Qld: Bravehearts cry out for more funds

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2009
Qld: Bravehearts cry out for more funds

By Petrina Berry and Gabrielle Dunlevy

BRISBANE, Dec 10 AAP - High-profile child advocate Hetty Johnston looks set to quit
a charity she set up for sexually abused children because of a lack of government funds.

Ms Johnston, executive director and founder of Bravehearts, on Thursday announced that
she and six other staffers would be forced to step down next Tuesday because of a shortfall
in funding.

Ms Johnston achieved national prominence for her role in unseating former governor-general
Peter Hollingworth over his failure to act on complaints of abuse in the Anglican church
when he served as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.

She said negotiations with the Queensland government over the past 12 months had failed
to raise the extra $366,000 needed for Bravehearts' southeast Queensland operation.

"The offer on the table is $725,000 (a year for three years) which is no different
to, apart from normal indexing and CPI (Consumer Price Index), what we have been on for
the past three years," she told AAP.

"They want us to run psychologists and social workers, which are expensive, from two
offices, and administer that and an education team for $725,000 - it's just not going
to happen."

Queensland's Community Services Minister Karen Struthers said Bravehearts received
one-quarter of the $2.8 million a year the government allocated to maintaining counselling
services across the state.

Premier Anna Bligh said this made it one of the best-funded welfare services in the state.

"Every service has to live within their budget, and the budget that they have going
forward is a very substantial one," Ms Bligh said.

"As we see over the next couple of years, hopefully, the opportunity in our budget,
in our state budget, to make further funds available, they will be welcome to apply along
with other groups and they will be assessed fairly."

Ms Johnston said the extra funds were needed to keep the service going and now the
only option was to lobby the federal government for funds.

"The budget for counselling is pathetic (in Queensland) - $2.8 million would only employ
about 31 counsellors in the entire state and that's without administration, rent and other
costs," Ms Johnston said.

"Why is there money for road racing on the Gold Coast ... but not for children?"

Ms Struthers said Bravehearts was given a one-off grant of $122,000 last year and independent
auditors were brought in to assess its financial status.

"Out of the audit, Bravehearts was given advice on what they needed to do to work with
the available funding," she said.

Ms Johnston said the audit showed Bravehearts was $30,000 a month short of funds but
Ms Struthers said tough decisions had to be made in tough economic times.

Opposition child safety spokesman Jack Dempsey said Queensland could not afford to
lose Ms Johnston, with more than 3,000 children reported to have been sexually assaulted
in 2008/09.

Bravehearts was established in 1997 and provides counselling and support for children
under 18 who have been sexually abused.

Ms Johnston said one in five children in Australia was a victim of sexual assault.

AAP peb/pjo/it/cdh

KEYWORD: BRAVEHEARTS WRAP (PIX AVAILABLE)

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