By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
SHE’S the woman who helps Cranbourne’s most vulnerable, but it’s the vulnerability of one of her most utilised services that could see children’s futures in tatters.
With the final votes still to be counted in the Federal Election, Executive Officer at Cranbourne Information and Support Service (CISS), Leanne Petrides is unsure how she will fund another year of CISS’s ‘Back to School Support Program’, with the equivalent government program ceasing this month.
But one thing she is certain of is the mindset of her Casey clients in the lead-up to the July 2 election.
Ms Petrides echoes what Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull admitted on Tuesday 5 July- that voters are “disillusioned” with Australian politics.
And with 17 years of experience in crisis intervention, Ms Petrides said the level of disillusionment displayed in the recent election reflected the feedback she got from Casey residents who were seeking financial aid.
“I know I’ve said it before but it’s the everyday cost of living, the treadmill of stress. People are feeling that politicians haven’t got a handle on how they are living their day to day lives,” Ms Petrides said.
“That’s why days later we still don’t have a result – in winter some families face sending their children to school in summer uniforms and in other cases winter uniforms get rotated around the kids.
“It’s literally wash and wear because they can’t afford a second winter uniform- so they do the best they can with what they have.”
Ms Petrides said it was basic school needs that could help to rescue children from generational poverty, but said her own local program might not stretch that far next year.
“We are very disappointed that neither major party supported the Schoolkids Bonus of two financial instalments a year to eligible parents,” she said.
“It helps families afford school excursions, uniforms and books and it has worked for a number of years to great effect and parents are now facing their final payments.”
CISS has been running its own school aid program since 2006 thanks to philanthropic trusts and donations.
Ms Petrides said without a government funded equivalent, the demand on her local back to school program would massively increase.
“In our first year we had $11,000, our latest figure was $40,000 – but only $28,000 of that is guaranteed each year from a trust.”
CISS has already planned a meeting to discuss how they will cope with the influx in numbers come January next year, if donations don’t dramatically rise to balance it out.
“There will be people we will have to turn away,” she said.
But as far as votes are concerned Ms Petrides said her Cranbourne clients had made their minds up long before Saturday 2 July.
“As far as the voting system goes we didn’t have as many people coming in asking for help with the ballot papers,” she said.
“But a lot of people had made their minds up pretty quick.
“We have a voting centre outside the CISS premises and people would vote and then come in for assistance and we did see more people voting pre-poll than previous years,” she said.
