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November 2009
In this submission to the Australian Workforce Development Strategy underway by Skills Australia, ACOSS argues that social policy is a vital context for workforce development and sustainability and must not be ignored within strategies to address future issues.
November 2009
This report argues that the key to progressive tax reform is to strengthen the personal income tax system and puts forward a set of benchmarks and options for reform. These will be used by ACOSS to evaluate the proposals of the Henry Review when it is released in coming months.
November 2009
ACOSS welcomes proposals to reduce the complexity of the income support payment system and the administrative burden on recipients. However, we have serious concerns about broader payment reforms which would impose greater restrictions and controls over spending patterns, reduce the autonomy of recipients and erode privacy.
November 2009
This submission addresses the ongoing discrimination faced by migrants under the Migration Act and in relation to social security policy.
The submission argues for the application of human rights to the Migration Act and for reform of the tax and transfer system to ensure that migrants with a disability are able to access the same social security entitlements as all Australians.
September 2009
ACOSS strongly supported the two economic stimulus packages, the first of which was introduced a year ago. This inquiry is timely as it provides an opportunity to review these initiatives, and to make adjustments where necessary.
The evidence indicates that the package prevented a steeper and more prolonged slowdown in growth and saved jobs.
July 2009
This is a joint submission by the Councils of Social Service across Australia to the Australian Industrial Relation Commission’s Award Modernisation process. The submission highlights the significant pay inequity faced by workers in the not-for-profit social and community sector and argues that the sector must be given time and support to ensure that award modernisation achieves improved outcomes for its workforce.
July 2009
This submission raises a number of issues of general principle relating to the design and conduct of the tender, and comments on some of the wider terms of reference that deal with the strengths and weaknesses of the new employment services system.
July 2009
Changes to family payments will increase child poverty. Proposed changes to the Family Tax Benefit from the 2009 Budget will mean a loss of income over time for families who can least afford it. This will almost inevitably lead to an increase in child poverty. ACOSS is concerned that low income families will pay the price of the pension increase.
June 2009
ACOSS has warned that 360,000 of the poorest families in Australia are being left behind by legislation being examined by a Senate Committee which increases payments for age, disability and carer pensioners but which fails to include sole parent pensioners.
ACOSS has urged that the Committee recommend changes to the legislation so that sole parents on Parenting Payment Single also receive the pension increase.
May 2009
Following the release of the Federal Budget, community sector organisations are increasingly concerned that gaps between income support payments are widening and there is now a four-class system of income support. There is a $147 per week gap between the top and bottom income support payments.
New research released by ACOSS shows a stark contrast in the different levels of income support payments and an increasingly complex system.