30 January 2023 Catholic Social Services Australia has welcomed reports the Albanese May Budget will focus on entrenched disadvantage in the most vulnerable Australian communities. In a podcast with the Guardian Australia and a major essay published today in the Monthly magazine Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he is working with the Social Services Minister, Amanda Rishworth, to make...
9 January 2023 The Federal Government and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) have signed an agreement to expand job opportunities for Australians living with disabilities as part of a broader plan to create 250,000 new jobs. Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, says the new disability employment pilot will improve employment outcomes for people with disability. “There...
16 December 2022 Article by Francis Sullivan, as published in Pearls and Irritations On the 30th anniversary of former Prime Minister Paul Keating's historic Redfern Speech, First Nations Australians are still waiting for its articulated vision to be realised. Keating's speech was a watershed moment in the sorry history of Indigenous reconciliation. Never before, and only once or twice since,...
13 December 2022 Article by Francis Sullivan, as published in The Daily Telegraph As the Reserve Bank lifts interest rates to their highest levels in a decade, the big losers aren't just homeowners but also the hundreds of thousands of low-income renters who are paying more than half of their earnings just trying to keep a roof over...
10 December 2022 Millions of people on income support and welfare payments will have their power bills cut under a $1.5 billion plan announced on Friday by Prime Minister Albanese. It is expected power prices will start to fall by mid-next year, after the Federal government struck a deal with the states on a package including discounted...
7 December 2022 Some 185,000, or nearly a fifth of low-income private renters, are paying more than half of their household income in rent, well above the accepted maximum tolerable measure of 30 per cent, according to a major new report from leading housing services organisation, Launch Housing. Launch Housing’s 2018 - 2022 Homeless Monitor, says this...
28 November 2022 One of Australia's leading social service networks has welcomed Federal Government plans to establish an independent panel to annually review support payments — such as JobSeeker and parenting payments — ahead of each Federal Budget. The new Panel is part of a deal with independent senator David Pocock to support the Government's industrial relations...
21 November 2022 Plans by the Federal Government to tighten regulations around the 'buy now pay later' industry have been welcomed by one of Australia's leading social services networks. The Treasury discussion paper, to be released today, says the relatively looser regulatory environment, together with the sector's rapid growth, may be contributing to poor consumer outcomes, including...
17 November 2022 A wide-ranging federal government review of policy, funding and governance issues within tertiary sector must look at HECS debt and other student loan repayment mechanisms, particularly for low paid and disadvantaged former students. The review, announced last night by Education Minister Jason Clare, aims to create a “universities accord” which would set the course...
7 November 2022 Plans by NSW Labor to allow almost a million renters in NSW to transfer their bonds from one property to the next is a major cost of living initiative welcomed by one of Australia's largest social services networks. The policy plan, announced ahead of the NSW State election in March next year by Labor...
