ACOSS Reports & Submissions
Employment & Income Support
May 2005
This paper outlines some basic facts concerning income support for people of workforce age, identifies challenges that the package should address if it is to succeed in getting more people into jobs, and evaluates proposals for change that have been floated so far.
ACOSS Info paper 373. Includes: Social security. 'Welfare dependency'. Unemployment. Employment. Jobseekers. Welfare reform. Workforce participation. Training. Job Network. Sole parents. People with disabilities. Enhanced Newstart Allowance. Activity test. Poverty. Breaches/penalties.
April 2005
Simply diverting people from DSP to Newstart Allowance (unemployment benefits), or making them look for work and reducing their future pensions, won't solve assist those with disabilities into employment. This ‘get tough' approach assumes that it has become too easy to get
the pension, but no convincing evidence has been presented that this is so.
ACOSS Info paper 371. Includes: Disability Support Pension. People with disabilities. Welfare reform. Unemployment. Public perception of unemployment. Workforce participation. Training. Job Network. Job outcomes for DSP recipients in employment programs. Poverty. Enhanced Newstart Allowance. Breaches/penalties.
April 2005
Address by ACOSS President Andrew McCallum to Melbourne Institute - The Australian ‘Sustaining Prosperity' conference, March 2005
ACOSS Info paper 39. Includes: Social security. 'Welfare dependency'. Unemployment. Employment. Jobseekers. Welfare reform. Workforce participation. Training. Job Network. Sole parents. People with disabilities. Social Security Appeals Tribunal.
April 2005
The abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) announced on 15 April 2004 by the Prime Minister has meant considerable change to the
funding and service delivery of many of the Government's Indigenous programs. Under the measure Indigenous Australians - Better Service Delivery, total funding of $109.4 million and program responsibility has been removed from ATSIC and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS). This decision is of particular concern for the future of Indigenous governance and the potential effectiveness of service delivery across Indigenous communities Australia wide.
ACOSS Info paper 370. Includes: Unemployment. Employment programs for indigenous people. Shared Responsibility Agreements. Indigenous employment. Work for the Dole. Community development.
March 2005
The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has sought and been granted leave to intervene in a number of National Wage Cases since 1996. While we do not claim any special expertise in the area of industrial relations or wage fixation, we have an interest in the adequacy of living standards and the quality of life of low-income Australians. There has always been a close relationship between wage fixation, poverty alleviation and the social security system in Australia.
ACOSS Info paper 368. Includes: Minimum wage. Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Wage fixation.Employment. Unemployment. Living standards. Earnings inequality.
January 2005
ACOSS agrees with the Government that Australia must bring more people with disabilities of workforce age into employment. Compared with other wealthy countries, we have a poor record in this area. Only 9% of disability pensioners have income from employment compared with an average of about 30% for other wealthy countries. Unfortunately the disability pension is still widely regarded as ‘the end of the line' for people's career prospects. This is unfair and waste of human resources.
ACOSS Info paper 362. Includes: Disability Support Pension. People with disabilities. Rise in DSP. Welfare reform. Unemployment. Public perception of unemployment. Workforce participation. Training. Job Network. Job outcomes for DSP recipients in employment programs.
October 2004
The research examines the income and family circumstances of the bottom 20% of families, and how their incomes changed over the past seven years compared with that of middle income families
ACOSS Info paper 367. Includes: NATSEM Research. Family assistance payments. Family Tax Benefit. Poorest 20% of Australian families. Family income. Taxation. Federal Budget 2004. Sole parents. Families with teenagers. Policy implications.
October 2004
This paper aims to analyse whether Australia could benefit from the implementation of anti-poverty targets and strategies. To gain an insight into the
relevance and effectiveness of setting anti-poverty targets and strategies, anti-poverty strategies from Ireland and the Great Britain will be reviewed.
ACOSS Info paper 366. Includes: National Anti-Poverty Strategy in Ireland. Anti-poverty targets in Britain. Poverty proofing. Employment programs. Social security. Income payments. Economics. Poverty. Child poverty.
September 2004
Giving Australia is a collaboration specifically formed to meet the challenges posed by this important research. It brings together a depth of research expertise and a breadth of networks across the non-profit and business sectors and their respective stakeholder groups.
Published by Giving Australia, September 2004. Giving Australia is a major research project investigating volunteering and donations by individuals and businesses in Australia. The project was an initiative of the Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership, and is being coordinated by ACOSS in collaboration with other research partners.
September 2004
The Commonwealth's initiatives in 1999 and 2000 to encourage higher levels of private health insurance cover, including the 30% rebate to make private health insurance more affordable, has had no discernable effect on the distribution of private health insurance across income groups. If the private health insurance rebate is about supporting choice, it appears that low and middle income groups have not been exercising it. On the other hand, it is not surprising that high income groups continue to hold private health insurance. These groups receive a tax incentive - in the form of a 1% reduction in the Medicare levy - if they hold private health insurance, as well as the 30% rebate enjoyed by everyone who holds private health insurance.
ACOSS Info paper 364. Includes: Private health insurance. Taxation. Medicare levy. Private health insurance rebate. Low income people and health insurance.
