Friday, 10th March, 2006

The Salvos will have them worried in the Tasmanian Labor bunker this weekend. The men and women in uniform swinging tambourines might not be God but they are just as hard to attack. They rank right up at the top of the list of admired organisations and when they criticise a government should listen. And criticise is exactly what the Salvation Army"s Tasmanian Commander Allan Daddow did this week.

The Salvation Army, said Mr Daddow, has cut homeless and family services to pay for alcohol and drug programs after the Tasmanian Government slashed funding from 65 per cent of the drug budget in the 1990s to 38 per cent last year -- a $210,000 shortfall. Last month Alcohol and Drugs Service head Dr David Jackson quit and said 30 young people a year were dying because of government inaction.

With the Government having taken no notice of Dr Jackson's plea, Commander Daddow took the unusual step of intervening in the election campaign. "The Salvation Army is struggling to fund what is the government's responsibility," he said. "All we ask is that any government formed after the election will give a definite commitment to funding the current shortfall. Our rehabilitation program is saving the lives of Tasmanians, supporting their families and saving costs to the community, particularly in drug-related admissions to the Royal Hobart, pressure on the prison system and pressure on other community programs."

The Government had no immediate comment on the Salvation Army's words but my guess is that they soon will and that funding will be restored.