Update: Progress so far on the path to sustainable funding for financial mentoring
Just over a week ago the current leader of the opposition was on the radio where he recognised the value of financial mentors and committed to restoring higher funding levels for financial mentoring.[i] He also committed to looking further into support for financial mentors not currently funded by government but who are providing essential support in their communities.
This builds on another party backing our recommendations for industry to begin providing ongoing funding, while government provides increased and ongoing funding.[ii] A third party’s policy includes a $20m per annum investment in financial mentoring.[iii]
These commitments all show good progress and FinCap continues to look for opportunities to engage more with representatives across all parties to address the chronic underfunding of our sector. Now is the time to continue to make the case. In our meetings across parties, it has been clear that all appreciate the value, impact and unique insights of financial mentors.
We want to hand this petition over in celebration of a decision maker actioning tangible steps towards sustainable funding. That will keep experienced mentors accessible and able to keep working through the fall out of cost-of-living pressures in their communities. The petition complements the submissions, research reports and many meetings to progress sustainable funding over the last year. It is helping keep momentum for a result.
Thank you to all those who have signed. Please keep taking the opportunity to share the value of financial mentoring and ask that others sign too.
One final note for the update - the change.org tool for our petition has been automatically asking for donations to promote the petition further. Thank you so much to those who have provided this support as there is now a good pool of funds available for that form of promotion. We’d like to stress that these donations are optional - right now the best assistance anyone can offer is sharing the petition through your own networks to spread the word!
[i] 12.20m onwards in this interview.
[ii] Confirmed from the following announcement.
[iii] As detailed on page 7 of this policy.