14 January 2022 Francis Sullivan, Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, said today, economic pressures being faced by low income and disadvantaged Australians are at an all-time high and are being force-fed by the relentless increase in housing costs. The Domain Rent Report for the December quarter released this week shows tenants are paying $50 a...
5 January 2022 Australia’s peak Catholic social services organisation is calling on Australia’s political leaders at today’s National Cabinet meeting to make Rapid antigen tests (RATs) free for low-income earners and social security recipients. Francis Sullivan, Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, said today that the Federal Government must make the RATs available to the very...
9 December 2021 As low-income families around Australia look towards Christmas and the cost of presents and celebrations, the temptation to ‘buy now and pay later’ (BNPL) starts to become an attractive option. But, according to Francis Sullivan, Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, using BNPL companies include Afterpay, Zip Pay, Latitude and Sezzle, could lead...
3 December 2021 Renters in regional Australia are facing forced evictions as inflation pressures push up the cost of housing, and COVID 19 forces mass exodus from bigger cities. Booming rental prices in regional areas have led to an increase in tenants being evicted without cause, according to the Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, Francis...
10 November 2021 Despite more than 80 per cent of Australian residents aged over 16 have now being fully-vaccinated against COVID-19, people living with disabilities and first Nation Australians vaccination rates continue to lag well behind the rest of Australia. Francis Sullivan, Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia said from day one, the vaccine rollout has...
28 October 2021 Low income families around Australia should take little comfort from the Government’s Net Zero 2050 plan which remains silent on how electricity prices will be pushed down for those struggling to meet power bills. Francis Sullivan, Chair of Catholic Social Services Australia, said today that while the Prime Minister and his Energy Minister...
20 October 2021 Communities living in the regional Queensland electorate of Hinkler suffer the highest levels of disadvantage of any electorate in Australia, according to major research undertaken by Catholic Social Services Australia. Hinkler is located in coastal Queensland and takes in the towns of Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Childers, Gayndah and Monto. The research undertaken in 2020...
15 October 2021 The Catholic Church’s peak social services group, Catholic Social Services Australia, has described findings in a recent ABS report detailing suicide deaths in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as a national disgrace. The report, Causes of Death, Australia, released late last month found that during the period 2016-2020 suicide was the leading...
15 September 2021 Calls by the OECD to raise the GST to help pay down the federal government’s massive Covid debt would have a devastating impact on low-income earners and under-privileged communities according to Australia’s peak Catholic social services group. The recommendation is part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2021 Economic Survey of...
14 July 2020 As published in CathNews New research on disadvantage in Australia has found that it’s not just income that matters when calculating disadvantage, but other factors such as health and education. The research, conducted by the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods and commissioned by Catholic Social Services Australia, (CSSA), found the gap...
