Can you help us stop the cuts?
Thank you to all our members who signed the petition urging the NSW Government to stop the cuts to NSW Public Library funding! You can still sign our petition and support this campaign here: https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/stop-the-cuts-to-nsw-public-libraries
By signing our petition you provided us with the support we need to take this issue up with the Minister and continue our campaign to STOP THE CUTS.
A copy of our letter sent to the Minister for the Arts is included below. We will continue to update you on this important campaign.
Did you know we have a Facebook group which you can join and safely and privately discuss issues related to your industry?
Visit here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1955058111428099
3 August 2018
The Hon. Don Harwin MLC
Minister for the Arts
GPO Box 5341
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Attention: Don Harwin MLC
Dear Sir,
Re: Cuts to NSW Public Library Funding
The Union writes to you as the relevant Minister regarding the State Government’s proposed cuts to funding of NSW Public Libraries. As you are aware this proposed cuts is substantial and has raised significant concerns within our membership in the Local Government Sector.
As you are aware the current proposed cut of $5.2 million equates to effectively 18% of the total budget for libraries in NSW. While these cuts are not direct to the libraries within the Local Government Sector, they are significant in that there are serious implications to the grant money provided by the State Government. These Grants assist Local Government Libraries provide crucial services within the community and run specific programs to accommodate for the diverse communities across the state, making libraries freely available to the community, a hub of inclusivity and learning.
Quite often the programmes provided by libraries across the Local Government Sector are a valuable resource to some of our most vulnerable communities, giving access to IT, books and community programmes. Generally many who access these resources may not otherwise be able to engage with this material including those from low socio-economic back grounds, who may not be able to afford access to these resources at home, the elderly who again may not have access or capacity to use IT equipment on their own, university students and those from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
In turn, these cuts could have broader employment implications to workers across the Local Government Sector. It will be up to each Council to assess how they manage your Government’s proposed cuts to the accessible grant money, whether it be through cuts to services or cuts to the resourcing capacity through cuts to staff. The only thing sure is the community will lose out. Cuts of any nature have substantial implications for the ability of libraries to provide a service to the community. This is particularly felt in regional areas, where Councils are often the primary employer and the major service provider in the town. Cuts of this kind proposed will have serious implications on the capacity of libraries to be able to provide their crucial service to the community.
We ask that the Government review and reverse these decisions to protect local jobs and local services. Attached is a copy of over 500 signatures supporting this decision calling on the Government to not implement these cuts.
For further information please feel free to contact our Acting Industrial Officer Mr Stuart Geddes on (02)4226 4784 or 0419 996 585.
Yours faithfully,
Graeme Kelly
General Secretary
