Meals on Wheels representatives, including staff, supporters and volunteers met with key Parliamentary stakeholders in Canberra on Thursday the 21st March.
The Parliamentary Friends of Meals on Wheels event, held at Parliament House was a collaboration to recognise the support all political parties have provided to Meals on Wheels over the last 70 years.
Chair, Paul Sadler said the event was an opportunity to further build connection with the Government and secure the future of Meals on Wheels for another seven decades.
“Meals on Wheels services deliver vital nutrition and provide a valuable wellbeing check for isolated, older people.”
“At a time when traditional community services like ours are experiencing a drop off in volunteer support, we look forward to engaging with government to help us maintain and grow the important work we do.”
“We want to develop respectful and meaningful relationships with local, state and federal governments, as well as the local communities where our services are based.”
Mr Sadler says working with these key stakeholders and decision-makers will help ensure a fit-for-purpose in-home and community support system and enable older Australians to live and age well in their homes.
“We need to ensure that the new Support at Home system is developed in such a way that it leverages social capital, including volunteer effort) rather than replace it with an artificial market.”
The Parliamentary Friends of Meals on Wheels event is spearheaded by Mr Steve Georganas MP and Hon Mark Coulton MP, who both presented words of support.
“For a member of Parliament if you want to know the heart and soul of your community you go and talk to your Meals on Wheels group,” Mr Coulton said.
“The reason we do this is so members of Parliament understand the role of Meals on Wheels. It’s not just a multinational organisation putting a frozen meal on the doorstep and moving on. The stories of lives being saved by a Meals on Wheels volunteer, finding someone that is out of sorts, not well or had a fall is vital.”
“The work that you do is valuable in terms of not just providing the meal but providing some contact to these people and being a first port of call in many cases,” Mr Georganas said.
“It would cost Governments millions and millions of dollars more if it wasn’t for the thousands of volunteers across the country.”
Milton Dick, MP also shared his connection and support of Meals on Wheels having volunteered himself at a service in Brisbane for eight years, following in his mother’s footsteps who was a Meals on Wheels volunteer before he was born.
“I will always treasure those moments of entering someone’s home and the saying ‘More Than A Meal’ is too true,” Mr Dick said.
“I want to congratulate and salute the volunteers across Australia and all those men and women who give up their time to show respect, to show kindness but more importantly, to give people the nutrition they need to live longer and stay in their houses longer as well.”
“Meals on Wheels are playing a critical role in ensuring not only the social fabric of our society remains but the health and wellbeing for the people who built our community are looked after, respected and that kindness goes a very long way.”
Chef, Christopher Thé also presented guests with the chance to taste The Unforgettable Cake, made from brain health-boosting ingredients.
The Unforgettable Cake
Alongside networking, the event provided an opportunity to introduce Paul Sadler as the new independent Chair, present the re-vamped Board and celebrate the incredible work Meals on Wheels™ Australia is doing on behalf of over 590 services.
Words from Chair, Paul Sadler
“The Parliamentary Friends of Meals on Wheels is spearheaded by Mr Steve Georganas MP and Hon Mark Coulton MP. I would like to acknowledge their leadership and thank their offices for coordinating the event with the teams from Meals on Wheels Australia and Meals on Wheels NSW.
And our thanks to the Speaker, Milton Dick who will address the gathering after me.
The Parliamentary Friends of Meals on Wheels event, held at Parliament House is a collaboration to recognise the support all political parties have provided to Meals on Wheels over the last 70 years.
The event provides an opportunity to introduce my role as the new independent Chair, present the re-vamped Board and celebrate the incredible work Meals on Wheels™ Australia is doing on behalf of over 590 services.
In 2021-22, our services received around $100 million from the Government via the Commonwealth Home Support Program and service users contributed a further $57 million.
As the number of people accessing a Home Care Package has increased, so has the income of Meals on Wheels increased as we are sub-contracted to assist HCP recipients.
It is estimated MoW services assist more than 200,000 older people each year.
The event is an opportunity to build further connections with the Government and secure the future of Meals on Wheels for another seven decades.
“Meals on Wheels services deliver vital nutrition and provide a valuable wellbeing check for isolated, older people.”
“At a time when traditional community services like ours are experiencing a drop off in volunteer support post COVID-19, we look forward to engaging with government to help us maintain and grow the important work we do.”
“We want to develop respectful and meaningful relationships with local, state and federal governments, as well as the local communities where our services are based.”
Working productively with these key stakeholders and decision-makers will help ensure a fit-for-purpose in-home and community support system and enable older Australians to live and age well in their homes.
As part of the aged care reforms, a new Support at Home program is being established. It will cover Home Care Packages from mid 2025 and potentially CHSP from mid 2027.
“We need to ensure that the new Support at Home system is developed in such a way that it leverages social capital, including volunteer effort, rather than replace it with an artificial market.”
We plan to work with DoHAC and IHACPA to design, cost and price meals services more accurately as Support at Home is introduced. This provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix the inconsistency in prices the Government currently pays across the nation.
The new Aged Care Act is due to come into effect this July. It will capture MoW services for the first time. The Bill has yet to be introduced to Parliament.
MoWA welcomes many aspects of the Exposure Darft released late last year, particularly the recognition of the human rights of older people.
We do have major concerns about the application of criminal penalties and high penalties in the draft legislation. We are worried that they will make people think twice before volunteering both for boards and for MoW service delivery.
Once again, thank you very much for attending today’s function. Your support for MoW means a lot to us.”
