Australian Council of Social Service

ACOSS National Conference, 29-30 March 2012
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Australian Technology Park, Redfern, Sydney

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Community sector urges support for constitutional reform recognising the rights of Australia's First Peoples

The Australian and State and Territory Councils of Social Service today warmly welcome the release of the Final report of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and fully endorse its recommendations. Read full release >>

Federal Budget 2012: cut wasteful expenditure, not support for the most needy

ACOSS has released its priorities for the Federal Budget in 2012, calling on the Australian Government to tackle waste while giving priority to those who struggle the most.

‘There are glaring gaps in our national policy efforts to reduce poverty and exclusion, including the inadequacy of income support and employment assistance for unemployed people, sole parents, young people and people with disabilities who rely on payments such as Newstart and Youth Allowance,' said Acting CEO Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine. Read full release>>

Submission on the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill

This bill, if passed, proposes to further extend both compulsory income management to recipients of government payments who are referred by State and Territory regulatory authorities. It also proposes to extend compulsory and voluntary income management to recipients of social security payments in five new regions outside the NT on referral from child protection authorities or Centrelink social workers on the grounds of ‘vulnerability’; and to extend the suspension for parents of certain income support payments whose children are not enrolled or regularly attending school under the SEAM measure to additional communities in the NT. ACOSS recommends that these measures be opposed.

Submission on the tax treatment of superannuation contributions

ACOSS participated in the Australia’s Future Tax System Review (AFTS) process, and advocated reforms to make the personal income tax system and the tax treatment of superannuation fairer and more efficient. While we believe that there are some proposed changes that should be supported, such as the proposed mining tax in the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill, this submission proposes larger reforms to the present system of tax concessions for superannuation.

New Year heralds good and bad news for low income Australians

2012 heralds some welcome and some not so welcome changes for disadvantaged and low income households. Among the welcome changes are the boost to Family Tax Benefit A for older students, and the 10,000 six-month wage subsidies for long-term unemployed people. However, new, tougher, impairment tables for the Disability Support Pension, inadequate increases to the Youth Allowance, and new participation requirements for teenage parents will make the new year difficult for many.