Letter to Community Groups re DET's Intervention Support Program

Dear friend

I am writing to draw your attention to the proposed job cuts in the Intervention Support Program administered by the Department of Education and Training to assist community-based early intervention services for young children with disabilities.

The Intervention Support Program administers $10 million of Commonwealth funds which are used to support approximately 6000 young children with disabilities and 500 community-based pre-schools, long day care centres and early intervention services including the major peak disability organisations. Amongst the community-based services which will be affected by these cuts are those provided by local councils and Aboriginal community organisations.

As you may know, the program provides supplementary support towards the cost of delivery of educational services for children in non-profit early childhood settings, children and adolescents in residential care, and capital grants for projects at non-government centres to benefit children and students with disabilities.

As President of the Public Service Association, I represent the bulk of those who will be affected by the job cuts of at least 1000 announced in June by Minister for Education and Training, Dr Andrew Refshauge. The job cuts are a part of the Department of Education and Training's misnamed Lifelong Learning restructure, unveiled in June under the rubric of putting more resources into teaching and learning, and eliminating duplication between DET and TAFE, with the aim of saving $70 million through job cuts. The Association is committed to defending the jobs of our members and the services they provide to the community.

Contrary to the Department's advice during the early consultation phase of the restructure, staff of the Intervention Support Program, one of four program areas of the Community Grants Program Unit, learned on September 24 that they were to lose two of their four dedicated staff members in addition to vital administrative support clerks which support all four programs.

None of the position cuts to this important community service area of the Department of Education and Training can be justified, and the effect will be to compound the problems created by job cuts in previous restructures. The loss of the two dedicated positions will mean:

• dissolution of the Intervention Support Advisory Committee;
• inability to provide a responsible, timely and accountable grants allocation, assessment and monitoring process in line with ICAC guidelines;
• withdrawal of educational consultancy support and professional development for funded organisations;
• the program will no longer be able to facilitate the vital transition to school for young children with disabilities in community-based early childhood services;
• difficulties in accounting to the commonwealth for the timely use of funds and dealing with an anticipated increase in educational accountability requirements;
• the program will no longer be able to maintain and update the electronic grants administration database.

Dr Refshauge has said that the 1000 job cuts announced in June were about slashing non-essential 'bureaucratic' jobs but this is a fiction. The only "fat" to cut in the Department of Education and Training is in the ranks of senior bureaucrats, but these positions have been increased in the proposed new structure, while educational support staff are been cut back drastically. The reality is that these cuts will deeply hurt many important areas of educational support and delivery.

I would urge you to write to the Minister and your local member, to indicate your concerns at the proposed cuts to the Department of Education and Training, in particular the Community Grants Program Unit. The address details are:

The Hon Dr Andrew Refshauge
Minister for Education and Training
Level 31, Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place Sydney NSW 2000

The PSA would also be pleased to receive a copy of any such correspondence. Send to:

Ms Sue Walsh
President
Public Service Association
GPO Box 3365
Sydney NSW 2001

For any further information, please contact Anne Kennelly, Industrial Officer, phone 9220 0949, or Jenny Long, A/Organiser, phone 9220 0930.

Yours sincerely,
Sue Walsh
PRESIDENT