Australian Council of Social Service

Simon Schrapel

ACOSS President

Simon is the Chief Executive Officer of Uniting Care Wesley Adelaide in South Australia. He had been a member of the ACOSS Board since 2008 and is an ACOSS Policy Advisor on Community Services.

With over 25 year's experience in community services, Simon has had extensive executive level responsibility in both the public and non government sectors in Australia, the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.

Simon's commitment to public policy and sector development is demonstrated through a long history of involvement in peak bodies and advocacy groups. He has been Chair of SACOSS and Child and Family Welfare Association of Australia and a Board member of Families Australia.

Michael Bleasdale

ACOSS Treasurer

Michael is an individual member of ACOSS, and has recently worked as an Executive Director of the Attendant Care Industry Association (ACiA), and as one of three Executive Directors of the Leadership Team at People with Disability Australia Inc (PWDA). Michael has over twenty years experience working within the Australian non-government sector, particularly in disability service provision. He has also worked as the Principal Researcher for the Disability Studies and Research Institute, and as an independent trainer and consultant. He briefly worked in the NSW Public Service, as part of the Executive team at the NSW Office of the Protective Commissioner.

Michael has demonstrated a strong commitment to the rights of people with disability, co-founding and convening the Australian Disability Network from 1994-2000, moderating the OzAdvocacy email discussion list between 2000 and 2002, and serving on a number of boards of management, including the NSW Council for Intellectual Disability, the Intellectual Disability Rights Service, and the Down Syndrome Association of NSW's Up Up and Away Committee. He was also chosen to serve on the NSW Ombudmsan's Reviewable Disability Death's Advisory Committee between 2004 and 2006.

Samantha Page

National Member Organisation Representative

Samantha (Sam) Page is the Executive Director of Family Relationship Services Australia (FRSA). FRSA is a national network of community organisations that deliver relationship and support services to families, children and young people. Established in 2007, FRSA supports the delivery of quality services and engage in the development of public policy. FRSA has 145 member organisations and receives funding for sector support from the Australian Government.

Sam is a member of the Institute of Company Directors and has served on the boards of peak bodies and community service providers for more than a decade. At the national level she recently joined the Board of the National Roundtable of Nonprofit Organisations. At the local level she is President of Parentline ACT and a member of the Canberra Fathers and Children Service (CanFACS) management committee.

Gerard Thomas

National Member Organisation Representative

Gerard Thomas is the  Policy and Media Officer with the Welfare Rights Centre, Sydney and the National Welfare Rights Network. He is also a policy adviser to ACOSS on employment and income support issues. 

Gerard has previously worked for pensioner organisations for a decade, and has represented the interests of income support recipients to on Centrelink Reference Groups and the DEEWR Participation Taskforce, which led to re-vamp into parental obligations. With others, he contributed to the exposure of impacts of the Social Security penalty system, and its negative impacts upon Indigenous job seekers and their contribution to homelessness.

Ricci Bartels

National Member Organisation Representative

Currently the Deputy Chair of the Settlement Council of Australia, Ricci Bartels has served on a number of Boards and professional bodies including: Sydney Grow Employment Council Families NSW Project Management Group, Department of Community Services Ethnic Advisory Group, Settlement Services International, Refuge Australia Foundation, et al.

Over the past 30 years Ricci has worked refugee and migrant communities in Fairfield, Liverpool and Blacktown. Over this period she has worked as a case worker, a community development practitioner, TAFE teacher (Community Welfare), and service manager. Recently announced as one of 40 Multicultural Ambassadors across Australia.

Ricci has written numerous seminar/conference papers on Housing, Employment, and Access and Equity. Most recently she published a paper called ‘ A Reflection of Thirty Years in the Field’ in the publication called “ Voices from the Coalface: Practitioner Perspectives on the Challenges of Community-Based Work”. John R. Owen and Freidoon Khavarpour(eds). Available for purchase online.

Adrian Pisarski

National Member Organisation Representative

Adrian Pisarski is the Chair of National Shelter.

Adrian has a 30 year history in the community sector including roles with housing and youth peak bodies in Tasmania, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and nationally. He has been the Executive Officer of Queensland Shelter since 2002 and the Chairperson of National Shelter since 2004.

Adrian is a member of the Affordable Housing Summit Group and has served as Deputy President of ACOSS.

Brad Halse

National Member Organisation Representative

Major Brad Halse has served as an officer within The Salvation Army for more than 30 years.  During this time he has held appointments in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, covering diverse areas of service such as aged care, homeless youth, editorial, community and pastoral work, and senior administration.  

His current role at Territorial Headquarters in Melbourne is as the Australia Southern Territory’s Manager of Government Relations.
Brad brings not only a very broad experience in varied fields of community service but also a longstanding and passionate commitment to social justice and the professional delivery of community and welfare services.  

He has represented The Salvation Army and the broader community on many Commonwealth and State Government advisory bodies and taskforces. 

In recent years Brad has also played a significant role in the ongoing debate around responsible gambling and the efforts to implement significant political reform in this area of social policy.

Terese Edwards

Special Assembly Representative

Terese Edwards is the CEO of the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children. She is a professional within the community services sector with over twenty years experience managing a diverse range of services. Therese has worked in social policy at state and national levels, and holds certificates in governance from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Therese has been the Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of Single Mothers & Their Children (NCSMC), the peak national organisation responding to and representing the needs of single mothers and their children in Australia, since April 2009. Therese has also been the General Manager of Barkuma Incorporated, which provides an innovative community support service for adults and parents with intellectual and other disabilities in South Australia, since 1996. Therese has served on the Policy Council of the South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS), the peak council of the community services and welfare sector in SA, from 1996 to 2007.

Therese has been on the ACOSS board since 2004, the Executive Board from 2006 to
2007 and Deputy President since 2008.

Graham Douglas-Meyer

Special Assembly Representative

Graham is currently the Chairperson of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations.

Graham was appointed NAPWA's (the National Association of People living with HIV/AIDS Australia) representative to AFDO in May 2005. He has represented NAPWA and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,Trans and Intersex people to Centrelink. He is also the AFDO representative to Centrelink.

Graham was appointed to AHEC (Australian Heath Ethics Committee) at the end of 2009.

He has been an advocate for PLWHA since shortly after being diagnosed HIV positive in 2001. He has also been an advocate for human rights and equality before the law for GBLTI people generally, for some time.

Rebecca Vassarotti

ACTCOSS Representative

Rebecca Vassarotti is the Executive Director of the YWCA of Canberra. The YWCA of Canberra is a values led, non-profit community based organisation working and advocating for social justice within a feminist framework. The YWCA of Canberra has been providing community services and representing women's issues in the Canberra community since its establishment in 1929, and is linked to the national and international YWCA movement. The organisation works with approximately 4,500 Canberrans in the areas of children's services, community development, housing, youth services, personal and professional training, and women's leadership.

Prior to joining the YWCA, Rebecca worked in both the community and public sectors, including a number of senior roles within specialist projects. She has had a long involvement in the ACT Council of Social Service General Committee, including the role of President. Rebecca is also on the Board of the Canberra Institute of Technology.

Bernie Dwyer

NTCOSS Representative

Bernie is the CEO of Amity Community Services Inc in Darwin. He has worked in the community sector for more than twenty years, predominantly in the areas of mental health, alcohol and other drugs as well as gambling.

He is the President of NTCOSS and Vice President of the National Association for Gambling Studies.

Noel Mundy

TasCOSS Representative

Noel has been the State Director for Mission Australia in Tasmania for the past 7 years. He is currently the President of TasCOSS and has been on that Board for the past 3 years and has also been actively involved in a number of other Tasmanian Boards, Committee and Working Parties.

Noel grew up in Tasmania and is passionate about working in partnership with other community service agencies, government and the business sector to ensure that everyone is able to achieve their full potential and live within a healthy and supportive environment.

Noel is a proud father of 3 daughters who provide him with inspiration and purpose for his work.

Sarah Fogg

NCOSS Representative

Karyn Walsh

QCOSS Representative

Karyn Walsh is the President of QCOSS. Karyn has more than thirty years experience in the community sector in Queensland working in communities as diverse as Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville, Mt Isa and Brisbane. Karyn has significant expertise in homelessness, disability, young parents, prison ministry, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and abuse of people in church and state care. Her primary qualification is as a Registered Nurse and has lived and worked in Brisbane for 27 years and has a Diploma in Community Management. Karyn is currently the Coordinator of Micah Projects in South Brisbane.

Helen Connolly

SACOSS Representative

Helen Connolly is the Chief Executive of Inclusive Directions Inc, an independent not for profit organisation supporting the cultural, physical, educational and social inclusion of children and families.

Helen is the Chairperson of the SACOSS Board and Policy Council the peak body of Community Service organisations in South Australia and has also been actively involved in a range of other peak bodies and advocacy groups at a National and State level. With over 20 years' experience in the community services sectors, Helen has had extensive executive management responsibility for a variety of services predominantly in the areas of housing, community development and social enterprise.

Francis Lynch

WACOSS Representative

Francis Lynch is the Chief Executive of Ruah Community Services, an organisation that operates services in the areas of homelessness, mental health, domestic violence, and employment services. Francis is the President of the WA Council of Social Services, and is also a Director of Community Employers of WA.

Francis has been involved in many community sector groups and peak bodies, including involvement in national peaks in the child welfare and no-interest loans arenas.

Micaela Cronin

VCOSS Representative

Micaela Cronin is the CEO of MacKillop Family Services, one of the largest providers of specialist services to vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people and their families in Victoria, and more recently with branches in NSW.

Micaela has worked in the community sector for over 20 years. She has extensive experience in the delivery and management of a broad range of community services, and has previously held senior management positions with Wesley Mission Victoria and St Vincent de Paul Aged Care and Community Services.

Micaela enjoys working in partnership with other community sector organisations, and is President of the Victorian Council of Social Services, Council member of Catholic Social Services Victoria, and Board Member of the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare.

Micaela has a passionate commitment to social justice issues and wants to see children and young people's voices heard in strong, inclusive communities.