25 November 2014 | General Interest
Federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Senator Nigel Scullion, has issued a media release advising that it will be offering six-month funding extensions to organisations with current ongoing service delivery contracts due to expire on 31 December 2014.
This will enable continuation of these vital services through until 30 June 2015 and allow more time to effectively assess applications made under the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) national funding round.
“More than 5000 applications for separate projects have been received. It is fair to say they are of varying quality — and more work is needed to match services with needs. Of particular concern is that a number of current providers of services with contracts that cease at the end of December 2014 may not have applied,” Minister Scullion said.
“Of the almost 2300 individual applications lodged, more than half were either late or had some compliance issues including, at times, insufficient detail for immediate assessment. Many of these are from smaller Indigenous organisations. This does not reflect their ability to deliver effective services on the ground, but highlights they may not have the resources or administrative structures to support the lodgement of effective funding applications.
“More than 500 current service providers whose funding is due to expire at the end of December 2014 have lodged applications for further funding and there are about 75 service providers that my Department has identified may have not applied for funding through the grant round.”
The Government now expects the results of the funding round to be announced by early March 2015. The Department will be writing to all applicants to advise them of this decision.
Queries should be directed to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet by either calling 1800 079 098 or emailing iasgrants@pmc.gov.au.
More information is accessible on the IAS Funding webpage.
