Extra funding positive step – need to use correctly

The extra funding for Child Youth and Family announced by the Minister of Social Services today is good news and will greatly assist the department through an immediate shortfall, PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said today.

“The increase in the baseline of $13.164 million will be helpful, however the PSA is concerned that it must be used appropriately. This is just another shortfall in a long line of mini crises and we are concerned that the Department seems to lurch from one shortfall to another. This only creates uncertainty and encourages short-term decision making. We want to see some stability and long-term building of the capacity and capability of the department.

Richard Wagstaff said the PSA would like to see the extra funding go into more staff, improved training, more services, and better pay and conditions for its members.

“We want to be able to recruit and retain the staff we need to meet the increasing workloads. We will be talking with Child Youth and Family about how this money gets used to make sure it gets to places where it is most needed and can be most effective.”

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