Read community sector responses to the Federal Budget: Anglicare Australia, Mission Australia, CHIA, PWDA, SCoA, Refugee Council of Australia, FECCA, PHAA, Homelessness Australia, UnitingCare, Early Childhood Australia, Brotherhood of St Laurence, NACCHO, Relationships Australia, Change the Record, COTA, ASRC, CPSA, National Shelter, CHOICE, Good Things Foundation, Volunteering Australia, Everybody's Home.

On World Mental Health Day, Australian Association of Social Workers highlighted the importance of mental health solutions that go beyond short-term, crisis-oriented responses and encompass a whole of society approach to factors affecting mental health. Read more here.

People experiencing disadvantage and unemployment are competing with more people for fewer jobs, according to Anglicare Australia’s Jobs Availability Snapshot. Read more here. 

On World Mental Health Day (10 Oct) NACCHO emphasised  the commitment in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap needs continued funding support to close the mental health gap. Read more here.

Join the campaign to #MakeItSafeToSpeak to the Disability Royal Commission - you can help by signing this open letter, or asking people to write to the Attorney General Christian Porter using the campaign tool linked here.

National Indigenous Television (NITV) and SBS are proud to announce the programming slate for NAIDOC 2020 - a week-long dedicated schedule to mark the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

To mark Get Online Week (19-25 October) Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance has released a position paper – A National Digital Inclusion Roadmap – outlining what should be done to increase digital inclusion in Australia. The ADIA recommends:

- A whole-of-government strategy should be developed – a National Digital Inclusion Roadmap – so businesses, nonprofits and government can work towards the same goal.

- While the Roadmap is being developed, specific initiatives can be initiated:

• Creating a Digital Capabilities Framework to provide a common understanding and goal for what it means to be a digitally capable individual.
• Assessing which internet services affordability measures taken in the immediate response to COVID-19 can be retained going forward. This may include a permanent low cost option for those on low incomes.
• Move towards all federal, state and local government websites being compliant with the latest accessibility standards.

Foodbank released a special edition of its annual Foodbank Hunger Report which revealed that, while government assistance measures such as JobSeeker and JobKeeper have provided much needed temporary relief, charities and food insecure Australians alike have an extreme sense of unease about the future as these measures are rolled back. More than one in three (35%) food insecure Australians receiving benefits don’t know how they will cope or expect they will not cope well at all. Foodbank also reported that demand for food relief is up and believes it has not yet seen ‘peak hunger’ in the COVID-19 crisis.

Foodbank Australia CEO, Brianna Casey, said this year’s report emphasises that COVID-19 is having a profound effect on the food security of Australians. “The report highlights that, while need for food relief has become somewhat erratic and unpredictable, charities are reporting that overall demand is up by 47% and many of those now experiencing food insecurity (28%) have never before needed support,” Casey explained.

SNAICC is deeply concerned about the increasing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care being placed away from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and carers, as revealed in a new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) today. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle Indicators 2018-19 report measures progress towards implementing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle - a principle that aims to ensure the value of culture to the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is embedded in policy and practice. 

The report finds that at 30 June 2019 of the 17,979 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in out-of-home care, 63% were living with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or non-Indigenous relatives or kin or other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caregivers. Only 43.4% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care were living with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers, which has fallen from 47.9% over the two years previous. Richard Weston is SNAICC’s CEO and Co-Chair of the Family Matters campaign, says, "It is worrying that more than half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are living without an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carer. These children are at high risk of losing connections to culture, family and community that are vital to their safety and wellbeing.”

Lifeline Australia, in partnership with The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention, launch the Wellbeing and Healing Through Connection and Culture Report. Authored by Professor Pat Dudgeon, Professor Gracelyn Smallwood, Associate Professor Roz Walker, Dr Abigail Bray and Tania Dalton, the report is the first literature review undertaken in Australia analysing the emerging research and knowledge, key themes and principles surrounding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural perspectives and concepts of healing and social and emotional wellbeing as they relate to suicide prevention.

• As part of #FeministBookWeek, YWCA and Stella Prize are thrilled to host Zoya Patel in-conversation with Jess Hill, discussing Jess’ award winning book 'See What You Made Me Do' - 22 October 2020 - Click here to learn more and to register

• UnChartered: Health, Housing, Human Rights and COVID-19 (webinar) will focus on how a stronger human rights focus in decision making can help build a stronger society: With Annie Butler, Kate Colvin, Hugh de Kretser, and Verity Firth - 28 October 2020 - Click here to register

• This webinar, part of SCoA's Settlement in Practice series, will discuss best practice education and training programs that support refugees and migrants across a range of settings, including in employment, schools and learning English - 29 October 2020 - Register here

• The Connecting Up Evolve Webinar Series 2020 is an initiative by the Infoxchange Group and key partners to help not-for-profits improve their impact and performance. Join to up-skill your not-for-profit for a bigger, better 2021 - Multiple dates, commencing 4 November - Click here for more information
  

• Health Translations is a free website providing translated materials on COVID-19 and more. It brings together resources produced by government and community agencies Australia-wide, with more than 22,000 resources available in over 100 languages. Click here for more information.
  

• Last week (12-16 October) the Centre for Social Impact held a week-long series of daily impact2020 webinars mapping out how our governments have responded to addressing social vulnerabilities during COVID-19, also taking a look at how each state and territory is faring in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). You can now watch the recordings of these webinars here.

• ANU have developed resources to help organisations and professional practices work with children, young people and their families to make sense of what they are seeing, hearing and feeling during this challenging time of coronavirus (COVID-19). Read more here.

With coronavirus expediting the digitisation of our daily lives, addressing digital inclusion in Australia must be a priority, writes David Spriggs (CEO Infoxchange), marking Get Online Week

The federal budget will focus on getting young people into jobs, according to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. It's a welcome development for employers and those working in the youth sector, but one they say has been a long time coming. Toni Wren, Anti-Poverty Week, discusses.

Mission Australia CEO James Toomey, Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) chief executive Paul Power, discuss who the budget forgot.

It's Get Online Week! Give someone a hand this week to make their tech-lives easier! (Check out the resources on our website if you need ideas)https://t.co/kagokQHltG pic.twitter.com/gYhNuTo9QY

— inDigiMOB (@inDigiMOB) October 18, 2020