Adult Learners Week is celebrated each Spring with hundreds of events and activities promoting the benefits of learning. Click here to learn more.

ACT’s Legislative Assembly has voted to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, paving the way for other jurisdictions to reform an outmoded law which disproportionately affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Read more here.

Carers Australia are advocating for the support of Australia's 2.65 million unpaid carers, calling for this to be reflected in the upcoming Federal Budget. Click here to read the full pre-budget submission.

Help celebrate Wear it Purple Day this Friday 28 August, and show LGBTIQ+ young people that they have the right to be proud of who they are. Click here for more info and ways to support.

Australian Progress has launched the Economic Media Centre - a brand new project amplifying voices of grassroots advocates and people with lived experience calling for economic justice. Click here to learn more.

Australia reMADE are seeking to collaborate with civil society leaders and organisations to reclaim the notion of the public good as a collective driver for change. Click here for more info and to get involved.

Each year, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), calculates the national gender pay gap and the date of Equal Pay Day based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data. The new national gender pay gap is 14.0% for full-time employees, a difference of $253.60 per week. This year, Equal Pay Day will be on Friday 28 August 2020, marking the 59 additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women must work, on average, to earn the same amount as men earnt in that year.

The national theme for Equal Pay Day 2020 is ‘Keep Minding the Gap’. During this global pandemic, it is important that employers continue to focus on gender equality in their organisations. The COVID 19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and could affect women's long-term economic security and rates of workforce participation.

A new report into the experiences of NDIS participants and their families during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic shows many were stretched to breaking point and let down by poor communication and a lack of support and help. The report Left Out and Locked Down by Every Australian Counts asked more than 700 NDIS participants and their families about the impact COVID-19 and the lockdown on their lives during the first wave of the pandemic, how they coped, and their views on changes made to the NDIS during this time.

New research released by Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) indicates that excluding refugees and people seeking asylum from financial support could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and exacerbate the nation’s health and homelessness crises.  

The report, 'COVID-19 and humanitarian migrants on temporary visas: assessing the public costs' outlines the impacts that the coronavirus recession is having on refugees and people seeking asylum and the staggering social and economic costs of excluding them from government support at this time.  

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) is calling for greater investment from the Australian Government in the upcoming 2020 Budget to ensure every child in Australia has access to high-quality education and care. 'The Government has endeavoured to support the early childhood education and care sector through the pandemic.

Making childcare more affordable for Australian families is the next step in ensuring that young children don't miss out on early learning,' said ECA CEO Samantha Page. ECA is calling for an increase in the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) to 95 per cent for low-income families, to overcome cost barriers to children's participation in early childhood education and care. 'The current subsidy performs poorly for families with reduced income and work hours, which a lot of families are experiencing during this time,' Ms Page said. 

• Power to Kids: Respecting Sexual Safety is a project designed, implemented and evaluated by MacKillop Family Services and the University of Melbourne to address child sexual exploitation, harmful sexual behaviour and dating violence in out of home care - 8 September 2020 - Register here
  
  
• Economics 101 Virtual Briefing is for leaders, campaigners, communicators and organisers across civil society - 3 September 2020 - Click here to register

• Facebook Messenger & Chatbots workshop will teach people how to manage community relationships through the Facebook messaging system. In the NFP world, relationships are everything and every relationship starts with a conversation - 10 September 2020 - Click to register

• Excel for Nonprofits: Do you control your organisation's data or does it control you? In this 6 track course, you will learn how to use Excel to manage your data and effectively report your impact - Click here to begin

• The National NAIDOC Committee has released new resources to support teachers and local communities to build knowledge and celebrate Australia’s Indigenous culture. Click here to download the new resources

• The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have released new guidelines to support the rights of people with disability during COVID-19, to assist health care, disability services and support workers take a human-rights-based approach to decision-making during the pandemic. Read the guidelines here

• Social Ventures Australia has updated its guide to the key Government opportunities available to not-for-profits and charities during COVID-19. Click here for more information

• 1 in 2 Australians have at least one chronic condition and 1 in 4 have two or more chronic conditions. CDM Plus have released a new Chronic Conditions in Community and Aged Care Online Module, developed for care workers in community and aged care to increase understanding of chronic conditions and how to better support clients. Read more here

The withdrawal of COVID top-ups for people who are unemployed and other welfare recipients will strip the struggling Cairns economy of nearly $4m a week. Anti-Poverty Week Executive Director, Toni Wren, discusses.

Patrick McGee from the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations said he was concerned to see the National Disability Agency had introduced a temporary 10 per cent increase to the price providers could charge for some services.

The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia has stressed the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Their Children must become more inclusive of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

According to today's report by @CPRC_research, young people in Australia are facing a debt tsunami. Many people are borrowing and dipping into future savings to make ends meet.

See the May-July report at: https://t.co/54p3MCdqEA pic.twitter.com/PUBIQX5SYH

— National Debt Helpline (@natdebthelpline) August 18, 2020