Have you ever struggled to find project or initiative funds or not had adequate resources to do your job properly? Well, our latest Safety and Wellbeing Program Day had both these in spades. Why is it that metropolitan Melbourne receives the majority of funding and resources while the country areas are under resourced?

The court system comparison from metro to county is staggering. In Melbourne, the court system is all about rehabilitation over conviction with people having access to  resources like the Neighbourhood Justice Centre and The Assessment and Referral Court (ARC). In the country we do not have this availability and that is one reason why country conviction rates are so high.

These issues don’t stop there, we learned that the police force is undermanned with many resources being diverted to cover the COVID-19 response in Melbourne, which stretches our local force to cover the basics of policing.

The resource issue continues in the mental health and addiction fields. We struggle with long waiting lists to get a bed for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

I would like to see the gap close for all these fields. To borrow a quote from Carolyn Howe we need to use our voices and speak up, speak up for adequate funding for our region, speak up for adequate resources to aid our overworked providers. Because together, we can make change happen.

I would like to thank our fantastic presenters, Carolyn Howe, Accredited Specialist Children’s Law, Chris Asenjo, Detective Senior Sergeant- Manager, Family Violence Investigation Unit, Emma Mahoney, CEO Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West (LGSC Alumni), Christine Williams, Associate Nurse Unit Manager Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Services and Chris Healy Research Fellow/Clinical Simulation Educator- Deakin Rural Health.

Paul Dunn, 2021 Program Participant