Australian Council of Social Service

Submission to the Senate Economics Committee

April 2008

Submission to the Senate Economics Committee regarding proposed income tax cuts.

ACOSS Submission to the Fair Pay Commission

March 2008

ACOSSs submission to the Fair Pay Commission called for a substantial rise in minimum wages to help ease financial pressures on low paid workers from rising rents, food and fuel prices. It argued that the financial security of low paid households rests on three pillars: minimum wages, employment, and income support and that it would be risky to rely too heavily on the income support system alone to maintain their living standards. The minimum wage should be at least sufficient to ensure that a single adult can achieve a modest but adequate standard  of living well above poverty levels. The paper includes new data on poverty among low paid households and detailed analysis of the relationship between minimum wages and employment and incentives to work. 

Towards new indicators of disadvantage

November 2007

ACOSS, in conjunction with Mission Australia, Brotherhood of St Laurence and Anglicare NSW were partners with the Social Policy Research Centre at University of NSW in this ground breaking study that directly measures deprivation and social exclusion in Australia for the first time. The general community, and clients of the three agencies above, were surveyed on their views on what is essential for a decent life in Australia today, and then asked if they had those items. They were also asked about exclusion from employment, services and social support. The survey reveals who is missing out on the essentials of life, and who is socially excluded.

Towards a fairer Australia

October 2007

As Australians prepare to vote in 2007, they face important choices over the future fairness of their country. Australia's headline figures of economic growth and low official unemployment stand in stark contrast to the daily reality of two million Australians who live in poverty. Despite economic prosperity, one in ten Australians struggle to pay for the bare basics such as housing, food, utilities and health care and often cannot access other essentials such as work, education, aged care, child care, counselling and legal services. The social and economic cost of this disadvantage can be seen in ‘poverty postcodes', typically on the outer edges of metropolitan cities and in rural areas, where many people are unemployed, have minimal levels of education, live on low incomes and often have disabilities and illness.

ACOSS Paper 151.

Poverty in Australia: Sensitivity Analysis and Recent Trends

October 2007

This report was commissioned by Jobs Australia through ACOSS to examine trends in poverty in Australia from 1995 to 2006. The research was conducted by Peter Saunders, Trish Hill and Bruce Bradbury from the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

10 Essentials to Make Australia Fair

July 2007

This report details the results of community consultations in all States and Territories and telephone polling on what Australians think are the essentials to make Australia fair.

Fair Essentials Info Pack

January 2007

Right now there are two million Australians who do not have an acceptable standard of living and go without the bare necessities: housing, work, education, health care and community services. Their daily struggle to make ends meet takes its toll on their health and life chances.

Includes: Information about fairness in Australia. Exercises to help you prepare a list of 10 essentials to make Australia fair.

Who is worse off? The regional distribution of people affected by the Welfare to Work policy

July 2006

Many single parents and people with disabilities who apply for social security payments after 1 July 2006 will be affected by the Government's Welfare to Work legislation, passed by the Parliament late last year. The changes include new activity requirements, greater investment in employment assistance services to help people get work, and a compliance and penalty regime for people who fail to meet the newrequirements.

ACOSS Info paper 381. Includes: Effect of policy on rural and regional electorates. Analysis of population affected by electorate. Welfare to Work package. Employment. Unemployment. Newstart Allowance. Disability Support Pension. Parenting Payment. Single parents. People with disabilities.

Effects of Federal Budget changes for people with disability and single parents

July 2005

If the welfare changes announced in the Federal Budget are passed by the new Senate later this year, we estimate that a total of 150,000 people and 150,000 children, will be worse off in the three years after the changes start, in July 2006. This is due to an unprecedented change in future social security payments.

ACOSS Info paper 374. Includes: Social security. Unemployment. Employment. Jobseekers. Welfare reform. Workforce participation. Training. Job Network. Single parents. People with disabilities. Enhanced Newstart Allowance. Activity test. Poverty. Breaches/penalties.

Response to the Government’s ‘Welfare to Work’ proposals

July 2005

 We acknowledge and support the main elements of the investment needed to get jobless people into employment. However, as it is presently structured, the "Welfare to Work" package has critical weaknesses that will reduce the employment gains and push many people into poverty.

ACOSS Info paper 378. Includes: Welfare to Work package. Single parents. People with disabilities. Social security payments. Austudy. Newstart Allowance. Suspension regime. Employment assistance. Employment. Unemployment. Welfare reform.