Supporting Stronger Communities

QUICK FACTS
  • Ensuring a well-resourced community services industry so they can meet the need of Tasmanians in local communities
  • Helping 34 Neighbourhood Houses keep delivering for local communities across Tasmania
  • 71 men's sheds across the State - ongoing support to meet, share information and stay connected
  • New Ticket to Wellbeing program to help older people get out and stay active, while saving them money
  • Helping older Tasmanians with digital inclusion initiatives
  • Supporting 2,000 more interest free loans a year for Tasmanians on low incomes.
  • Helping our volunteers, including Meals on Wheels
  • Working across government, in partnership with emergency food providers and the agricultural industry, to develop food resilience for all Tasmanians
  • Commitment to the LGBTIQA+ community in supports and services
  • Helping women in the community sector to participate in board, management and leadership roles

Under our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future, a re-elected majority Liberal Government will:

  • Provide guaranteed indexation to the community sector of 12.5 per cent over four years.
  • Boost operational funding for Neighbourhood Houses, including continuing the Community Connector program and investing in a new House upgrade program.
  • Invest in our Men's Sheds with new funding for upgrades, a competitive grants program and funding for the peak Association.
  • Deliver a nation-first Ticket to Wellbeing program for seniors, with extra funding for digital inclusion and COTA.
  • Boost funding for Carers Tasmania and Carers Week.
  • Help Tasmanians on low incomes with 2000 more No Interest Loans available each year and ongoing funding to the Energy Saver Subsidy.
  • Increase funding for volunteers and deliver Tasmania's first Volunteering Strategy, with more funding for Meals on Wheels.
  • Deliver a whole-of-government strategy to start the shift from emergency food relief to food resilience, with increased funding, capital investment and support, including our food vans.
  • Invest in new services and supports for the LGBTIQA+ community.
  • Deliver a new practical leadership program for women in the community sector.

An important part of our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future is about developing stronger communities and enhancing our regions.

Investing in the Community Services Industry

A re-elected majority Liberal Government will continue to ensure a well-resourced community services industry that is able to meet the level of need in local communities.

In the past two years, in line with inflationary pressures, we have made indexation adjustments to community service organisations of 3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

Further, during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we funded an unprecedented $2 billion in social and economic support that reached all areas of the Tasmanian community and enabled ongoing community sector service delivery at a difficult time for many.

We recognise the community sector wants to see certainty for their sector, the organisations it supports, and the Tasmanians who those organisations assist each and every day.

That’s why a re-elected majority Liberal Government will provide guaranteed indexation at a level above that of Treasury’s CPI forecasts over the next four years.

We will provide an uplift to the community sector of 12.5 per cent over the next four years, together with five-year contracts commencing as existing terms expire following the handing down of the 2024-25 Budget, and an outcomes-based framework.

This indexation level equates to 3.5 per cent in 2024-25 and an indexation rate of 3 per cent for the remaining three years. This is in line with public sector wages across this period, which were increased to factor in additional cost of living pressures for those on lower incomes.

This is a fair, affordable and responsible indexation level that will provide certainty for the community sector going forward.

The indexation level over the next four years is higher than Treasury's predicted CPI forecasts.

Investing in our Neighbourhood Houses

Over the past decade, the Tasmanian Liberals have been the biggest supporters of Neighbourhood Houses. That will continue under a re-elected majority Liberal Government. We will:

  • Boost funding to all Neighbourhood Houses by $50,000 a year for the next three years, so the 34 Houses can continue delivering for Tasmanians at the forefront of their local communities.An extra $50,000 per year was provided by the Tasmanian Liberal Government in 2023-24 Budget in recognition of the rising costs of living.
  • The trial of the place-based Community Connector program for Neighbourhood Houses has been another initiative of a Liberal Government, with a pilot involving 11 Connectors.The trial comes to an end in June 2024 and we will provide ongoing employment for the 11 Community Connectors and begin a staged expansion to deliver more Community Connectors each year.
  • Provide $6 million in new capital funding over the next three years to ensure all Houses are fit-for-purpose and contemporary, including an investigation and modelling of the needs of the East Devonport Neighbourhood House.
  • Provide $150,000 for the Hood in the Hub Community Garden initiative at the Warrane Mornington Neighbourhood Centre.
  • Extend for two years the current trial of a new mobile bulk-billed GP clinic, delivering up to 4500 additional appointments a year. The program, delivered by the Moreton Group, will provide walk-in, bulk billed GP services in four-hourly clinics, five days a week, and will operate on a rotating roster that visits Neighbourhood Houses in New Norfolk, Clarendon Vale, Gagebrook and Chigwell, and at the Salvation Army in Glenorchy and Flint House in New Town. The two-year extension begins at the end of 2024.

Investing in our Tasmanian Men's Sheds

Men's Sheds across Tasmania have been a success story in our State, after a decade of ongoing support from the Tasmanian Liberal Government. There are now 71 Sheds across the State, supporting men (and often women) to meet, share information and stay connected, while working on community projects.

Our support for Men's Sheds will continue under a re-elected majority Liberal Government.We will:

  • Provide $200,000 a year for two years to the Tasmanian Men's Shed Association to support the 71 Men's Sheds around the State.
  • Deliver a $1 million capital investment program to support upgrades.
  • Provide $175,000 in a competitive grants program each year for two years, for replacement of tools and equipment and to support health and wellbeing programs at the Sheds.

Investing in active Seniors

More than 20 per cent of Tasmania's population are aged 65 years and over.

Helping older Tasmanians to remain active and engaged in community life is an investment in individuals, families and local communities and helps reduce pressure on our health system.

That's why a re-elected majority Liberal Government will:

  • Trial a two-year $1 million Tasmania-first Ticket to Wellbeing program for the health and wellbeing of older Tasmanians.The new Ticket to Wellbeing program for seniors will be based on the successful Ticket to Play voucher system that has been successful in encouraging children and young people to be active and participate in community life.Two vouchers worth up to $100 each will be available to those listed on a Services Australia Health Care or Pensioner Concession Card.This will provide real savings and help older people stay active.
  • Provide an additional $200,000 per annum to the Council on the Ageing (COTA) Tasmania over the next two years so that it can continue its Seniors Week, Elder Abuse prevention services and advocacy for seniors in Tasmania.
  • Develop and deliver digital inclusion initiatives for older Tasmanians. We will invest $150,000 per year for two years in partnership with COTA Tasmania to develop digital inclusion initiatives, including peer education.

Investing in Carers

A re-elected majority Liberal Government will continue to value and support Tasmanian carers and their families in partnership with Carers Tasmania.

We will:

  • Double the funding for Carers Week to $40,000 a year for three years.
  • Boost peak funding for Carers Tasmania to $220,000 a year for two years.

Investing in the financial independence of Tasmanians in need

The No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) is not a charity. It is a proven and practical solution for helping thousands of Tasmanians tackle cost of living pressures that present daily challenges. There are no fees, no charges and no interest on loans and, because they are tailored and affordable to Tasmanians living on low incomes, 97 per cent of the loans are fully repaid. NILS works with its customers to meet repayment plans that meet individual situations.

Loans can be for a range of household items from essential household products and services (like a washing machine, or to fix the car), buying a second-hand car, assisting with back to school costs, helping with a bond for the private rental market, or helping households save on electricity costs with energy efficient appliances.

Last year NILS lent $9 million to almost 5,000 Tasmanians, with that spending flowing through to 960 different Tasmanian businesses.

A re-elected majority Liberal Government will -

  • Enter into a new, three-year Partnership Investment Plan to help NILS operate at a higher capacity, ramping up to the writing of 2,000 more loans each year over a three-year period.We will provide an additional $2.1 million as part of the Partnership.
  • Extend the highly successful Energy Saver Subsidy, which provides a direct 50 per cent subsidy on the cost of an energy efficient appliance, like a fridge, freezer or washing machine, for low-income Tasmanians if coupled with a NILS no-interest loan for the balance. Funding of $500,000 a year will be delivered each year for four years.

Supporting our volunteers

Tasmanian volunteers are critical to communities right across the State, in diverse areas from the sport and arts, through to health and community services, aged care, emergency management, education and conservation.

Volunteering can be life-changing both for volunteers and the recipient individuals, organisations and communities.

The Liberal Government has always respected and supported our volunteering community and this will continue.A re-elected majority Liberal Government will:

  • Provide peak body funding of $520,000 a year for two years, including the delivery of Volunteering Awards.
  • Work alongside Volunteering Tasmania to develop Tasmania's first Volunteering Strategy.We will provide $150,000 to develop the Strategy and a five-year action plan after its development.
  • Provide $44,250 to Meals on Wheels to support its existing volunteers and help attract new volunteers, by providing them with Mental Health First Aid Training, Defensive Driver Training, and First Aid Training.

Shifting from Emergency Food Relief into Food Resilience for Tasmania

Over the years of the pandemic, followed by high inflation, increasing interest rates and cost of living pressures, the need for emergency food relief has grown significantly.

In response, the Tasmanian Liberal Government has responded with increases in funding to emergency food relief programs across the State.

However, it's now time to shift the focus from emergency food relief to building long-term food resilience in Tasmania.

A re-elected majority Liberal Government will:

  • Provide $1 million to retain all increased emergency food relief funding for a further year while a whole-of-government Strategy is developed to begin the significant shift from food relief to food resilience in our State. We will work with major emergency food relief providers, including Loaves and Fishes and Foodbank, the Tasmanian Food Security Coalition, our agricultural industry, our charities and social enterprises, Neighbourhood Houses, Eat Well and School Food Matters, transport and logistics stakeholders, as well as the hospitality sector.
  • We will provide $200,000 to develop the Strategy, and it will be completed in time for the 2025-26 Budget.
  • While the Strategy is being developed, we will also provide a $5 million capital upgrade fund in order that emergency food relief organisations can get ahead in maximising cold storage, logistics and commercial kitchen facilities, including $2.5 million in upgrades for Loaves and Fishes for cold storage and to begin its shift to become a Food Procurement and Social Wholesaler organisation.
  • Provide Eat Well Tasmania with $75,000 for a vehicle so that it can continue its State-wide presence and delivery of programs across the State.
  • Provide $120,000 a year for the next two years for each of our Food Vans - Gran's Van in the North-West, Missionbeat in the North, and Loui’s Vans in the South. Each of the Food Vans provide thousands of nutritious meals to those in need each year.

Investing in new services and support for the LGBTIQA+ community

It was a Liberal Government that established the LGBTIQA+ working group, delivered the first Framework, and grant program for this community.

A re-elected majority Liberal Government will continue its support for equality in Tasmania by committing to a new LGBTIQA+ Framework and Action Plan, underpinned by a $500,000 investment into agreed services and programs, to be determined by the Working Group, Equality Tasmania and Working it Out.This funding will include the grants program.

Investing in practical leadership for women in the community sector

There are a great many women working or volunteering within the community sector who don't consider themselves for leadership positions, yet have all the attributes of a good leader.

A re-elected majority Liberal Government will work with the community sector, TasCOSS and Tasmanian Leaders by providing $250,000 over three years to develop and deliver practical leadership training for women in the community sector, enabling more women in the sector to participate in board, management and leadership roles.

Net Cost: $51.8 million including $7 million in capital infrastructure