AUSTRALIAN CROATIAN COMMUNITY SERVICES
40 PICKETT STREET, FOOTSCRAY 3011
PO BOX 2140 FOOTSCRAY

MEDIA RELEASE 7 June 2006

FUTURE OF ACCS SERVICES IN JEOPARDY AGAIN

The Committee of Management of the Australian Croatian Community Services (ACCS) would like to inform our community that as of 30th of June 2006, ACCS is no longer funded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) to provide services under the Community Settlement Services Scheme (CSSS). At the same time, DIMA has decided to continue to fund Serbian Welfare Association of Victoria (SWAV), Merhamet Muslim Welfare Association (Merhamet) and not only to continue to fund but to increase funding to Victorian Multi Ethnic Slavic Welfare Association Inc (VMESWA), formerly known as Australian Yugoslav Welfare Society (AYWS).

For the past 20 years, ACCS, the peak community organization for Croatian and Bosnian and Herzegovinian communities has been providing a range of services to its target communities. ACCS relies on government funding to employ workers who provide casework, counseling, information provision and advocacy and referral services to its communities. Casework services cover issues such as housing and accommodation assistance, income support and material aid, immigration advice, settlement of newly arrived migrants, legal issues etc. CSSS is one of our most utilized services and is offered on a statewide basis. The loss of CSSS funding means that ACCS cannot address the settlement needs of our target communities and that our substantial client base will be left without much needed services and programs.

ACCS first received this funding in 1983 for one worker and it was reduced to one part time worker in 1990. Other ethnic community organizations received an increase in funding to provide services to their communities. It was at this time that ACCS conducted an intensive campaign to have the full time position re-instated. The position was re-instated one year later. Now, some fifteen years later, ACCS is being denied the opportunity to serve its community once again. What is even more insulting to our community and us is that other agencies have received funding to service our community despite being unable to appropriately cater to our needs. This is true now and it was true in the 1990s when the government itself conducted a review of the Yugoslav Welfare or the so-called Victorian Multi Ethnic Slavic Welfare Association (VMESWA) and found that they were not relevant or acceptable to the Croatian community and could not service these communities. Since that review the organization has changed its name but everything else remains the same.
According to the DIMA, Croatians can access mainstream services or go to Merhamet, VMESWA or Serbian Welfare who have all received funding. This is despite the fact that these communities have been involved in one of the bloodiest wars in Europe and are now forced to seek assistance from those from which they were persecuted. It is also not appropriate for our communities to access mainstream services nor are they able to access them. One of the major barriers for our community in accessing mainstream services is poor English language skill. Most of our clients, both newly arrived and established, continue to struggle with the acquisition of English. The newly arrived migrants suffer from serious mental health issues, which are a direct result of their experiences of war trauma. Those that belong to the established category also failed to acquire English due to high illiteracy levels in their own language and lack of formal education, years of working among their own communities, and lack of English tuition upon arrival.

The decision by DIMA is not only inappropriate but an overtly political and provocative decision. It denies the existence of the Croatian Republic and its people, language and culture while at the same time recognizing a country and people, which do not exist, namely Yugoslavia and Yugoslavs. ACCS committee of management and staff are outraged by this decision and are in the process of lobbying the government to reinstate the funding as a matter of urgency. We are appealing to all of our clients and all members of our community to help us with this cause. If you require any further information please contact us on 9689 5811. In the meantime people can visit their local Members of Parliament and express their concerns or they can contact the following government representatives:

CONTACT

The Hon John Howard
Prime Minister
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Tel: (02) 6277 7700
Fax: (02) 6273 4100

Senator the Hon Amanda Vanstone
Minster for Immigration
Suite MF 40
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Tel: (02) 6277 7860
Fax: (02) 6273 4144

John Williams
Director of DIMA
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
PO Box 241
Melbourne 3001
Tel: 9235 3213

Margaretha Korn
Manager of Settlement Services
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
PO Box 241
Melbourne VIC 3001
Tel: 9235 3291

If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us on 9689 5811.

Senator Amanda Vanstone
Minster for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

Senator Annete Hurley Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs

Linda Paric and Michael Pernar from Australian Croatian
Community Services and Senator Anette Hurley Shadow Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs
were interviewed and discussed the issue on Croatian Voice Melbourne
on Monday 25 - 09 - 2006.You can download an excerpt of the interview CLICK HERE you must have Real Audio player to listen to this clip.

NA KOGA SE TROŠI VAS POREZ – NE NA VAS!

• AUSTRALSKO HRVATSKE DRUŠTVENE USLUGE (AHDU) SU PRVI PUT PRIMILE SREDSTVA OD MINISTARSTVA ZA USELJENIŠTVO I MULTIKULTURALNA PITANJA (DIMA) 1983. GODINE ZA PRUZANJE USLUGA HRVATSKOJ ZAJEDNICI.

• VIKTORIJANSKO MULTI ETNICKO SLAVENSKO DOBROTVORNO DRUŠTVO, TO JEST JUGOSLAVENSKO DOBROTVORNO DRUŠTVO (VMESWA) JE POCELO PRIMATI SREDSTVA OD DIMA-E 1978. GODINE.

• JUGOSLAVENSKO DRUŠTVO JE PRIMILO PREKO 2.000.000.00 DOLARA ZA PRUŽANJE USLUGA NE SAMO JUGOSLAVENIMA NEGO NAVODNO I HRVATIMA.

• JUGOSLAVENSKO DRUŠTVO JE TAKOÐER PRIMILO SREDSTVA OD DRUGIH DRŽAVNIH TJELA U VRIJEDNOSTI OD PREKO 10.000.000.00 DOLARA.

• SVA SREDSTVA SU PRIKUPLJENA OD POREZA KOJE STE VI PLATILI.

• 1991. GODINE, HRVATSKA JE PRIZNATA KAO NEZAVISNA DRŽAVA U SVIJETU I U AUSTRALIJI, A JUGOSLAVENSKO DRUSTVO I DALJE PRIMA SREDSTVA OD DRŽAVNIH TJELA, UKLJUCUJUCI SREDSTVA ZA POMOC HRVATIMA.

• OVE GODINE, 16 GODINA OD RASPADA JUGOSLAVIJE, DIMA JE POVECALA SREDSTVA JUGOSLAVENSKOM DRUŠTVU.
DIMA JE TAKOÐER NASTAVILA PRUŽATI SREDSTVA SRPSKOM DOBROTOVRNOM DRUŠTVU VIKTORIJE (SWAV) I MERHAMETU – BOSANSKOM DOBROTOVORNOM DRUŠTVU.

• DIMA JE UKINULA SVA SREDSTVA KOJA SU PRUŽALI AHDU I HRVATSKOJ ZAJEDNICI.

• DIMA JE IZJAVILA DA SVI HRVATI MOGU DOBITI POMOC OD JUGOSLAVENSKOG, SRPSKOG ILI BOSANSKOG DOBROTVORNOG DRUŠTVA.

OVO JE PORICANJE POSTOJANJA HRVATSKE DRŽAVE, HRVATSKOG NARODA, JEZIKA I KULTURE.

• IAKO JE OVO 2006. GODINA, ODLUKE KOJE SE DONOSE O HRVATIMA U AUSTRALIJI DANAS SU ISTE KAO ODLUKE KOJE SU SE DONOSILE ZA VRIJEME 1970-IH I 1980-IH OD STRANE TADAŠNJIH VLASTI.

AKO STE LJUTI I RAZOCARANI ZBOG GORE NAVEDENIH ODLUKA MOŽETE SE ŽALITI GOSPODINU JOHN-U HOWARD-U NA TELEFON (02) 6277 7700, MINISTRICI AMANDI VANSTONE - TEL: (02) 6277 7860, GOSPODINU JOHN-U WILLIAMS-U - TEL: 9235 3213 ILI GOSPOÐI MARGARETHA KORN - TEL: 9235 3291.

ZA DALJNJE INFORMACIJE OBRATITE SE AHDU NA 9689 5811.