2021 Pandemic Recovery Proposal

Without community, there is no community recovery

The Sydney Alliance is a diverse coalition of more than 42 organisations - faith groups, community organisations, NGOs, charities, ethnic associations and trade unions – working together for a fair, just and sustainable city.

Emerging from the lockdowns, we seek to reunite our city, strengthen its social fabric and create a place in which all people flourish.

In recent months we have seen all too clearly the potential for crises to deepen stark inequities that have long been ignored. Yet while exposing weaknesses in the fabric of our city, the pandemic has also showcased the extraordinary leadership and solidarity that exist in areas such as Western and South-West Sydney, and the inspiring results achieved when Government partners with communities.

As the NSW Government now develops plans to manage the economic and social fallout from the pandemic, there is potential to tackle wicked problems and restitch our fractured city. This can only be achieved, however, through a commitment to rebuilding trust and working collaboratively with local communities.

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Our Proposal

We recognise that a staged approach to the recovery is required. Understanding the need to kickstart the economy in the short-to-medium term, and to set aside resources to respond to the social and economic fallout in the medium to longer term, we:

  • propose initial criteria against which all responses should be assessed. These should be further refined based on extensive community consultation,

  • offer recommendations for immediate responses,

  • propose an approach to guide medium-to-longer term responses and ensure these responses centre the experiences of communities most affected by the pandemic.

With political will to invest in the recovery now at its highest, we are presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address long-standing inequities, set aside the funds needed to support what will be a lengthy recovery, and build a more liveable, delightful and resilient Western Sydney that has social cohesion at its heart.

Our criteria

To achieve this vision, we recommend all recovery proposals be assessed against the extent to which they:

  1. rebuild trust and relationships,

  2. reduce poverty and disadvantage,

  3. increase resilience for future disasters and the impacts of climate change.

Investment Proposal

Immediate Investments

Based on consultation with our members and investment priorities identified through deliberative discussions that have taken place over the course of several years we recommend the following priorities for immediate investment:

  • Support for individuals (EAPA awareness, income support advocacy) and small business (debt and arrears).

  • Capital investment that addresses identified areas of need, many of which the pandemic so starkly highlighted. This includes social housing, civic infrastructure and community assets (funded via council) and sustainability initiatives.

  • Job creation initiatives that will help match groups disproportionately impacted by the pandemic (international students, people seeking asylum, undocumented workers and women) with opportunities that will be created as we emerge out of lockdown.

Recognising the role insecure working arrangements played in the pandemic and the remarkable resilience from communities we must ensure that those groups as well as First Nations people, young people, people with disability and young parents are at the centre of the recovery.

Medium- to long-term investments

In the medium- to long-term, responses and investment decisions must be shaped by structures that:

  • Support authentic engagement with communities

  • Elevate the role of community in planning, decisions and delivery bringing together local community actors, small business and local government (e.g. Cobargo process);

  • Empower those commonly left out of policymaking and debate

  • Acknowledge existing inequalities and seek to address these head-on

  • Generate quality connections between diverse community actors, to support the development of policies informed by the full range of lived experiences

The Process

We need a deliberate process to achieve this, and this process should start now. It involves:

  • Adequately resourcing community-based organisations that play a vital role supporting the most vulnerable and building social cohesion and community connection,

  • Investing in information-gathering processes to ensure decisions are informed by rigorous data collection processes.

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Organisational Endorsements

Alliance of Philippine Community Organisations Network

Arab Council Australia

Auburn Small Community Organisation Network (ASCON)

Australian Association of Social Workers NSW

Branch Baptist Association of NSW & ACT

Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group

Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney - Justice & Peace Office

Catholic Diocese of Parramatta

Churches Housing

Diversity & Disability Alliance

Engadine Uniting Church

Gay and Lesbian Right's Lobby NSW

ISANA International Education Association (ACT/NSW Branch)

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia

Josephite Justice Network

Kapit-bahayan Cooperative

Multicultural Assistance Task Force

Muslim Women Australia

MYAN NSW

Neighbourhood Matters

Newtown Neighbourhood Centre

Older Women's Network

Our Lady of Dolours Catholic Parish Chatswood

ParraCAN

Reconciliation for Western Sydney

Settlement Services International

Shelter NSW

SJ Around the Bay

Sisters of St Joseph

Tenants Union NSW

The Humanism Project

The Muhajirin Association for Community Development

United Workers Union

Uniting (NSW & ACT)

Uniting Church Synod of NSW & ACT

Vinnies NSW

Women's Reconciliation Network