This page contains links to stories and articles from 2010 that mention ACOSS or relate to our work.
December
- Spare a thought for those doing it tough
- Govt defends disability pension scheme
- ACOSS to Join NFP Reform Council
- Workers rally for ASU’s pay test-case
- Aid/Watch Ruling – Time For Tax Law Reform – ACOSS
November
- Don’t pay women second-class wages
- Community sector unites to fight for better pay
- PM riled by union equal pay attack
- The 7 PM Project Ch10 on housing affordability
- Government Backdown on Community Sector Pay Equity
- Gillard backtracks on support for equal pay for women
- Jobless benefit losing ground
October
September
- Greens risk backlash with fresh move to resurrect death tax
- ‘Free calls’ not cheap for mobile phones – ABC AM
August
- Long-term jobless queue gets longer
- Seek work here, there and everywhere and you shall find $6000 | SMH
- Gillard offers unemployed incentives to move and find jobs | The Australian
$6000 dole pledge to relocate for jobs | The Advertiser - New Job Search Penalties Harsh – ACOSS | Pro Bono
- Labor toughens welfare | The Australian
- Gillard to lift student payments for older teens | The Australian
- Boost housing, welfare body says | AAP
- Call for housing assistance fund | The Age
- Housing Affordability Should be Centre of Election Agenda | Pro Bono News
- Homeless people’s problems grow | The Australian
- Call for Cross-Party Commitment on Homelessness | Pro Bono News
July
- Jobless teens’ future uncertain | Daily Telegraph
- Libs woo grey vote with promise to extend health card access | SMH | The Age
- WELFARE Gillard promises family payment advances for unexpected bills | The Canberra Times
- Payments lifted for older teens | The Australian
- Labor promises to pay for students to stay at school | Herald Sun
- Gillard promises families more | West Australian
- PM unveils policy to keep teens at school | Canberra Times
- Advice welcome but not from advisers | SMH
- Homeless people’s problems grow | The Australian
- Initiatives fail to cut numbers of folk without shelter | The Australian
- Both sides called to stop the dental rot | The Australian
- ALP will feel the pain over dental care | The Sydney Morning Herald
- Parties told of need to brush up on dental care | Canberra Times
- There goes my wisdom tooth, but it’s time to Stop the Rot | Sunday Canberra Times
- The real battle to pay the bills | Daily Telegraph and syndicates
June
- NT welfare recipients to lose control of payments | SMH
- Mines jobs peak, but still just 1.6% | The Age and SMH
- Income quarantining success remains in question | SMH
- Welfare quarantining net to widen | The Age
- SKY News Australia | PM Agenda
- Race act delayed as welfare rules extended | The Australian
- Martin challenges welfare quarantine | Northern Territory News
- Payment scheme to be used nationally | Canberra Times
- Rudd takes command of mining tax talks | SMH
- ABC PM – A coalition of union, social service and environmental groups have decided to add their voice to the debate, issuing a statement in support of the tax.
- RN Breakfast – The Rudd government has received some much needed support in its battle with the mining sector over a super-profits tax. A coalition of community groups including ACOSS, the ACTU, the Consumers Federation and the Australian Conservation Foundation have banded together to strongly endorse Labor’s plan to raise more revenue from the mining boom.
- Rudd to face critics amid asylum backlash | West Australian
- PM faces row over mine tax spoils | AFR
- Plea to hear ordinary’ voices in mine tax row | Adelaide Advertiser
- Caucus stands solidly behind Rudd leadership | Canberra Times
- The Heart of the Nation | The Australian
- Mining tax: Give all Aussies a say’ | Daily News; Gympie Times; Fraser Coast Chronicle; Daily Mercury; Northern Star; Geelong Advertiser; Newcastle Herald; North West Star; Northern Territory News; Daily Advertiser; Cairns Post
- Support on its way for PM’s plan | SMH | West Australian
- BHP chief sees no end to tax row | SMH
- Employers oppose equal pay push in welfare sector | SMH
- Thousands to rally for equal pay | The Age
- Employers hit by minimum wage surge | AFR (subscription required)
May
- Power cuts for hard-up families under new energy laws | The Australian
- Welfare groups will fight for dental scheme | Sun-Herald
- Outdated welfare system hits carers | SMH
- Abbott downplays benefit of wage push | AFR (subscription required)
- This is one ‘great big tax’ that could fuel our future | The Australian
- ABC Radio National Breakfast | A panel of experts joins Fran Kelly in Canberra to cut through the budget spin
- Rich and poor find fault with budget | The Australian
- SKY News Australia | Lunchtime Agenda
Martin says a key issue is getting more unemployed people into work, and there are rumours that money will be spent in the area of training programs and transition-to-work programs. She says they want the Newstart Allowance to be increased from $33 to $39 a day, because it is at ‘poverty level’ at the moment. She thinks more funding is needed for dental health. She says last year’s $32-a-week pension increase was fantastic but those on Newstart were left behind. She is disappointed that the Henry Tax Review’s recommendations on the home rental and ownership market were pushed aside. She calls for a $15 increase in Commonwealth assistance for renters. - Budget reaction | SMH and The Age
“…Clare Martin : “With over 600,000 Australians out of work, ACOSS is disappointed that there is not more support for those looking for work, especially 350,000 people who have been without work for over a year. This budget has meant little for the unemployed who still must survive on $33 per day. It is too important an issue to overlook.” - Budget reaction | Daily Telegraph
“…THE “no-frills” Federal Budget will not ease the plight of Australia’s poor, Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) chief executive Clare Martin said…” - Budget reaction | Canberra Times
“…ACOSS applauds the Government’s commitment of $119 million for a literacy
and numeracy skills program…” - Budget reaction | Channel 9 Today
Budget reaction | Channel 10 Early News
Budget reaction | ABC2 Breakfast
Budget reaction | Channel 7 Morning News and 4.30pm News - Tough decisions avoided: Joe Hockey | The Australian
Ken Henry triggers call for increase in dole | The Australian
ACOSS chief executive Clare Martin said the budget should provide assistance to unemployed Australians and introduce a paid work experience scheme and lift unemployment payment rates. - Push to boost workforce participation rates
Unemployed people should receive a boost in their fortnightly payments and the Rudd government should establish a paid work experience program to help get people off the dole, according to welfare groups.
The call for a boost to dole payments comes after Treasury secretary Ken Henry said in his recent report that single people on unemployment benefits and student assistance should receive higher payments under a radical welfare overhaul. - PM dumps chance to fix housing | The Age
Hooray Henry! The tax review headed by Treasury secretary Ken Henry has “told it like it is” in several key areas of tax reform, such as housing, superannuation and fringe benefits. It acknowledges that huge perks in these areas, especially for wealthy people, cause economic, social and environmental damage. It also suggests important changes to reduce this damage. - Gap sparks push for equal welfare benefits | The Australian
KEN Henry recognises the welfare system gives vastly different amounts to people with a similar ability to work, and that without changes this disparity will only worsen. - Don’t ignore affordability measures: welfare bodies | SMH
THE housing industry and social welfare advocates have urged state and federal governments not to ignore key recommendations of the Henry review that could improve housing affordability, as cities across the country experience record house price growth. - Non-profits thrilled to be quarantined from Henry cuts | AFR
“…we welcome the important assurance from governmnet that it will not support any changes to tax concessions that will harm community service organisations,” coucil chief exectove Clare Martin said. - What they said about the Henry tax review | SMH
April
- Time to level the tax field | Australian Financial Review | 27 Apr 2010
Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Clare Martin says the Henry review will offer an opportunity to reform the tax treatment of both superannuation and housing. The Treasury last year predicted that 25 percent of the $10 billion in annual tax concessions for super contributions had gone to the top 5 percent of wage earners. - ACOSS talks on Nine’s Today Show about energy price hikes | 8 April 2010 | Video: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx
- Tardis solution as more asylum seekers arrive | The Daily Telegraph | 5 April
The head of the nation’s peak welfare group yesterday urged politicians not to sensationalise the debate on asylum seekers. - ACOSS slams income management rollout | SMH | 4 April
A peak welfare group has slammed the federal government’s attempt to roll out a controversial aspect of the Northern Territory intervention to the rest of the nation. - Ninemsn: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1035533/acoss-slams-income-management-rollout
- Channel 10: Meet The Press | 4 April 2010
The Rudd Government has disappointed many of Australia’s welfare agencies by maintaining the previous government’s income-management policies and now proposing to extend them beyond the Northern Territory
March
- Negative gearing safe, says Swan | The Australian | 27 March
Wayne Swan has hosed down suggestions of a clamp on negative gearing, as the Rudd government seeks to lower expectations that tax reform will be a central plank of its election platform. - Not helping them back on their feet | Sydney Morning Herald | 20 March
Many say Labor’s plan to introduce compulsory income management will do more harm than good. - Income management | ABC RN Breakfast | 17 March 2010
The government’s move to extend compulsory income management to more welfare recipients, including white families, in the Northern Territory is likely to pass the Senate after the Coalition dumped its opposition to the bill.
- Homelessness and domestic violence | Sunrise, Channel 7 | 18 Mar 2010
There are 180,000 Australians on the public housing waiting list. Interview with Clare Martin from Australian Council of Social Service. Martin says that PM Kevin Rudd made a real commitment to tackling homelessness but it takes time to hit the ground and build new houses. Martin says that $6bn has been committed by the Fed Govt which will provide around 19,000 dwellings. - Help those on welfare to help themselves | Daily Telegraph | 18 Mar 2010
IT is costing taxpayers $4400 a year to ensure an unemployed person doesn’t spend their welfare payments on drugs and alcohol – but we’re spending only $500 helping them find a job. - Welfare crackdown misses targets | SMH | 11 March 2010
- Shame of `susso’ to spread: ACOSS | The Australian | 11 March 2010
- Income Control a Measure too far | The Australian | 9 March 2010
- VIP guest inspires Coast women | Coffs Harbour Advocate | 6 March 2010
- Breakfast to end poverty | Coffs Harbour Advocate | 1 March 2010
- Funding, Regulatory Overhaul Call For Nonprofits | Ethical Investor | 1 March 2010
February
- St Vinnies CEO scathing of govt plan | The Age | 26 Feb 2010
- Abbott misses the mark | Australian Financial Review | 25 February (subscription required)
Tony Abbott’s planned welfare crackdown which would involve lifting the retirement age to 70, having unemployed people under 50 working for the dole and ensure annual medical tests for people on disability support, has been dismissed by the Australian Council of Social Service. - Abbott’s welfare plan ‘way off mark’ | Canberra Times | 25 February
… The nation’s peak welfare body says the proposals are “way off the mark”. “They won’t help people into a job or reduce their reliance on income support,” Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Clare Martin said. The money should be spent on programs like paid work experience, and lifting the unemployment benefit. “Unemployment payments are $108 less a week than the single pension, which discourages pensioners from seeking work arid moving on to the unemployment payment,” she said. - Welfare groups slam Abbott’s plan | SMH | 24 February
- We’re caring and can fix this, says PM | SMH | 17 February
- Opposition won’t meet homeless target | AAP | 17 February
- Charity requests rise | AFR | 15 Feb 2010 (subscription required)
The Australian Council of Social Service’s welfare survey revealed that charities received 4.3 million requests for assistance in the last financial year, a figure that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said was not surprising. - Welfare agencies reject 1 in 10 | Canberra Times | 15 Feb 2010
- ACOSS welcomes new Centrelink legislation for the disadvantaged | Third Sector Magazine | 15 February
Disadvantaged Australians will benefit from new legislation that gives the option to change the frequency of Centrelink payments. - Crisis and welfare organisations in struggle to respond to cries for help | SMH | 14 February
- Checks and balance awry in welfare rework | SMH | 14 February
- Young and desperate join aid queue | SMH | 14 February
- GFC continues to put pressure on charities: Rudd | AAP / Fairfax | 14 February
- Push to reform not-for-profit sector | AFR | 12 Feb (subscription required)
A report by the Productivity Commission has urged the Federal Government to carry out a major overhaul in the not-for-profit sector. The publication stated that a regulator that resembles the Australian Securities and Investments Commission should be set up to help consolidate the relevant state and federal regimes. Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Clare Martin says the recommendations will cut red tape, while Clubs Australia chief executive David Costello says that clubs should reserve their not-for-profit status. - Funding overhaul call for not-for-profits | Fairfax | 12 February
- Call to stop compulsory income quarantining | Sydney Morning Herald | 8 February
- Barcode plan to restrict welfare recipients’ purchases | The Australian | 2 February
- Wealthy get $55bn in tax breaks | The Australian | 30 January