HOMELESSNESS
— LOCAL GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP FUND
673. Hon Dr BRAD PETTITT to the Leader of the House
representing the Minister for Homelessness:
I refer to the local government partnership fund for
homelessness and the 11 local governments and partner organisations that
applied, totalling $1.3 million in applications. In a public announcement on 24
June 2022, only two local governments were
successful, receiving a total of $280 000 in funding. In the publicly available
information session on 7 September 2021, it stated to allow up to 12
weeks from the closing date to assess and award grants to successful
applicants.
(1) How long
did it take to assess the applications, given I was told in Parliament on 24
February 2022 that the assessment process was complete?
(2) Why did it
take eight and a half months from the close of applications to notify 11
applicants of the outcome and publicly announce the two successful
applications?
(3) When will
the department's review of the local government partnership fund for
homelessness occur and will the outcome be made publicly available?
(4) Will the
unspent $1.22 million from the first grant round still be utilised, along with
the remaining $4.5 million for future rounds, to support local governments and
their role in addressing homelessness?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(4)
The assessment of applications to the local government partnership fund
required careful review and deliberation due
to the majority of applications not meeting the fund's intent.
Evaluation of the unsuccessful applications found that they did not
align with the government's objectives, including displaying value for money. In addition to this, the assessment
process of applications was impacted by absences and illness due to
COVID-19. The future of the fund is currently being reviewed and application of
the remaining funds will be considered in the near future.