THE new approach by the state government and not-for-profit collaborative group known as the Partnership Forum is the most innovative government structure of any jurisdiction in the country, according to forum chair Peter Shergold.
The forum evolved out of Premier Colin Barnett’s Economic Audit Committee and comprises eight government directors general and eight leaders from Western Australia’s community sector; it has had four major wins since it was established in April last year and is continuing its collaboration with the broader community sector through public forums.
“It brings together the community sector and public service in a way which allows real, open, and on occasions pretty robust discussions of human service policy development,” Dr Shergold said.
He said the forum’s first success was the Delivering Community Services in Partnership Policy, which was introduced alongside the second win – the state government’s budget allocation of an additional $600 million to the sector – and was developed to build a more mature contracting relationship between the sectors.
“I think everybody on the forum, directors general, not just community leaders, recognise the dead-weight costs that are too often imposed, and the need for us to increasingly focus on assessing performance rather than emphasising compliance,” Dr Shergold said of the aim to reduce the administrative burden on the community sector.
He said the substantial increase in budget allocation went hand in hand with this to bolster the sector.
“Unless we can ensure an appropriate price for services delivered, then essentially everything else the forum does won’t count for very much,” Dr Shergold said.
Centre for Social Impact director Paul Flatau said allowing the sector to provide appropriate payment to staff would have ongoing benefits.
“There are positive links between pay and efficiency outcomes, pay and turnover, pay and absenteeism,” he said.
“Pay is a really fundamental element of productivity and continued development so supporting the sector to have people properly paid is really critical.”
“That extra funding has helped build capacity, but I actually think there has got to be more than that.”
Professor Flatau said that it was critical that business, government, and the not for profit sector work together in partnership to build capacity and referred to the social innovation grants program introduced by the state government in January as a key driver of new capacity building.
The program provides grants to enable community sector organisations to develop new ways of delivering human services.
Dr Shergold said the social innovation program was the third win for the Partnership Forum, with the first round of grants delivering $2.6 million to nine organisations, while a further $3.7 million would be allocated in the next financial year.
The forum’s fourth success was the start of the self-directed service model, which provided funding to individuals accessing services rather than to the organisations providing them.
“WA is leading the game here,” Professor Flatau said.
“The idea is you allow those who have significant long-standing social needs to decide for themselves where they spend their money. They have the knowledge, the background, and the ideas and can spend their money in the most efficient way.
“It has transformed disabilities. It has been a very successful innovation in WA.”
Professor Flatau is keen to see the further development of social enterprises in Australia, after the recent announcement of the Commonwealth scheme to foster growth of social enterprise to encourage growth in employment and community services across Australia.
Last week, the federal government announced the Social Enterprise Development and Investment Fund would provide $32 million in seed funding to encourage the development of social enterprises, which are businesses led by an economic, social, cultural or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit.
The funding aims to lead to ancillary services for community service clients. The program was launched at Brisbane’s Tasty Fresh Community Catering, a social enterprise which creates pathways into training and employment especially for carers of people with a disability.
“One of the key difficulties has been that many not for profits have been funded to meet the immediate needs of their clients,” Professor Flatau said. “They are not funded to then provide opportunities in terms of employment, work, and business.
“That is what I would like to see; that partnership between not for profits and business and government in market activity to achieve ends for clients.”
