New research has prompted calls for a national anti-racism strategy. The 2020 Mapping Social Cohesion report found that strong overall support for multiculturalism was marred by discriminatory attitudes towards certain minorities, including Australians of African, Asian and Middle Eastern heritage.

The technical subject matter of taxation means that certain groups and epistemic communities can dominate tax policy formation, development and implementation. Monash University are hosting a symposium which seeks to open the debate on reform to new voices and new perspectives that are able to challenge the status quo, inviting papers from scholars from all disciplines to offer critical perspectives on taxation. Click here for more information.

The Healing Foundation continues telling the stories of Stolen Generations survivors - February 13 each year marks the anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, who suffered trauma because of past government policies of forced child removal. To acknowledge the Apology Anniversary, click here to watch Stolen Generations survivor Aunty Julie Black’s story.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has published a snapshot of the impact of COVID-19 on Australian households. Throughout 2020, the ABS conducted monthly surveys into the changing social and economic situation for Australian households with particular focus on how they are faring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released its latest report into the activity and characteristics of Australia’s health care and social care services accessed by people with a mental illness. Read more here.

The National NAIDOC Committee invites Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists to submit artworks for the 2021 National NAIDOC Poster Competition. This competition is a chance to be recognised across Australia in celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and achievements. Artworks must reflect this year's theme: Heal Country. Click here for more information.

Anglicare Australia and UnitingCare Australia are urging the Government to raise the rate of JobSeeker payments for good. Releasing research from two of the largest charitable networks in Australia, Anglicare Australia and UnitingCare Australia say cutting payments back to their old rates will plunge people back into poverty.

“Out of work Australians are dreading the next round of cuts to their payments,” said Executive Director Kasy Chambers. “The old rate of JobSeeker was frozen for almost three decades. It became a poverty trap, locking people out of work. Week after week, people were coming to us for food parcels and vouchers just to get by. Our research shows that people were forced to skip meals because their payments were so low. Many were left with as little as $7 a day after paying their rent. Others were forced to couch-surf. When the Government lifted JobSeeker it righted that wrong. People out of work were finally given a path out of poverty. These cuts will take that hope away – and push people back into poverty and hardship.”

New Volunteering Australia data shows volunteering is not snapping back, even as COVID restrictions lift, with nearly three-quarters of survey respondents saying their volunteer programs were not fully operational. During the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, two out of three volunteers stopped volunteering, equating to an estimated loss of 12.2 million hours per week.  

Volunteering Australia’s ‘Re-engaging Volunteers and COVID-19’ survey, received nearly 600 responses over December 2020 and January 2021, highlighting some worrying statistics. Although COVID restrictions have eased considerably across Australia, over half of the 600 respondents surveyed, said their organisations needed more volunteers, with four out of ten finding it difficult to re-engage or recruit volunteers. These results are particularly concerning, as recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that pre-COVID, the rate of Australians volunteering and the time they give, continue to decline. 

The 13th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations on 13 February is an historic day for Australia in acknowledging the wrongs of the past, but the impact of child removal on First Nations children and families continues decades on.

“In 2008, the Australian government finally said sorry for unjustly removing generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families – breaking up families and communities and leaving a legacy of intergenerational trauma for our peoples.” says SNAICC’s CEO Catherine Liddle.

Over the past two decades, successive governments have failed to act on more than 20 independent reports signaling the need for major reform in aged care. We all deserve to age in comfort and with dignity, wherever we live. Yet that right is being denied to some 1.3 million Australians who rely on our aged care system.

Over a generation, the needs and expectations of our ageing parents and grandparents – and those who care for them – have exceeded the resources made available to them. It’s time for change. It’s time to fight for a world-class, rights-based aged care system that meets the needs of older Australians now and into the future.

By way of background, the Australian Aged Care Collaboration is a group of six aged care peak bodies and organsitions: Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA), Anglicare Australia, Baptist Care Australia, Catholic Health Australia, Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) and UnitingCare Australia.

• The Settlement Council of Australia (SCoA) formally invites you to their first webinar of 2021. This webinar, part of SCoA's Settlement in Practice series, will discuss best practice employment programs that support refugees and migrants across the country - 25 February 2021 - Click here for more info and to register

• Melbourne Chef Darren Purchese of Burch and Purchese is joining in the food celebration and participating in this year’s Feast for Freedom.
  Darren will be cooking up a storm with Aheda, one of this year’s Feast for Freedom Cooks, in his home kitchen to raise money for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre - 1 March 2021 - Click here for more information and to register your interest

• This International Women’s Day, YWCA Australia is re-launching ‘TINA Talks’ with a four-part webinar panel series focusing on professional development topics for women. The first session will take place on International Women’s Day, with the remaining sessions taking place on the following three Mondays - 8 March 2021 - Click here for more information and to register

• In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Association of Australia have changed the way they deliver conferences for 2021. The traditional face to face conferences will now be hosted as a hybrid Conference - 10-12 May 2021 - Click here for more information and to register

• My Aged Care can connect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to an Indigenous interpreting service to provide aged care information in a person’s preferred language. To access an Indigenous interpreter, call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 and ask for an interpreter in your client’s preferred language. Watch this short video to see how it works

• A new online data tool has been launched to assist in identifying potential legal need in the community and help legal assistance services in Australia to be planned and delivered according to need. The National Legal Needs Dashboard, provides access to relevant data with the flexibility of breaking down data by different levels of geography and demographic characteristics and generating custom snapshots of potential legal need in the community. Click here to access the dashboard
  
  

• A new counselling service spearheaded by ACON, will give LGBTQ community members more options in accessing inclusive and culturally appropriate mental health care and support. Pride Counselling provides counselling support to LGBTQ community members seeking an affordable service. Click here for more information and to accessing Pride Counselling

The National Rural Health Alliance has called on the federal government to take tangible action on climate change, saying inaction has serious consequences for rural health.

Known as the Building Better Homes Campaign, the group wants a change to the construction code so any new home built in Australia is required to meet accessibility requirements — just like homes are required to meet safety standards.

Mission Australia is calling on the Government to fund 500,000 affordable accommodation places.

30 years since #RCIADIC and our people are still senselessly dying. The families whose loved ones have died in custody need your support today as they demand long overdue answers and systemic change from @ScottMorrisonMP @lidia__thorpe @SenatorDodson pic.twitter.com/tvnQWHJHV0

— NATSILS (@NATSILS_) February 16, 2021