Thursday, 21 March 2024

Lifeline

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (10:01): Last week I also met with Lifeline Loddon Mallee CEO Lisa Renato. It has been 12 years, but after many, many years of hard work and fundraising Stephen Hegedus and his wife Leanne, along with the dedicated committee, were able to open their Irymple call centre. Volunteers have been swift to put their hands up, although they do need more, and of course they need more funding in this year’s state budget to save more lives.

In terms of Victorian government funding, five of the eight Lifeline centres in Victoria have direct service agreements with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing of about 150 grand a year to meet a target of 10,440 calls. One of the Lifeline centres, Lifeline Melbourne, receives over $790,000, with a target of answering 55,000 calls in their agreement with the department. Lifeline estimates each call to cost approximately $39. Existing funding therefore does not meet the service demand for current KPIs with government, which we estimate to cost around $4.1 million. To be able to meet the actual level of demand from the state, Victorian Lifeline centres need to boost their capacity significantly, and this requires wider support from the state government.