Services come together for Pilbara Community Legal Services’ Newman Bring a Bill Day.
When service providers work together, support becomes stronger, more connected and easier for people to access.
This is exactly what happened at Newman Bring a Bill Day at Boomerang Park on Thursday 26 March.
Services from all over the Pilbara and Western Australia came together to support Newman residents, with free advice about saving on bills, paying taxes, housing, legal matters and other important issues.
The result was greater access to a range of services, including organisations from outside of Newman, who aren’t typically in town for in-person support.
Shire of East Pilbara President Cr Anthony Middleton said this made a big difference on the day.
“You get better results when people aren’t being sent from one place to the next,” he said.
The right support, all in the one place
Bringing key services together on the same day made it easier for Newman residents to access critical support.
“When one of us travels out to community we can get some stuff done,” one service provider said.
“But when we are all here together, we can move mountains, and deal with stuff that has been troubling people for years.”
Having local and visiting services on the ground meant support went further on the day. People could deal with multiple issues, and service providers were able to cross refer residents for additional support they may not have even realised they needed.
Creating Communities Senior Social Value and Impact Consultant, Alex Kohlen said this meant people could access multiple layers of support in a single day.
“Everyone was really excited about the support on offer, and providers were able to refer community members between services to get issues cleared up all on the same day,” Alex said.
“People could get financial advice, source birth certificates or other forms of ID, enrol to vote, access housing support, and find missing payments from the tax department.”
Who made it happen
Pilbara Community Legal Services organised the event, in partnership with Westpac Indigenous Services and Remote Banking.
The Shire of East Pilbara and Newman Futures worked together to help coordinate the day and deliver on-the-ground support. Sponsorship was provided by BHP.
Other services included:
Around 30 people attended, with close to 150 touch points, or moments of support, across the day. This meant most people were assisted by multiple service providers.
Thank you to everyone involved
We’d like to thank all of the incredible services who came together to make Newman Bring a Bill Day possible. The care and knowledge you shared made a real difference to people in Newman.
We’d also like to thank the Newman Women’s Shelter for cooking up a delicious barbecue for everyone on the day. Big thanks go to Kuuwa Rentals for supplying the Tucker Truck and Curtin University for donating the meat.
And of course, thank you to the people of Newman, who took time out to make use of the support available.
Find out more
Head here for more about the work being done by the Traditional Owners, BHP, The Shire of East Pilbara, and other service providers and local businesses committed to driving positive change in Newman.
