Call for aid so all can grow with economy

TASMANIA’S economy is growing, but there’s a challenge in ensuring no one is left behind while others flourish, a social advocate says.

That might mean ensuring everyone has access to good dental care before attending job interviews, it might mean reskilling forestry workers for tourism jobs, or it might mean providing free buses for citybound folk to take on agricultural jobs in country areas.

Kym Goodes, Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive, says one way to increase the likelihood that everyone benefits during economy growth is to look overseas for examples of success.

She said TasCOSS was looking to Scotland’s Inclusive Growth Commission, which was experiencing success in programs helping local economies thrive.

“They had four statistics that absolutely matched Tasmania – they already had entrenched long-term unemployment, people were cycling in and out of increasingly low-paid and low-skilled jobs, there was a

AMBER WILSON

TASCOSS CEO KYM GOODES hollowing-out of skills and a mismatch of skills for jobs that were coming online … and skills under-utilisation in the public service,” Ms Goodes said.

“They’re working at a local level to say to a local community: we’ve got a budget for your community … putting the decision-making and the solutions back into the hands of the people where it’s happening rather than through a centralised government.”

She said Sorell and the Derwent Valley were already starting to implement some of the Scottish ideas of decentralising budgets and community management.

“In Sorell, two key things have happened. There’s now an employment hub and they’re working with employment seekers. They’ve also set up an economic development or jobs co-ordinator,” Ms Goodes said.

“It’s mobile so people in areas like Primrose Sands get contact too.

“There’s also a jobs’ bus in the Derwent Valley – a bus transporting people out of hours to employment opportunities.”

Other key areas to be addressed in Tasmania included adult literacy, better access to dental care, better transport systems and more targeted training for areas of job growth, she added.

Ms Goodes said the Scottish system still had accountability at a centralised level, but the empowering of local communities with decision-making and budgeting meant regional areas could reach their potential.

“There’s a lot of potential in our communities and in the people of Tasmania that hasn’t yet been able to be realised because there’s a range of systems and barriers in their way,” she said.

“A strong economy is a time and an opportunity to unlock that potential, and to do that the government needs to invest in Tasmanians.”