Wellbeing Hub will scale back as state government funding ends

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Murray Bridge’s wellbeing hub will scale back its operations from July 1 after the state government declined to continue funding it.

The hub was established in 2023, in partnership with the local council and community centre, in response to an “overwhelming” community need.

Government agency Preventative Health SA, formerly Wellbeing SA, supplied most of the funding for the centre and its programs – almost $300,000.

However, that arrangement was temporary, and the government has indicated it will tap out at the end of this financial year.

Instead, Preventative Health SA will fund a part-time preventative health officer role in partnership with the Murray Bridge, Mid Murray and Karoonda East Murray councils and Murray Mallee Local Government Association.

Instead of delivering programs which help locals’ wellbeing directly, the officer – based at Mannum – will “support the planning, implementation and evaluation” of programs targeting obesity, drugs and alcohol, smoking, mental health and suicide prevention.

Murray Bridge’s councillors are not impressed.

“The community needs this service, and needs this amount of funding to continue to offer (it),” an annoyed Cr Tom Haig said at the council’s March meeting.

“We can’t do it without state government support.”

Councillors voted to write to state Health and Wellbeing Minister Chris Picton to express their unhappiness, and explain what the funding cut would mean for the community.

Still, Murray Bridge’s loss may be the wider region’s gain.

Mid Murray Mayor Simone Bailey welcomed the creation of the new role.

“The Murraylands preventative health partnership … will make a valuable contribution to enhancing the physical, social and mental wellbeing of our communities,” she said.

“Projects like this are often difficult for regional councils to achieve on their own.

“We’re … looking forward to working with the Murraylands community to determine what areas of health and wellbeing they consider to be the most important for the project to focus on.”

Murray Bridge Wellbeing Hub will continue in some form

Meanwhile, the Murray Bridge council will continue to support the Murray Bridge Wellbeing Hub with $20,000 worth of funding per year, enough to keep a staff member employed on a much more limited part-time basis.

At present, that role is a full-time one.

The council will also consider:

• creating a working group to talk about safety, health and wellbeing in the community
• establishing an “auntie’s house”, a safe space for local young people
• coming up with its own wellbeing strategy, as distinct from the Murraylands and Riverland Regional Public Health and Wellbeing Plan

The council has already offered a round of Bunyip Boost grants to community organisations as part of its response to a wellbeing summit it held late last year.

A 2022 community survey found that more than 99 per cent of Murray Bridge residents were in favour of having a wellbeing hub which could help locals connect, get some physical activity, eat healthily and build resilience.

Since then, hundreds of people have participated in activities organised by the hub, including walking netball, wellbeing walks, cooking classes, mums and bubs pilates, a playground tour, youth events and a blue tree project.

It will host a colour run this Friday afternoon.

Participants gave the hub a rating of 4.8 out of five in terms of its impact on their wellbeing.

It is not yet clear which programs will be able to continue in 2025-26.

What about the building on Edwards Square?

The Square Community Centre, where the wellbeing hub is based, will stay open and will continue to offer programs from Murray Bridge Community Centre and other local service providers.

The building is owned by the Murray Bridge council, leased by the community centre and hired out to a variety of other organisations.

This will not be the first time the state government has backed out of funding a preventative health initiative it started in Murray Bridge.

It did the same thing with the former OPAL program – which stood for Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle – in 2016.

• More information: Visit www.preventivehealth.sa.gov.au, www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au or murraybridgecommunitycentre.com.au.
• Get help with your mental health: Talk to your GP; find a local service that suits you at murraymallee.servicesdirectory.org.au; call Lifeline on 13 11 14; or, in an emergency, call 000.

Disclosure: The author is the chair of Murray Bridge Community Centre, which operates the wellbeing hub in partnership with the Murray Bridge council and Preventative Health SA.