Marriage equality
ACOSS urges parties to oppose the plebiscite on marriage equality and support free parliamentary vote instead. We urge you to deliver justice at last for LGBTI communities, without more pain and suffering, save the $160million and spend it where the resources are needed, addressing urgent social need.
See our letters sent last week to the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, and Leader of the Greens.
Register now for the ACOSS conference & HESTA community awards dinner
Registrations are now open for the ACOSS conference on the 17-18 November and the HESTA community awards dinner on the first night of the conference, 17 November. Find out more and register here.
Reprieve for Newstart recipients but the budget threat remains
Responding to the Government and Labor’s renegotiated Omnibus Bill, ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie says that while the retention of the Energy Supplement for those receiving social security payments is welcome news, the threat of further cuts to people who are unemployed and families on low incomes remains. “It is unfortunate we have had to debate whether or not to cut the $38-per-day Newstart Allowance by removing the Energy Supplement. We should be focussing on how to increase the payment so people can live with dignity while looking for work.
“We also welcome the removal of measures that would have cut funding to public dental services and cut income support payments to people in psychiatric confinement. We call on the Federal Government to not seek to introduce any of the measures removed from the Omnibus Bill separately, there has already been too much uncertainty for people on low incomes.”
Joint statement of concern regarding Australia’s social security system
ACOSS, along with the ACTU, the Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, the Anti-Poverty Network (South Australia), the Centre of Full Employment and Equity, the Fair Go for Pensioners Coalition and columnist Van Badham have released an open letter to the Government expressing concern at the stigma surrounding the unemployed and social security recipients, leading tot he criminalisation of poor Australians.
Unemployed and pensioners “collateral damage” in budget fight
ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said the budget fight looming at the start 45th Parliament threatens to hurt those on the lowest incomes.
“The Government has announced this week that the first order of business for the new Parliament will be to cut the Newstart Allowance, pensions and family payments through removal of the energy supplement,” said Dr Goldie.
ACOSS, Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union, Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, Carers Australia, Jobs Australia, National Council of Single Mothers and their Children, National Welfare Rights Network, People with Disability, and Welfare Rights Centre have jointly written to both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition calling on them to retain the energy supplement.
Read the letter to the Prime Minister and the letter to the Leader of the Opposition.
Royal Commission must examine Nauru abuse
Australia’s peak body for aid and international development, the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), and peak body for social welfare, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) have called for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to urgently examine incidents of child abuse and harm in the Australian-run immigration detention centre on Nauru. “Today the Guardian Australia published 2,000 leaked incident reports that are shocking in their detail and the horrifying level of abuse of asylum seekers on Nauru they revealed,” said ACFID CEO Marc Purcell. We have a Royal Commission tasked with investigating institutional responses to child sexual abuse. In the face of the extraordinary evidence of such abuse and harassment of children in immigration detention in Nauru there must be an investigation into whether this is an explicit breach of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s duty of care.”
ACOSS supports Royal Commission into juvenile detention
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) supports a Royal Commission into juvenile detention. ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said the treatment of young detainees in the Northern Territory revealed on Four Corners last night was horrific. “Immediate steps need to be taken to get to the bottom of what happened and ensure it never happens again. The abuse of children is abhorrent and this case was particularly disturbing given it occurred when they were in the custody of the Northern Territory Government.”