Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I had the pleasure of introducing the Leader of the Opposition to the marvellous work being carried out by the We Care 2 organisation in Hervey Bay. We Care 2 is the not-for-profit welfare arm of the Hervey Bay Christian Church, which supplies emergency relief, counselling and food to residents in need. Its food supplies come from the Foodbank network, other Queensland suppliers and generous farmers and are distributed through a virtually non-profit supermarket which turned over $350,000 to May of this year and is currently turning over about $10,000 a week.

Led by Pastor Robert Geluk and CEO Duncan Croxon, We Care 2 is a unique organisation, and the value of its support services cannot be questioned in these difficult financial times. Its important work is evidenced by the fact that around 3,800 locals are registered clients, 2,000 of them as regulars, out of a district population of 65,000 people. That is the equivalent of one in every seven families in the Hervey Bay area using its services.

More recently, We Care 2 has been the engine room of a program providing personal toiletry kits to homeless youths in the Hervey Bay area. Its We Care Bags project has involved a wide cross-section of the community, with the Hervey Bay RSL donating $2,000 towards the cost of materials to make around 1,000 toiletry bags, many volunteers sewing the bags and still more people working hard to fill them with personal hygiene products—soap, toothpaste et cetera—donated by the general public. It is hoped that these bags will last for about 12 months and will send a clear message to those living on the streets that the wider community cares about their welfare. I must also praise the Fraser Coast Chronicle and its editor, Peter Chapman. They have tirelessly supported this project and promoted it far and wide.

I have mentioned the good work being done by We Care 2 and the support it receives from the local community. Now I will mention what I want to see for it in the future. I believe We Care 2 requires ongoing recurrent funding to ensure that it can continue the services and welfare that it has supplied to date. In the last calendar year, We Care 2 gave away, in the form of emergency aid, food valued at $55,000—that is over and above its Commonwealth emergency money and its supermarket operation. It will be almost impossible to continue this without some form of recurrent outside funding. As I mentioned, the emergency relief funds of around $28,000 are nowhere near sufficient for the level of demand that the organisation meets.

This could be solved if We Care 2, and other grassroots organisations doing similar work, were eligible to receive a modest annual funding allocation from the Commonwealth. In the case of We Care 2, an additional $50,000 a year would ensure that the thousands of people who rely on its discount supermarket can continue to do so. In the words of board member and secretary David Rees:

“After countless fruitless applications for funding, We Care 2 simply resolved to get on with doing whatever can be done with its limited resources. It has done very well and it has certainly helped the community at no cost to Government - but it can no longer continue to do so without significant help.

“It is certain however that the cost of providing financial help to enable We Care 2 to continue its services to the impoverished sector of Hervey Bay’s population is very small in the bigger picture - and miniscule in comparison to the problems which will most certainly arise if it should be forced to close.”

I could not agree more, and I applaud the amazing work being carried out by We Care 2, a truly Christian organisation. I am very proud of the way the local community has rallied behind this organisation and I am proud to be associated with it.

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