LGBTI service for older Australians struggles to survive after federal funding cuts
- The only specialist programme visiting lonely LGBTI Australians in the state of Victoria has lost two-thirds of its funding in cuts announced on the eve of Christmas
They are often the only visits that clients of the programme receive.
Oh God, where are you going to be in six months?
The way the CVS funding was doled out to community groups was radically changed late last year, leading to angst, confusion, and, in some cases, fears of support gaps.
Switchboard is the only peer-based service in Victoria supporting older LGTBI Australians, a cohort deemed as a priority in the federal government’s own aged care diversity framework, which was released by the aged care minister, Ken Wyatt, in 2017.
Switchboard’s chief executive, Joe Ball, said the service was told three weeks before Christmas that its funding would be cut, throwing the future of staff and clients into doubt.
“That was also two days before our end-of-year party, which was for the recipients of the service,” Ball said. “So two days after I found out that we had lost our money … I had to look at them and think ‘oh God, where are you going to be in six months?’”