Let’s hope Labor’s eleventh-hour commitment to fund a flagging Eurobodalla crisis service has not come too late to make a difference.
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It would have been wonderful if both major parties had got behind this important service six weeks ago.
No crisis service should have to go cap in hand to any government, of any political persuasion, for funds.
While ever we have homelessness, family violence and people in need of drug and alcohol rehabilitation, we will need such services.
Their funding should be a given, not something only to draw attention during election campaigns.
Without such services, the whole community pays the cost of mounting social problems.
The lack of such services is reflected in crime, hospital admissions, school drop-outs and behavioural problems.
Yes, individuals must take personal responsibility for their addictions – but when someone takes the huge step of reaching out for help, that help must be provided.
A year or so ago, the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner interviewed an older man who had been living in his car for several years.
When vandals trashed his rudimentary campsite, he hit rock-bottom.
Community Life was there with a bed and the support he needed to quit alcohol and turn his life around.
When the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner met him, he was living safe and sober – and sincerely thanked Community Life for the chance of a second life.
He is one of many.
Whatever the bureau-cratic intricacies, it is an obscenity, in a first world country, for anyone to be homeless or living in fear of a violent partner.
Funding for those who try to help should never be in question.
