Tuesday, 30 August 2022

 Mr BLACKWOOD (Narracan) (15:32): Olivia’s Place is a pregnancy and early parenting resource centre, now based in Drouin, catering to the needs of families across Gippsland. Originally set up to assist families in the Baw Baw shire, they now support clients from the local government areas of Latrobe, South Gippsland, Bass and Cardinia. Unfortunately their requests to the Andrews government for funding support have been ignored. They also receive little or no support from local government. This amazing organisation has supported over 250 families in the Latrobe shire since 2019. In the last financial year 196 families received help and referrals, and about 56 per cent of those families came from the Latrobe shire. Last Saturday night the annual gala was held by Olivia’s Place, the first since COVID. The Baw Baw shire community have been extremely generous in their support for this event, with 300 attending and over $40 000 raised.

It is so disheartening for the volunteers and trained staff to have to continually focus on their financial viability because governments do not assist. This is a shout-out not just to the Andrews government to do something but also to the local government organisations whose families benefit from the professional and much-needed services provided by Olivia’s Place, in particular Latrobe shire, where more than 50 per cent of their clients receive social, emotional, practical and material support. It is just not fair for the community and businesses in Baw Baw shire to dig deep every year to ensure this very valuable service can continue. I congratulate the Baw Baw businesses and broader community for their ongoing generosity and urge the Latrobe shire to get on board for their families.