South-Eastern Metropolitan Region
Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:48): (513) My constituency question is to the Premier, and it concerns the open letter signed by 36 community organisations launched at Financial Counselling Victoria’s annual conference recently requesting a meeting and an immediate boost to the workforce numbers for financial counsellors, who are at breaking point in Victoria and the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, particularly due to growing financial hardship. Will you, Premier, provide more financial counsellors to respond to the growing financial hardship in our South-Eastern Metropolitan Region community, and if so, how many and at what cost? South East Community Links, or SECL, reported a 20 per cent increase on demands for assistance last financial year, with more than 62 per cent of its clients accessing emergency relief services reporting mental health, cost-of-living and housing stress.