AMANDA RISHWORTH:
I’m really pleased to be here at the Carlton Learning Precinct with the Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Professor Kristy Muir from the Paul Ramsay Foundation, and the interim CEO of PLACE, Luke Craven.
Today, we’re announcing a really exciting announcement. A partnership between philanthropy, government and the community that how we expand the great place‑based work that’s happening right around the country. Place‑based work is work that communities lead to drive change in their local community supported by non‑government organisations, government organisations and philanthropy.
But we know that many communities do want support. They want to share ideas. They want to be part of something bigger, and that’s what PLACE is all about. A national organisation that is a partnership between philanthropy and government to disseminate those good ideas, to support communities, to work with communities to actually drive local change.
Now one of the really important parts of this new body is that it will have a community council. Local people driving change within place, making sure it constantly stays centred on community. This is really exciting. We already know that place‑based change is delivering outcomes in community, particularly in communities where they’ve identified areas of disadvantage. It is actually driving change.
But this PLACE, this new organisation, will drive change right around the country. I would like to really thank the philanthropic partners for being part of this. This is a new era of working together, and I’m really excited to be part of it. So I will now introduce our Treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
JIM CHALMERS:
Thanks very much, Amanda.
Before I touch on some other points about this announcement today, can I just say this. Our hearts break today for the little soul lost at Auburn South Primary School. Our hearts go out to the loved ones of that little boy, to his friends, his teachers and the staff at that school. It is unimaginably sad to think that a little boy went to school and didn’t come home. Our hearts break for the family and for everyone who knew him, and we know that it’s a very sad day in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne today, and indeed, for anyone who hears about this right around the country.
Today, we’re here with the Minister, with Kristy and with Luke to make a really important announcement. This is all about the Albanese Labor government’s belief in a place‑based change that these philanthropic organisations are helping to achieve in Australia. For all of us who want to make this country fairer, more inclusive, change can be overwhelming, and it helps to begin in the communities where we can make the biggest difference.
What we’re doing here is we’re making sure that we take best practice when it comes to place based change, and that we’re empowering local leaders to make a difference in their own communities. Not instead of the national programs that Amanda runs in her portfolio, and that our government funds and supports, but in addition to that effort as well.
We don’t want to see disadvantage concentrate in communities and cascade through generations, and we’re doing something about it. We’re not going alone when it comes to this important work. We’re working very closely with philanthropic organisations and governments at all levels and local communities to try to see the change that we want so that that disadvantage doesn’t concentrate and cascade through the generations.
For many of us, this is our reason for being, to make sure that this country is its best version of itself. We recognise that there’s not just some switch that you can flick to eliminate disadvantage in our country, you need to begin where we can make the most difference, and that’s what we’re doing.
What we hope is by demonstrating our support for and our commitment to place‑based change, we want to make this the norm, not novel when it comes to national governments in Australia.
We are big, big believers in the work of place‑based organisations. We are big supporters financially and in other ways as well. We’re very proud to be here today to make this important announcement. We’re now going to hear a bit more about it from Kristy.
PROFESSOR KRISTY MUIR:
Thank you. We all want kids, family and communities to thrive across Australia, and we know at the moment, not all of those kids, families and communities are.
The one thing we know about social change is that no one organisation, no one group, can do this work alone. We have incredible people groups, organisations doing amazing work to strengthen communities.
This new not‑for‑profit, PLACE, is all about creating a community of communities. It’s about providing those people and places doing incredible work in their communities, the kind of resources and supports they need to do that better, no matter where they’re based.
On behalf of the philanthropic funders, I’m really proud to be supporting the initiative of PLACE. And it’s a testament to the Federal government that we are partnering between government, philanthropy and communities to create the kind of change we all want to see.
JOURNALIST:
Minister Rishworth, you talked about tackling disadvantage and driving positive change, and the Treasurer says disadvantage should be a multi‑generational issue. What priorities are front of mind for First Nations people?
RISHWORTH:
When you speak with First Nations communities, what you hear from local leaders is they often know what is needed in their community.
We often hear from First Nations leaders that the supports and programs they want in place should be informed by them themselves, and what PLACE will support those communities to do is to ensure that they can design those programs, they can attract funding, they can work with government to deliver.
PLACE is all about empowering communities in their decision making and in their shared decision making with government, which is exactly what Indigenous communities have been calling out for. We do work that way in some places through the Empowered Communities Program, but this has taken the opportunity of place‑based work right across the country to any community that would like to work this way.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible – question about upgrade declarations]
CHALMERS:
As I’ve made it clear in our declarations that we make to the Parliament, there is an upgrade for me from about 6 years ago and another one from about 10 years ago, and there’s some additional family upgrades from around the same time period. Those have been disclosed in the usual way.
I might just take the opportunity to preview some inflation numbers that we’re getting out later this morning. We’ll see what those numbers say at 11:30.
It’s really clear already that the Albanese Labor government is making substantial progress in the fight against inflation. When we came to office, inflation was higher and rising. It had a 6 in front of it. We’ll get new numbers today, which whether they’re in the low threes or in the high twos, will show that inflation has halved under this government.
Now we know that people are still doing it tough, but we’re making welcome and encouraging and substantial progress in the fight against inflation and economists expect that to be demonstrated in the numbers that we get later this morning. I look forward to talking with you about it.