Submissions
The Western Australian Council of Social Service Inc. (WACOSS) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to Energy Policy WA on the consultation draft of the Electricity Industry (Alternative Electricity Services) Amendment Bill 2023.
As the peak body for the community services sector in Western Australia, WACOSS works to create an inclusive, just and equitable society. We advocate for social and economic change to improve the wellbeing of Western Australians, and to strengthen the community services sector that supports them. WACOSS is part of a network consisting of National, State and Territory Councils of Social Service, who advance the interests of people on low incomes and those made vulnerable by the systems that have been put in place.
It is critical that all small-use electricity consumers are able to rely on a system of customer protections that ensures they have affordable and reliable access to an essential service like electricity. Those protections should include assistance when they are experiencing financial hardship so that they can maintain their connection to this essential service, as well as appropriate protections for those consumers who are victim survivors of family and domestic violence.
With the emergence and growth of alternative electricity services, it is vital that the relevant legislation is responsive to the development of new services and allows for those protections to be available for all households, regardless of the nature of the electricity services they receive. It Is important to recognise that households who are experiencing hardship, marginalisation or vulnerability, may be customers of alternative electricity services such as embedded networks, and so currently have limited protections available to them.
As such, WACOSS strongly supports the proposed amendments to the Electricity Industry Act 2004 that will enable a service to be prescribed in regulation so that enforceable protections, including the ability to access the Energy and Water Ombudsman, can be provided for electricity customers of that service.
WACOSS considers the proposal to include pricing control obligations within an AES Code of Practice to be appropriate and necessary. Customers who are relying on alternative electricity services to provide their access to an essential service, such as those in embedded networks, should not be worse off than they would be on the regulated tariffs. Establishing the ability within the heads of power to impose pricing controls, therefore, is crucial.
Regulators must be empowered so that they are able to act to ensure those protections are being provided and engage in the necessary compliance enforcement measures where they are not. For this reason, WACOSS considers the proposed provisions to provide the Economic Regulation Authority clear regulatory oversight over prescribed services and the responsibility for the enforcement of the AES framework, including investing the Authority with the power to impose enforceable undertakings, to be a critical component for the success of the framework. Without suitable tools and powers available to the Authority to enforce compliance, it will not be possible to ensure the intent of AES framework is achieved and that the interests of consumers are safeguarded.
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For further enquiries on this submission please contact Graham Hansen, Senior Policy Officer, [email protected].
Submissions
WACOSS welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to Energy Policy WA on the proposed drafting for a new State Electricity Objective (SEO), planned for inclusion in the Electricity Industry Act 2004. (more…)
Submissions
This submission outlines the cost of living pressures that are facing Western Australians, with a focus on the areas of housing, transport, food, energy and water. It also provides insights from the WACOSS and Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Understanding Utility Hardship report, and the WACOSS and UnionsWA Low Pay Report. (more…)
ResourcesPresentationsPublications
With support from the Department of Health, WACOSS has developed a Planning for Partnership Framework, providing clear guidance on how to build the most robust, effective cross-sector partnerships and collaborations.
The Planning for Partnerships Framework is designed to help organisations understand, identify and select the most appropriate forms of collaboration, providing a series of tools that support organisations through each step of partnership development, management and measurement.
This framework sets out the key Partnership Stages and Building Blocks of successful partnerships, from initial stakeholder relationships to monitoring and evaluating outcomes, and what they look like in practice.
Effective partnering requires all involved to apply the highest standards to all partnering endeavours. By pooling best practices outlined in the literature and the experience of government departments, community service organisations and lived experience advocates, this framework aims to outline those standards and provide an accessible entry point to planning for cross-sector partnerships.
The general principles outlined in the Planning for Partnerships Framework will provide guidance in customising a context-specific approach to engagement, collaboration and partnership that best suits your organisation’s project goals and intended outcomes.
The Planning for Partnerships Framework is designed to be valuable to individuals and organisations with varying degrees of familiarity with working in partnership. While designed with the health sector in mind, the principles outlined in this framework provide accessible ways to understand the key stages and ingredients of partnerships and can be applied in a wide range of contexts.
To complement the Framework, watch the Presentation on YouTube, which explains the steps and process when Partnering.
You can download the PowerPoint presentation separately.
Download a digital copy of the Framework.
Hard copies of the Framework are available from: Level 2, 3 Loftus Street, West Leederville, 6007.
Publications
The social services sector in Western Australia has been under significant financial pressure for some years. This issue has been widely noted and recognised. However, the data sets available to underpin our understanding of what is happening in this crucial area are poor due to a lack of investment. In turn, this lack of data and analysis negatively impacts policy makers’ understanding likely reducing policy quality as a result.
Because of the pressure being faced by the sector and the notable negative impacts on vulnerable people and communities, the Western Australian Council of Social Service (WACOSS) undertook a survey of member organisations at its own cost with a view to understanding the extent of the problems being faced and the impacts on sustainability to date and prospectively.
Overall, 87 organisations from across Western Australia responded to the survey which examined funding adequacy, the extent to which demand is being met, the administrative impacts of contractual arrangements and the decisions being taken by member organisations as a result, including impacting staffing and investment for service improvement and expansion. This report has been developed out of an analysis of the responses provided by those 87 organisations.
In examining the data, consideration was had to the indicators of risk to service sustainability which have been identified in earlier work. Importantly, when considering the issue of sustainability, the survival of member organisations is not the focus but, rather, the ability of the sector to continue to provide the right quantity of services at the right quality and at the right timing. As such, it is important to remember that this report is not about organisations providing services but about the impacts of inadequate funding policy on vulnerable people and communities.
Finally, the survey collected both quantitative and qualitative data. Throughout this report we have included comments directly from respondents in order to allow readers to appreciate the position that organisations are in.
In effect, the survey responses confirm that service sustainability is not only under threat but that service providers are having to react defensively in order to ensure those services that they do provide are of appropriate quality and are sustainable (defensive decision making). This means that the respondents have reported that they are reducing services as a result of under-funding. This in turn impacts ongoing service sustainability as staffing and financial sustainability reduce further—a never-ending spiral of responses to under-funding reducing capacity and service delivery.
This report sets out the findings for the Western Australian Council of Social Services’ (WACOSS) Sustainable Funding Survey.
48% of WACOSS’ social service organisation members responded to the survey held in October and November 2022. The key findings from survey responses include:
Survey Undertaken by: Western Australian Council of Social Service
Analysis and Report Prepared by: David Gilchrist and Clare Feenan. Centre for Public Value, UWA Business School
Food PolicySubmissions
Fair Food WA welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the House Standing Committee on Agriculture’s inquiry into Food Security in Australia.
Fair Food WA (FFWA) brings together expertise from the not-for-profit and government sectors to address food security in Western Australia. FFWA is funded by Lotterywest and hosted by the Western Australian Council of Social Service, the peak body representing the state’s community service sector.
FFWA was established in 2017 to lead the development of a strategic Framework that provides an overview of the charity food sector and solutions to address food insecurity in Western Australia. Through the development of the Framework and progress on several recommended outcomes, FFWA is recognised as a leader in this space.
They have provided strategic advice and guidance to other Australian states and were awarded the Gold Award for Best Practice in Collaboration at the 2021 Institute of Public Administration Australia WA awards.
The members of FFWA are committed to ensuring all people in Western Australia have the right to be food secure. We urge the Committee to recognise the drivers of food insecurity as rooted in the experience of poverty and financial hardship and to consider the unique circumstances of those living on an inadequate income within their deliberations. We note that agriculture is just one part of the food system and seek to highlight the food security needs of the many Australians relying on emergency food
relief.
Read the FairFood response as well as all other Submissions to the enquiry click here.