by Mandy Stone
General Manager, Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre



Wow what a week for us all! I hope everyone has recovered from the exhaustion created by the anticipation of Cyclone Yasi, and the clean up afterward.

Firstly, the Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre, as a Centrelink Access Point, can fax off the Australian Disaster Recovery Payment applications (see The Newsport article 'Disaster payments - are you eligible?') , and can also verify Disaster Recovery Payment applicants' Identification.

If you don’t have a home phone you can come to Neighbourhood Centre and use the Centrelink Phone to put in an application for this payment over the phone.

This week I would like to inform you about the Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre No Interest Loan Scheme.  This is where we are able to lend community members (who fit certain criteria) up to $1,000 for urgent household items with affordable repayments and no interest whatsoever.

The impetus for us securing the funding to be able to run this program lies in me getting so frustrated when people on low incomes were coming to us for food vouchers as they had to pay for car repairs or pay rental charges on essential items such as refrigerators and washing machines.

There is no dignity here for these community members who are managing their limited finances very well until such an unforeseen incident like a fridge blowing up or needing roadworthy tyres to drive your kids to school in the wet season.

We believed that there was a way to assist clients on low incomes that would also allow them to build up an asset base, and investigated the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS). We were able to secure funding from the National Australia Bank and become an accredited provider via the auspice of the Good Shepherd Foundation.

Today, as I write this, I have been informed by Megan Blacklow our NILS support worker that one of her clients has just paid off her fourth loan, through our program they have been able to purchase a fridge, a tuckerbox freezer, a washing machine and a television.

We believe that items such as televisions, computers, sports uniforms etc. are all essential household items that improve the quality of your life, especially if you have children. 

One of the nicest situations I have been involved in was when a client came to see me for a food voucher as she had to spend her food money that week on paying her child’s dental bill. She told me that as she was a bit behind with the dental payments her child had not been back to the dentist to get their braces adjusted.

I was immediately able to refer this client to Megan, and this client was able to get a NILS loan to pay out the dentist and ensure that her child received the appropriate dental treatment with no embarrassment .

The Neighbourhood Centre's NILS program gave its first loan out in February 2009 and since then we have given out loans for items such as  dental treatment, car repairs, fridges, washing machines, a generator for a client who lives on a boat, televisions, computers, freezers, lawn mowers, solar panels, lounge suites, dining suites, and more, 

We have lent a total of $60,000 so far, have 37 loans on the books, and a further 45 loans have been paid out.

If you wish to apply for a NILS loan you must fit some criteria; you must be eligible for a Centrelink Health Care Card and you must be local and have lived at the same address for at least six months.

So what do you need to do to apply or find out more?

1. Contact the Neighbourhood Centre on 4099 5518 and ask for a NILS application. The volunteer on duty will take your details ensure that you are eligible and pass your details onto Megan who will contact you asap.
2. Megan will then make an appointment with you and go over your budget to ensure that you can afford the repayments. We do not want to place people in additional financial strain or hardship.
3. If you meet the criteria and can make the repayments Megan will then ask you to source quotes for the items you require and send all the information (without your name or identifying information) to the NILS committee who have the final authority on loan decisions.

The beauty of this program is that the bulk of the money stays local. We have relationships with local car repair people, removalists,  and where possible purchase goods locally or at least from family owned businesses in Cairns rather than large impersonal wholesalers.

The Port Douglas Neighbourhood Centre is here to help you in any way it can so call us on 4099 5518 for a chat.