Here is what happens when the profit motive drives the delivery of human services

photo courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald

The dangers involved in allowing the the for-profit private and corporate sector to deliver human services to vulnerable people are once again evident in a report More than board and lodging: the need for boarding house reform by the NSW Ombudsman into licensed for- profit boarding houses in NSW.  The Report documents what happens when the profit motive becomes the main driver of the delivery of human services and Governments and the not for profit sector hand over responsibility for service delivery to the private sector..

In NSW boarding houses are run as for- profit private businesses to provide accommodation to people with disabilities, people with alcohol and drug problems. and mental illness. Residents are usually reliant on income support and pay between 75-100% of their benefits to the boarding house for accommodation and consumables

 The Report documents shocking levels of abuse, sexual assault and mistreatment of residents by staff and other residents. The Report demonstrates the complete failure of the Government's licensing and regulation of for- profit and corporate providers.

The Ombudsman's investigation  found that residents have been physically and sexually assaulted by staff and other residents, have died in appalling circumstances, and been denied basic rights, including contact with their families. This is the fourth report in less than 10 years on the failure of the state and the for profit providers to protect boarding house residents, in particular those with psychological and intellectual disabilities.

 Adele Horin's report in the Sydney Morning Herald  describes the conditions:

An estimated 455 private boarding houses operate in NSW with more than 5000 residents, most of them poor and vulnerable. They pay the proprietor 75 per cent to 100 per cent of their pension. Thirty-one of the boarding houses are licensed by the government to accommodate 687 residents with mental illness and/or intellectual disabilities. They must comply with conditions set out in legislation.

The report, More than board and lodging: the need for boarding house reform, shows the level of care for boarding house residents is inferior to that received by people with similar conditions in housing run or funded by the government.

For example, in 2008, a resident was found 12 hours after he had died in a room strewn with faeces and toilet paper. Three months earlier, hospital staff had raised concerns about his hygiene and nutrition. Around the time of his death, the department had assured the Ombudsman of its initiatives to improve monitoring and compliance at the boarding house. The boarding house eventually closed due to ''unrelated factors''.
Another case involved two residents aged over 80 with schizophrenia, who lived in a licensed boarding house despite having been assessed as needing nursing home care.

Jan Daisley, president of People with Disability Australia, said: "It is abhorrent that people with disability are left to deteriorate and die in these places while all along paying up to 100 per cent of their income to live in this form of housing''.

The Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, noted the good work of some proprietors but said resident welfare should not depend on the ''goodwill and favour of individual proprietors.''

 Dr Gabrielle Drake, a researcher and lecturer from the UWS School of Social Sciences who completed a PhD study in 2010 on the deinstitutionalisation of boarding houses for people with mental illness and disability. has long called for the closure of the boarding houses.

Dr Drake says many of the current licensed boarding houses came about as a part of the poorly resourced and poorly coordinated deinstitutionalisation process.

"The result of this process is that people use the majority of their pension to live in boarding houses which are located in the community, yet they still have restricted access to that community and are still denied their right to self-determination," says Dr Drake.

"These homes are effectively still institutions, where the residents must conform to structured meal times, closed kitchens, and a lack of coordinated health care and planning. Too many also experience abuse, sexual assault, fear and intimidation."

Dr Drake says licensed boarding houses are an archaic approach to service provision for people with a mental illness and disability.

"The Ombudsman's Report clearly indicates that the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care's (ADHC) procedure for monitoring the conditions in boarding houses has been unacceptable," she says.

"While I support legislative reform and the need for a cross-agency and partnership approach, at the heart of this debate needs to be the realisation that people with disability have the right to live and participate in the community in non-congregate accommodation."

The gap between Government rhetoric about civil society and the reality

The UK Cameron Coalition Government has made all sorts of policy statements about the importance of civil society and the NFP sector in contributing to the "Big Society", but the sector is being devastated by funding cuts and the privatization and outsourcing of human services and public services to corporations.

A new report publicized in the UK Independent shows that not for profits and charities are set to lose 3 billion pounds in public funding over the next 5 years.

This comes on top of research by False Economy UK, which used freedom of information requests to show that 2,000 charities in England have suffered funding cuts this year and these cuts represent just a small amount of the agencies facing funding cuts.

The gap between the rhetoric of Governments about the importance of the not- for- profit sector and civil society and the reality has never been starker and should serve as a caution to NFP's here in Australia. 

The Independent reports:

"Britain's voluntary organisations face losing almost £3bn in funding over the next five years, according to the first comprehensive report to analyse the coming impact of spending cuts on the public sector.

In a blow to David Cameron's much-trumpeted "Big Society", charities across the UK face the prospect of their funds dropping by £911m a year by 2016, and losing £2.8bn in total over the next five years, according to research by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) published today.

The six-month study, which looked at how cuts to central and local government over the next half decade will hit the voluntary sector, predicts that charities will lose 7.7 per cent of their current public funds by 2016 if government departments pass on their cuts proportionately. Currently, central and local government together contribute at least £11.8bn to charities each year".

Environmental activist faces 10 years in jail for civil disobedience

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I think the opportunity that's here is to build a real resistance movement -- not just a lobby movement, but a resistance movement, that says this path that we're on is absolutely unacceptable, and we're going to use our power as citizens and as a movement to shut this system. I think that's where we need to be right now, recognizing that this is not a matter of lobbying for trivial reforms, but we're at a point where we need to make the path we're on absolutely impossible to continue. Hopefully that's the lesson that people are taking out of this.
Tim DeChristopher

Student and activist Tim DeChristopher found a way to resist corporate power and fight against the damage caused by US oil and gas corporations. But it may cost him a long prison term.

On June 23 the environmental activist and campaigner  will find out whether he will spend the next ten years in a US Federal Prison for an act of civil disobedience against the oil and gas industry.

His case is being seen as yet another example of the serious assault on public protest and dissent that is occurring around the world, whereby governments and corporations are increasingly using whatever means possible, such as anti- terrorist legislation, increased police powers, direct restrictions on public protest, SLAPP suits and arbitrary detention, to prevent and limit the right to protest.

In December 2008 DeChristopher participated in an oil and gas auction of 150,000 acres of public land in Southern Utah. Sale of the land had been fast tracked in the last days of the Bush administration to benefit the fossil fuel industry. It was a last minute land grab authorized in the last days of the Bush administration.

DeChristopher was outraged by the illegality of the land grab and the fact that leases were being handed out in an irregular way. He was also outraged about the ways that the oil and gas companies privatized all their profits and externalized all their costs. His argument was that the oil and gas companies had no intention to pay the full costs of their operations which are offloaded to the public :

"Well, I saw this auction as, first off, a fraud against the American people, that the government wasn’t following their own rules and was locking the public out of the decision-making process for public property. I also saw it as a real threat to my future, because of the impact on climate change that this kind of “drill now, think later” mentality was having, and an attack on our public lands, on our natural heritage, in pretty pristine and irreplaceable areas in southern Utah".

DeChristopher successfully bought (without any money or intention to pay) 22,000 acres of the land in order to save it from fossil fuel extraction. De Christopher had originally attended the auction to protest without any intention of bidding for the land. However, upon entry to the auction he was asked if he intended to be a bidder to which he replied "yes" and he became Bidder No 70. DeChristopher then proceeded to bid and successfully secured 13 leases, thereby disrupting the sale.

De Christopher actually raised the money to buy the land but he was still charged with fraud because at the time of the auction he had no intention to pay. However, that fact and many other issues were not allowed to be introduced into the trial.

In March 2011 he was convicted of fraud and faces a 10 year jail term and $750,000 fine imposed by the Obama administration.

As Tim De Christopher points out his case was prosecuted to scare off others who might consider civil disobedience.

"I was born the year that Ronald Reagan took office. The reality throughout my lifetime has been, corporations and governments are powerful, and people are weak, and there is nothing you can do to change that. Now that paradigm is starting to shift, and all of a sudden, the world is starting to believe in people power again"

Various web sites have been set up to publicize DeChristopher's case (Bidder 70) and  The Trial of Tim DeChristopher and a Facebook site allows you to follow the case. Interviews and stories about DeChristopher can be read here, here, here, here, here and here.

The history of civil society in WA: PhD on the history of the WA forest protest movement

Reading a PhD thesis is not something you do for fun.

But Ron Chapman's PhD Fighting for the Forests: A History of the WA Forest Protest Movement 1895-2001 is an important document of WA  history.

I have long argued that  protest action by ordinary West Australian citizens, in the form of social movements and civil society action, has been at the forefront of most significant social, political, economic and environmental change in this state. This is not reflected in traditional narratives about Western Australian history which largely marginalize or trivialize the action taken by WA citizens fighting for social, economic, racial and environmental justice.

So I was excited to read Chapman's thesis which shows that forest protest has been a major force for environmental and political reform throughout WA history.

Chapman shows how over time small scale protest activity by citizens was transformed into a social movement that had a significant influence on forest policy and practice, culminating in the defeat of the Court Government in 2001 and the adoption of policy by the Gallop Government to protect WA forests

Chapman describes the diversity of protest activities used by WA civil society groups to focus public attention on forest issues and pressure the WA Government to change its forest policies and practices. He shows how protest groups had to constantly adapt organization and strategies to the changing social and political conditions.

Chapman's analyses the campaigns and strategies used by West Australian citizens and civil society groups from 1995 to 2001. He distinguishes a number of distinct periods, firstly from the late 19th century to 1950, and then a second period from 1950 to 2001, characterized by 5 distinct phases:

1. Formative phase from the 1950's-60's which saved urban bushland.
2. Transitional phase during the 1970's which adopted assertive forms of protest.
3. Collaborative phase during the 1980's when campaigners began to collaborate with and influence political parties.
4. Expansionary phase during the 1990's which saw the spread of local protest groups in the South west.
5. Confrontational phase which involved an intensive campaign of confrontational and direct action.

Chapman's research demonstrate the importance of "localism" as an activist and organizing strategy. Chapman shows how the WA native forest protest movement established a network of urban and south-west activist groups which encouraged broad public support.

The eventual success of the forest protest movement resulted from the rise of these organized and effective local groups and campaigns focused on public education, media exposure and local action. The transformation of local action into an influential social movement played a significant role in bringing down a government and protecting  WA forests.

"Counterfeit" communties and the commodification of community

The adverts appear everywhere. Developers adverting their ritzy housing estates claiming that they don't build houses, they build communities. And property developers employ community development specialists to create "communities" in order to sell more houses at higher prices.

And then there are the Government departments and NGO's who describe their top down efforts to impose solutions on people to achieve already defined outcomes  as "community development".

Frankly it is all an illusion.

It is as Australian blogger and writer Bruce Watson rightly points out the commodification of community-  the turning of a complex human and social institution into a commodity that can be exploited for profit and political gain. Watson reminds us that most of what takes place under the banner of "community" has become clouded and easily manipulated for commodification and marketing.

John Freie and  Bruce Watson call it "counterfeit communities" and it is a good description. In counterfeit communities it is less important that communities exist in reality. It is the appearance of community that is important. People are encouraged to see the manifestations and spirit of community without accepting the complex interactions that must occur for it to be realized. As Wilson writes:

"Community has regrettably become a product to be advertised, marketed and sold. It makes no difference whether genuine community exists or not. As long as it appears to exist. Consequently, we are subjected to planned communities that are advertised as “truly a special place”, “we’ve made the dream a reality” and “the tasteful community you deserve” with a “neighbourhood bar and grill” (in the multi-story shopping centre complex)"

As Watson points counterfeit communities, despite all the glossy brochures, promises and hyperbole, are inherently hollow and exploitative. They are never fully satisfying.

And Wilson gets to the nub of counterfeit community:

"Counterfeit community extends the power and expands the wealth of those who create it".

Mixed reaction to National Fair Pay Case

Last week Fair Work Australia upheld a pay equity claim for 200,000 community services workers in the National Community Services pay claim case but has fallen short of ordering an equal pay order, instead calling on the unions to show how much of the pay gap is caused by gender discrepancies.

Not surprisingly the decision by Fair Work Australia in the  has generated mixed responses, as outlined in this extract from an article that first appeared in Pro Bono News.

The Australian Not for Profit sector has reacted to the long-awaited ruling by Fair Work Australia in the equal remuneration case with a mixture of optimism and caution, saying it is now up to the government to commit to funding a pay rise for community sector workers.

With many in the sector hoping Fair Work Australia would finally award an equal remuneration order for 200,000 social and community sector workers, the decision by FWA to delay ordering a wage rise for workers was seen by some as an anticlimax.

Fair Work Australia upheld the pay equity claim for community services workers, saying it does recognise that there is not equal remuneration for SACS workers when compared with state and local government employment.

However FWA fell short of issuing an equal remuneration order, saying the extent to which this is based upon gender is not yet clear. FWA has instead calling on the unions to show how much of the pay gap is caused by gender discrepancies.

UnitingCare Australia says Fair Work Australia’s decision today to extend its inquiry into community sector wages is a bit of an anticlimax.

National Director, Lin Hatfield Dodds says with additional submissions due by August this year, the sector expects an outcome by Christmas.

Community services peak body the Australian Council of Social Service says that the tribunal’s finding validates the claims of those working in the sector that they do not receive equal remuneration for the work that they do, and that gender has been an important factor in creating these conditions.

ACOSS CEO Cassandra Goldie says she congratulates Fair Work Australia for getting it right.

With FWA calling for further evidence on the extent to which lower wages are due to gender considerations, Dr Goldie says ACOSS would like to see a final ruling in line with the 2009 Queensland decision that awarded pay rises to community workers of 18-42% per cent.

She says this is the bar if wage equality is to be achieved in the community sector

Community sector employer group Community Employers WA received the FWA decision with a mixture of optimism and caution.

Community Employers WA’s Executive Director, James Lawton says they still strongly caution that any increases that may be awarded by Fair Work Australia, following the next series of submissions and hearings, must be accompanied by a guarantee by the Federal and State Governments to fund these increases.

Lawton says while they are pleased that the process is continuing and the issue of fair and just pay is still on the agenda, they cannot underestimate the disastrous effect of increased pay, without a corresponding increase in funding, on the sector.

He says if this funding is not provided, there will be a reduction in community services and staff who provide those services, resulting in the most vulnerable members of the community being the real losers.

Federal Member for Melbourne Adam Bandt has backed calls for the Government to commit to funding any pay rise awarded by FWA, saying the tribunal had made a clear statement that government funding was the problem.

The Federal Budget and the not for profit sector

The Gillard Government's Federal Budget contains a raft of proposals relevant to the Australian not- for -profit sector. A detailed guide to the measures can be found here.

Third Sector e-news identifies three major provisions in the Budget relevant to the regulation and governance of the sector:

These provisions are: the introduction of a statutory definition of 'charity' to be used in all Commonwealth laws to take effect from 1 July 2013, the establishment of an Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission and the implementation of a not-for-profit income tax.

‘Charity’ definition The definition of ‘charity’ will be based on the 2001 Report of the Inquiry into the Definition of Charities and Related Organisations, taking account of the findings of recent judicial decisions, such as Aid/Watch Incorporated v Commissioner of Taxation. The Government will also consult with the states and territories with the intention of developing and introducing a definition of 'charity' that can be adopted by all jurisdictions.

Not-for-profit Commission $2.8 million over the next four years will be contributed to the new Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission. It is expected that the commission will develop guidance for the sector, implement system changes, and re-assess the charitable status of entities on the basis of the new statutory definition. It is also expected that the Commission will reduce red tape and improve transparency and accountability of the sector.

Not-for-profit tax reform Tax reforms will be introduced to ensure that concessions provided to not-for-profit entities are targeted only at those activities that directly further altruistic purposes. As such, any income retained from commercial activities that is not directed towards altruistic work will not be tax exempt. The new arrangements will commence on 1 July 2011 and will initially affect only new unrelated commercial activities that commence after 10 May 2011

Of particular interest is that the Gillard Government has allocated $53.6 million  to establish a single independent national regulator for the not-for-profit sector.

The Federal Government's Office for the Not for Profit Sector reports that:

The Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission (ACNC) will improve the accountability and transparency of the sector while removing reporting overlap for general reporting requirements at the Commonwealth level.

The ACNC will be responsible for determining charitable, public benevolent institution and other NFP status for all Commonwealth purposes. It will provide education and support to the sector and implement a report-once use-often general reporting framework.

An implementation taskforce will be operational from 1 July 2011 to prepare for the commencement of the ACNC on 1 July 2012 and consult with the public, the sector and state governments on general reporting and public information portal requirements.