Thursday, 15 March 2021
Community Contributions

WWDA LEAD Scholarships offer women with disability an opportunity to apply for a range of leadership and/or training courses that will help develop their leadership skills. Click here to access the WWDA LEAD Scholarships webpage to learn more.

Meena Singh, a Yorta Yorta and Indian woman, born and living on the land of the Kulin Nations, is the Legal Director of the Human Rights Law Centre and is currently undertaking her PhD at Melbourne Law School, looking at how the experiences of women of colour as lawyers can impact on legal practice and knowledge. Meena has written an article for IndigenousX examining what keeps Aboriginal people safe, and what will stop more deaths in custody. Read the article here.

The challenges facing young people in the health system and potential remedies are aired by Youth Health Forum leaders in a new video released today. The video features two young health leaders, Jasmine Elliott and Roxxanne MacDonald, explaining the challenges for young people in transitioning from child-centred to adult services. Click here to access the video.


Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner, Chin Tan has announced plans to develop a National Anti-Racism Framework and is calling on the Federal Government to support the framework, fully resource it and implement it. The Commission also aims to work in partnership with all sectors of Australian society because dismantling racism is a joint responsibility and will require a coordinated effort. Learn more here.

Australian Progress launched the First Nations Capacity Mapping project, which will consult and hear from a diverse range of First Nations organisations and people, who'll help to analyse what's needed to strengthen First Nations advocacy capacity. If you are a First Nations person, please click here to take the Capacity Mapping survey by Thursday, April 29. If you are a non-Indigenous person, please share with your First Nations colleagues and networks.

Community Conversations
30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

Today marks 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its historic report with over three hundred recommendations to end Black deaths in custody. It is a national shame that in the three decades since, state, territory and Commonwealth governments have failed to implement the majority of those recommendations - and as a result our people are still dying at horrendous rates. 

Leading human rights and legal organisations have reiterated their call for governments to take six immediate steps to end Black deaths in custody:

  1. End the mass imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by repealing punitive bail laws; mandatory sentencing laws; and custodial sentences for minor offences;
  2. Stop imprisoning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years.
  3. End racist policing and require police accountability by ending the practice of police investigating police, and legislating for independent investigations of deaths in custody and resourcing independent police oversight bodies.
  4. Implement all recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and the countless independent investigations, coronial inquests and reports that have been published in the three decades since.
  5. Invest in family violence prevention and legal services to stop Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who have survived family violence being forced into the criminal justice system.
  6. End the abuse, torture and solitary confinement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in police and prison cells through legislative safeguards and by urgently establishing independent bodies to oversee the conditions of detention and treatment of people; in accordance with our obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)
Click here for more information
Raise the Age campaign submissions

The national Raise the Age campaign is looking to hear from organisations who provided submissions into the Council of Attorneys-General Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group review in February 2020. Many organisations in the sector provided submissions in support of raising the age and the campaign has been trying to have these publicly released to demonstrate that state, territory and the Commonwealth governments already have all the evidence about why they need to raise the age and what supports should be put in place instead of locking up children as young at 10. After a letter the campaign calling on all Attorneys-General to release the submissions and the resulting report was ignored and a recent FOI by the HRLC for the submissions and report was refused, the campaign is now planning on collecting as many submissions as we can and publicly releasing them along with a statement calling on all governments to stop stalling and finally raise the age.

If your organisation did a submission and is willing to publicly release it please get in touch with Lauren Frost at the HRLC at [email protected] or on 0402 495 005.

All participating organisations will have the chance to feed into the messaging of the public statement before its published and no submissions will be released until all organisations are happy with it. Please share this request with any partner organisations, there are 88 submissions out there to be collected.

Learn more about the Raise the Age campaign
Twelve aged care consumer peaks propose aged care reform plan

Twelve leading aged care consumer organisations, led by the Council on the Ageing (COTA) Australia, have issued a detailed joint response to the Final Report of the Aged Care Royal Commission, identifying the key reforms the Federal Government must implement in the upcoming Federal Budget to ensure its response to the Royal Commission gets off to a flying start.

In their joint statement the consumer organisations set out the package of urgent reforms the Morrison government must deliver in the next 12-18 months to build a high quality aged care system that’s grounded in human rights and which treats older people with respect for their diversity and capacities, ensures greater control over their care and support, and delivers appropriate, safe and timely services, and fair value for their dollar.

Key among the suite of actions that the signatory organisations want to see initiated in the next year are increased transparency from aged care providers, minimum staffing levels, wage increases for workers, stronger powers and a more versatile toolkit for an independent quality regulator, and a new rights-based Aged Care Act.

“The last thing Australians deserve is the government kicking the can down the road on many of the key changes we need,” says Ian Yates AM, Chief Executive of COTA Australia, on behalf of the group.

Click here to learn more
 
Community Sector Events
  • A small but growing body of research suggests some LGBTIQA+ people are reluctant to access help in a disaster because of historic and ongoing discrimination and abuse experienced toward them and their communities. How do we work towards inclusive practice and services that meet the needs of LGBTIQA+ communities during and after disasters? Hear from experts at the Gender and Disaster Pod (GAD Pod) as they explore the experiences of the LGBTIQA+ community in disasters and COVID-19 - 20 April 2021 - Click here for more information and to register

  • Join a select cohort of 12 senior leaders in civil society for the 2021 Global Study Tour. Hear from and have deep conversations with leading international practitioners, thinkers and researchers in community organising - 17 May 2021 - Click here for more information and to register your interest
  • Grant funding can be a significant boost to your budget and is available for a range of activities to help your non-profit organisation achieve its mission. This two-part Strategic Grants’ Bootcamp, is designed to help you develop an effective approach to grant-seeking, understand what grant funders are looking for and learn hints and tips on how to go about structuring a grant application - 18 May 2021 - Click here for more information and to register

    Community Sector Resources
    • As mentioned earlier in this edition, today marks 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody handed down its historic reporting with over three hundred recommendations to end Black deaths in custody. Help take action today by using resources linked here.

    COSS Corner
    The latest news from State and Territory Councils of Social Service

    Tasmanians have consistently told us that in order to live a good life they need to be able to afford the basics, have a healthy body and mind, and a place to call home. This is why TasCOSS's 2021 State Election priorities, focus squarely on the need for more jobs, affordable housing and improved health outcomes for all Tasmanians. Find out more about TasCOSS's election priorities. 

    SACOSS has told the Productivity Commission’s National Water Reform inquiry that action is needed to address issues of water quality, reliability and cost in regional and remote SA communities, highlighting that a lack of attention to this critical issue results in ad hoc and reactive solutions – a problem likely also faced in other states. More information.

    ACTCOSS has written to the ACT Chief Minister to call for the prioritisation of investment in the community sector to improve gender equity outcomes, deliver services to those most in need and create more jobs. ACTCOSS highlighted that the community sector had been largely overlooked in the ACT's economic recovery plans. ACTCOSS also reacted to a proposed significant increase to electricity prices as a result of increased feed-in tariff payments to renewable energy providers, calling on the Government to implement measures to protect Canberrans on low incomes impacted by this price increase.

    Water billing can be confusing. Bills are sent to landlords and are not always passed on in full to tenants. QCOSS is hosting a series of webinars to explain the rights and responsibilities of tenants and their landlords with water charges. This session is ideally suited to community sector workers and tailored to the needs of tenants. Register here and access our range of energy and water resources here.

    WACOSS convened a group to provide coordination and advocacy support to providers as they navigate supporting people in the lead up to the ending of the State Emergency Period (evictions and rental increase moratorium) on 28 March 2021. This work culminated in a Sector Briefing, in collaboration with Shelter WA and moratorium working group members. This online forum attracted many diverse community sector stakeholders - Watch a recording of the briefing.

    More than 130 changes to Victoria’s renting rules came into effect this week. It’s a lot for renters to get their heads around, and community sector workers will play a critical role in helping their clients understand their new rights and how to assert them. To help the sector help Victorians, VCOSS’s Karen Taranto has laid out the 10 key changes community sector workers need to understand. Read them here.

    NCOSS & NSW Legislative Council Parliamentary Inquiries Workshop is a well-regarded learning event (now back face-to-face) that will be held at Parliament House, Sydney. This workshop is for people working in Policy, Advocacy or management in the New South Wales community sector, whose work potentially involves taking part in Parliamentary Inquiries. It is free to attend, but numbers are limited. Click here to reserve your space. 

    The Territory Government in partnership with NTCOSS and Refuel Creative have delivered a new one-stop-shop website which will assist over 1,600 Territorians visiting the site per month. There are 22 service categories and hundreds of organisations currently listed in the directory including support for everything from: accommodation and housing, alcohol, drugs and other dependencies, domestic, family and sexual violence employment and training, financial support, and many more. Click for more information.

    Members in the Media
    Single mothers fear end of coronavirus supplement

    The coronavirus supplement, introduced in March last year, gave a brief respite for those living below the poverty line - Terese Edwards, CEO, National Council of Single Mothers and their Children, discusses the impacts of the payment coming to an end, with many single mothers now worried about their financial survival.

    Listen here
    Warning over growing rental pressure on elderly Australians

    Kate Colvin, National Spokesperson for the Everybody's Home Campaign, discussing how older Australians will face rental stress and potentially homelessness over the coming decade, as a shortage in social housing and fall in private ownership combine with an ageing population.

    Listen here
    ‘Stop buck passing on deaths in custody’

    An architect of Australia's national agreement on Closing the Gap says buck passing between governments over the tragedy of Indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody must end, discusses Pat Turner NACCHO CEO. 

    Read here
     
    Feature Tweet

    Today marks #RCIADIC30Years.

    30 years and 474+ of our people whose lives have been senselessly lost in custody.

    To end Black deaths in custody, the demands of 15 families must be heard.

    It’s time for real change. #stopaboriginaldeathsincustody #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/4E1qmoJrDV

    — NATSILS (@NATSILS_) April 14, 2021
    Click here to see full tweet
     
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    We recognise the right of all First Peoples around the country to self-determination.

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