Carenne Support job advertisement raises questions

The publication of an advertisement in Bathurst's Western Advocate today has raised questions about how Carenne Support runs its organisation.

The advertisement claims that "Carenne Support is an independent company that uses its profits to benefit the students of Carenne Public School." Just what does Carenne Support believe an independent company to be? Would an independent company be so reliant on the Department of Education and Training?

Confusingly, Carenne Support has charitable status with a number of government organisations but has also in the past claimed it is a trading company in its failed bid to deny whistleblower Brian Carter justice. In the judgment in that case, the judge described Carenne Support as:

Carenne was established in 2004 to improve the therapy services for disabled students at Carenne School. Carenne described itself as a limited liability company having benevolent status for fund raising and taxation purposes.

The judge also noted the reasons that Mr and Mrs Salmon started Carenne Support:

Their interest arose from the needs of their son who was assessed early in his life as being developmentally delayed, mentally and physically. Mr Salmon was of the view that the level of support from therapists, particularly speech therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists, was inadequate to meet the needs of young people in the region who had a range of disabilities. There did not appear to be an organisation providing advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged young people and so Mr Salmon took steps to establish an independent charitable organisation that could help provide additional therapy services as well as being an organisation that could represent the interests of this particular group.

Mr Salmon sought funding on the false premise that Carenne Support would provide outreach services to the wider Bathurst area in 2005, taking funding which had been allocated to the Spastic Centre in Orange away from it. This claim appears to be a blatant lie. According to evidence given to the court it was found that:

In February 2006, the Department of Disabilities began allocating funds to Carenne to provide therapy services to fill service gaps that had arisen due to vacant therapy positions in that Department. Since July 2006, Carenne had invoiced the Department for physiotherapy services provided to students attending the Carenne school as well as the student from Bathurst High School.

In five years just one student from outside of Carenne Special School has received therapy from Carenne Support, yet this was the part of the reason they were provided funding by the Department of Disabilities. Mr Salmon said they would provide outreach and it is obvious that they have not.

The structure of the new bus driver/supervisor position also needs to be questioned. Have existing staff been consulted on the change? What effect will this have on existing staff? How can the supervisor supervise themselves? What happens if there is a complaint about the driver, does the driver/supervisor look at it? Why can't their paid CEO Christine Porter look after it, wouldn't it be part of the CEO's role or are they just adding another level of bureaucracy and looking to employ another friend?

As an organisation which has tax exempt and charity status who also receives its income from the government we have a democratic right to question it.