Abstract

In Victoria, one of the more extensive reorganizations of community services of the 1990s was achieved after the election of the Kennett Government in 1993. Its commitment to neo liberal economics meant moving to a model of service delivery, which required contestability and competition, distance between the service provider and the purchaser of services and a relationship based on the performance of a contract. The consequences were a focus on tangible deliverables, on the measurement of observable output and performance and on the reduction of cost and size of government. At the same time there was no firm evidence to suggest that the model described above was superior to the extant model.

During this period, there was not much empirical research commissioned either, to test the viability of the model. (However occasional evaluations noticed major distortions in service intentions: for example, one evaluation noted that more meals on wheels had been delivered in a timely fashion, but that because these meals had been left outside  the front door of the elderly recipients, rather than delivered along with a friendly chat, the nutritional and social support accompaniments  of the meals had been undermined. Less easily measurable concepts such as social support were generally excluded from tender documents as too difficult and elusive to measure.)

The model described above also involved government outsourcing, by divesting itself of services wherever possible. In the end, the government and its model was defeated at the polls and the incoming Labor Government under Premier Bracks (1999) announced the end to competitive tendering.

Three years later, it is not entirely clear what shape the community services sector in Victoria will take. The "reform" of the Kennett years removed a considerable amount of service infrastructure, substituted entrepreneurship for service, abolished the organisational memory. in the government as well as virtually all the practice wisdom. And understanding, which here at that stage the basis of policy formation and analysis.  What was wrecked was the understanding of a common mission between government and non-government sector. Rebuilding through partnerships will be slow. The Community Care Review (2000) offered a model of partnership based on negotiation, built from the community up rather than the government down. To date this has not happened; and the paper will discuss some of the reasons. More recently, under some pressure to implement the government's policy of partnerships , the Victorian Department of Human Services has a ‘flagship partnership project’ which is attempting to reach agreement with the non government sector.

Although partnerships between the NGOs and government have been slow to materializ. The most promising development in Victoria has arisen around partnerships based on a location or ‘place’. The Victorian Government’s Community Building strategy aims to build social capital in deprived communities and many promising partnerships are emerging from place-based partnerships. Some (including this writer) would argue that ‘place’ based partnerships are the way forward for progressive needs based community services delivery. The reasons for this will be discussed.

Jan Carter 
September 2002.