediately, so I ask the minister why he has refused to do so.