Highlights from the Community and Human Services Reform Conference:
Building better lives for Victorians in need
The Hon. Mary Woolridge MP
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Community Services
Minister for Disability Services and Reform
Together, over recent years, the case has been made for change. Some of you will have come to
today with some curiosity, some with some anxiety but I believe and hope that all, with a shared
vision. That we can genuinely achieve client-centred, effective services and support for vulnerable
Victorians and acknowledge that we do, in order to get to that point, fundamental reform is
required.
I think today is a bit of a historic day. This coming together and it’s, no doubt, the springboard for
many exciting discussions, challenges and opportunities to come.
[Title: On 9 December 2013, around 200 leaders from more than 150 Victorian organisations and
areas of government came together to rethink the future of human services.
Over the course of the day, there were workshops and panel discussions with sector and government
representatives.]
[Title: On reform:]
Micaela, Cronin
President, VSOSS & CEO, MacKILLOP FAMILY SERVICES
I mean, I think that the case for change has been very clearly articulated. It was very clearly voiced
by the sector throughout the Shergold process and, I think, that what we need to do now, is very
clearly start to articulate what are the outcomes that we want and define those much more sharply
than, I think, we often do and, I think, that we are all pretty clear, and if we had a conversation
about it, but agreed outcomes for the system that we are then going to hold ourselves accountable
to.
Gill Callister
Secretary, Department of Human Services
Some of the challenges that we’re facing aren’t dissimilar to those that many of us have faced in our
entire careers. Some of these challenges have been around for generations. Read any annual report
from the Department for the last century or reports from VCOSS since 1946 and they outline
challenges such as fragmentation, silo structures, workforce and demand.
Micaela, Cronin
President, VSOSS & CEO, MacKILLOP FAMILY SERVICES
And I think we need to build from what Ron talked about, which is our proud history of strong
service delivery in Victoria.
Muriel Bamblett
CEO, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency
I think that we do have the answers for Aboriginals and I think we need to be much more involved in
solutions, rather than being the recipients of constant and being seen as a people to be managed or
serviced or done to, and I think that there are many people in this room we’ve worked with in the
past and I look forward to a reform agenda that is truly about bringing about better outcomes for all
Victorians and, particularly, for the first peoples of this country.
Sandie De Wolf
CEO, Berry Street
How is this demonstration the Shergold principles? Is this progressing the Aboriginal selfdetermination and how is this contributing to better outcomes? We need the time to commit to this
process and every single person in this room would be working at more than 110% already, so it’s a
real challenge for us about how we capture those minutes in the tiny bit of spare time that we have
and Simon talked about innovation often happens when people work around systems. I think it’s
much more than that. I think, in fact, the good will is the glue that makes it work, not as well as we
would all like but as well as it does, given the constraints under which we’re all working and, if we
don’t have that glue, and if we don’t have that good will, we might have a terrific reform process on
paper but it won’t be substantive and it won’t make any difference to people on the ground.
The Hon. Mary Woolridge MP
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Community Services
Minister for Disability Services and Reform
Reform is challenging, complex, unsettling but very, very needed. I think we’ve begun that thousand
mile journey and, I think, together, we’ll look forward to sharing each and every step along the way
together to make such a significant difference in the lives of vulnerable families in this state but, I
think, at its heart, if we continue to keep focused on our joint objectives for positive outcomes for
vulnerable children and families, we will always keep grounded in what’s important. And the
combination of that, putting the individual in the family at the centre of our discussions with the
principles to guide us in terms of the way that happened and the structures and approaches and the
strategies that we have in place will mean that we are exceptionally well-placed to, not only think
about, but importantly now, drive and implement and see and realise the changes that we know we
need to see.
Gill Callister
Secretary, Department of Human Services
And we’re looking to a much stronger focus on outcomes and we talk about this a lot, and we know
how difficult it is to change the system from an output-driven system to an outcome-driven system
and that, in fact, we’ll probably need both. That we can’t necessarily trade all outputs for outcomes
but we need a better understanding of how we get sustained improvements for our efforts.
[Title: On Professor Shergold’s Service Sector Report Project…]
The Hon. Mary Woolridge MP
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Community Services
Minister for Disability Services and Reform
I sort of see that Services Connect is the ‘what’ we need to and Shergold is the ‘how’ we need to do
it. Now, an important part of Shergold, was a set of principles and these principles are fundamentally
important. There’s ten principles but I think they sort of summarise up into four key themes.
First of all, genuine client choice and control. Secondly, how we work with families on their full range
of needs. Thirdly, how we tailor services to the needs of local communities and fourthly , and very
importantly, how we work with and respect each other in our respective roles. The government
signed up to these principles, in terms of how we want to work through the reform process and how
we want to work with the community sector and I hope that you too will sign up to the principles.
Paul Bird
CEO, Youth Support and Advocacy Service
In my eighteen years back in Melbourne, I would have seen at least a hundred different trial
programs. Some brilliant programs that address gaps, some brilliant programs that usually start off
with philanthropic funding, don’t usually get picked up with government funding, but most of you
would have experienced this. They’ve brilliant innovations. Now, by having a community placed
based approach, with resources allocated at community, with that accountability, that, for me, gives
more credence to developing some of those and entrenching them and embedding them in the
community and may be more sustainable on that basis and, the other thing that really excites me
with the Shergold reforms is the fact that we, as agencies, can provide the key worker. I think our
workers are the unsung heroes of our sector. They’re not just passionate and committed. I think
they have a great level of therapeutic practice. I think the jobs they do – building up a level of trust
with the people we support – and if I look to other states, I think is unsurpassed and, if we’re able to
be the key worker; yes, with a single case plan; yes, with the systems and tools – I think it will be a
great advantage because it gives that key worker more authority to link into other sectors. There
isn’t a day that goes by that our workers don’t say look, ‘we’re doing a great job in our system but
we just can’t get other systems because they’re all so constrained’. Now, this, the authority of the
key worker, I’m really hoping gives that authority and that accountability to go back to that person
we’re supporting and say, ‘yes, we can get you into better housing’ or ‘yes, we can get you into
training places’ or ‘yes, we can get you into another service’ and, for me, that’s the excitement of
taking that holistic approach and I think we already do.
Gill Callister
Secretary, Department of Human Services
I think it’s about adding to the repertoire of the frontline and making them more empowered and
developing them into even better and more skilled staff, rather than suddenly seeing it as diluting
into a sort of genericism what they’re capable of.
[Title: On Services Connect…]
The Hon. Mary Woolridge MP
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Community Services
Minister for Disability Services and Reform
So, we very much see the individual reforms that have happened across different areas of the sector,
aggregating up to an overall Services Connect approach, with using the information, advice and
guidance that the Shergold report has provided us to work out how to get it implemented and how
to get it achieved. And, over the past two years, we have been designing and testing a new
approach. Now, the reality of Services Connect is that, up until now, it has been largely DHS-driven.
The reason for this is that we actually thought it was most appropriate that we test it on ourselves,
not on anyone else.
Simon Phemister
Executive Director, Department of Human Services
The idea of Services Connect is that people do not come and approach us for programs to address
their problems. So, no longer, in a Services Connect environment, would we ask people to selfdiagnose and ring that right phone number and then have that phone number that they happen to
dial, dictate their service experience but, rather, sweep up access and provide good, solid
information to the thousands of Victorians who seek to access our services but never do every year,
provide good interface with mainstream and universal service platforms and, where appropriate,
capture information so that we can facilitate the client transitioning through the service system and
they don’t have to repeat that information when they reach the next stage of development. So, we
have been testing the model in lead sites – Dandenong, Geelong, and the South West coast – you all
know that. Preston and Shepparton have been online since late 2013 and, as the Minister mentioned
today, more sites are coming on-stream next year. We’re looking to up the ante on sector
engagement. The Minister mentioned there’s a few resources around to help make that happen and
we’re looking through the evolution of our lead sites to engage that sector in far more meaningful
ways, as we put the end-to-end platform on the ground. Our focus, so far, has been on designing the
parts of the model and testing it with our workforce but today is a very, very clear line in the sand,
where we are publicly launching into the sector. Now, my colleagues in divisions have been doing
this. People have been having the conversation for a long time but it is a moment for me where we
ask you to move from interested observer to participants of the design and building the body around
this framework that I’ve presented.
[Title: On working together…]
The Hon. Mary Woolridge MP
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Community Services
Minister for Disability Services and Reform
What I used to hear was that we’re very defensive, that we’re guarded and that we don’t engage
and, you know, I think, we’ve been working very hard to try and be very frank and engaged and open
and have some really honest and, often, difficult conversations about where we need to go and what
it’s going to take to get there. So, it was wonderful to hear the comment from Warwick that he
thought it had been a refreshingly frank conversation and, I think, it’s going to take those frank
conversations to get us where we need to go because we are going to have to continue to have
those difficult discussions.
Sandie De Wolf
CEO, Berry Street
So, taking the design principles of co-design very seriously and saying, okay, how do we involve the
sector?
Micaela, Cronin
President, VSOSS & CEO, MacKILLOP FAMILY SERVICES
And it’s not just about the community sector reforming ourselves. It’s not just about government
reforming itself, which, I think, DHS has very much started and implemented a significant process
around. It’s about the relationships and how we relate to each other.
Paul Smith
Executive Director of the Mental Health, Drugs and Regions Division
Department of Health
The best approach to that kind of relationship is that respectful dialogue that is mostly well-intended
between the Department and our many stakeholders and sometimes gets a bit rocky but is a place
to have and sustain good conversations, including conversations that are hard to have and feedback
that is hard to hear. So, our kind of version of what that looks like, is not only working closely with
our peak bodies and creating the right sorts of environments for good conversations to be had about
policy and program directions but, really importantly for us in Mental Health and Drugs, I think we’re
better at it in Mental Health than we are in Alcohol and Drugs, is the formal dialogue with service
users themselves so that we can be confident that it’s not a relationship only between service
deliverers and the Department but it’s a kind of triangle with consumers and carers service users
that is the vital kind of link in that relationship as well.
Gill Callister
Secretary, Department of Human Services
The role of State and Commonwealth governments – the Commonwealth is the owner/operator of
the system, in its current configuration, and the role of State government and Commonwealth
governments will fundamentally alter. The set of dynamics and things that are driving the
commissioning, if you like, and the purchasing, the accountability, the growth and expansion or
contraction and decommissioning is a fundamentally different set of relationships than we’re all
used to.
[Title: 2014 and beyond…]
Simon Phemister
Executive Director, Department of Human Services
With all shoulders to the wheel, this could be a very special reform for us. The challenge is we either
have a crack and get this right or, basically, we go down as another generation of leadership that has
produced a lot of nice reports that someone in twenty years’ time can stand up, probably at this very
podium and say ‘guys, the story hasn’t changed but today, boy, we’ve got a real opportunity to
change’. So, challenge to you, challenge to us – thank you for today and I’m really looking forward to
keeping the conversation going.
The Hon. Mary Woolridge MP
Minister for Mental Health
Minister for Community Services
Minister for Disability Services and Reform
It is a big year coming up, it’s an exciting year and I know that the energy that we will collectively get
from each other will sustain us to drive the changes that we all want to see.
[Title: The community and human services reform conference: Building better lives for Victorians in
need]