By Lucy Waldron
The Warwick community was taken by surprise with the unexpected announcement of the closure of Protea Place Warwick.
The facility, which has been a critical support system for vulnerable women in the area, will cease its services just shy of its one-year anniversary.
Protea Place CEO Amanda Dalton expressed her sadness over the closure but remained optimistic about the legacy left behind for Warwick women.
“Protea Place created the pathway for there to be a service and a beautiful building that can still be utilised by vulnerable women,“ Ms Dalton said.
“It would be sad if we were having to close and nothing was being left behind. So I guess it’s the best possible outcome we could have hoped for, given the circumstances without funding.“
During its 12-month pilot period, Protea Place Warwick quickly became a beacon of hope for women experiencing homelessness, disadvantage, and domestic and family violence. The need for such a service in the community was evident from the beginning.
But given this blatant vital need, several are questioning why a place like this would not fight harder to stay open.
The Women’s Advocacy Action Team (WAAT), an organisation addressing local needs and service gaps for women and children impacted by gendered violence, expressed their sadness over the closure.
“It’s only been 12 months and Protea Place has become an integral part of our support network in town,“ a WAAT spokeswoman said.
“People are in all types of stress, the Federal Government has given millions of dollars to domestic violence, and based on that fact we are in a crisis, so to be closing [a safe home] makes no sense.“
Economic challenges were highlighted as the cause of the closure in the report of the Warwick pilot program written by Ms Dalton.
“A crucial aspect of the Warwick Pilot was to assess the community’s capacity to contribute on an ongoing basis. Due to the current economic and cost of living crisis, together with being a small rural population, fundraising to the required level has proved extremely difficult,“ the report stated.
Despite some obvious adversity, Ms. Dalton said the responses have been positive and stressed the organisation’s devotion to keeping their support in the community.
“Although it looks a little bit different, any remaining funds stay in Warwick and are used to support Warwick women,“ she said.
“The beautiful building is still available to support vulnerable women. And we’ve got the government-funded program that’s going to be there, located in Warwick, so no one has to travel, and they will be able to build more programs for the community.“
As Protea Place prepares to close, the Domestic Violence Action Centre (DVAC) is expected to step in to fill the void.
The pilot report stated, “Protea Place and DVAC are very excited to share with you the newly created collaboration to ensure continuity of service and support to women experiencing homelessness and/or housing stress as a result of domestic and family violence.“
However, the full capacity in which DVAC would replace the services that Protea Place provided to the Warwick community remains unclear as they did not respond for a comment by deadline.
The Road To Respect, pages 4-5 and liftout starting page 21.
