Publication Search

The Winter 2017 journal offers perspectives on white privilege in Canberra and its impact.

ACTCOSS' feedback stresses that the ACT Government continue to proactively consult with community organisations, particularly Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations, as it develops, implements, and evaluates the role.

This snapshot outlines and briefly analyses the ACT 2017-18 Budget's impacts on people experiencing disadvantage and households on low incomes, and the community sector.

This submission suggests that priority for infrastructure projects of this kind should be determined according to the relative impact of investment on creation of secure jobs that pay a living wage. We have also emphasised that, as there would be heavy take up and usage of the centre by national agencies and the Commonwealth Government, these should be carefully considered in weighing up how much, if any, investment comes from the ACT Government as opposed to the Australian Government. In addition, we have emphasised the need for any new centre to be environmentally and socially sustainable including disability access.

In this submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly Standing Committee on Health, Ageing and Community Services, we highlight poor general and public sector employment rates for people with disability; specific vulnerabilities experienced by people in the context of broader economic shifts to insecure, casual and precarious employment; urge the government to adopt a sustained consistent strategy which includes hard targets and identified positions with clear lines of accountability; highlight the need for well resourced and evidence based work to change employer practices in the private, public and community sector; call for greater use of leverage through purchasing as well as solid industry pre-employment programs; and the need for policy to recognise and value both social and economic participation.

ACTCOSS’ submission to the Productivity Commission highlights the impact of planning processes on outcomes and related long term costs of the NDIS; reasons for difficulties in implementing plans; the impact of communication failures on administration, evaluation and costs of NDIS; the impact of ILC implementation on the provision of vital community infrastructure and long term financial sustainability of the NDIS; and the intersections and gaps between the NDIS and mainstream services.

In this short submission to the Red Tape Reduction Legislation Amendment Bill 2016, ACTCOSS stresses the need to ensure that any changes in arrangements improve compliance by people collecting for charities and strengthen consumer protections around charitable collectors.

Our submission focussed on the issues of poor access faced by people with a range of disabilities and the need for appropriate investments, legal protections and infrastructure responses to create and inclusive and accessible Canberra. The submission also focussed on the need for a more robust compliance, accountability and reporting framework across the Strategy as a whole as well as the need for the Strategy to develop links with other human rights and intersectional frameworks.

In this briefing document, ACTCOSS has identified a group of commitments that we believe the ACT Government should prioritise because they most closely align to the priorities identified in the Community Shared Statement and the ACTCOSS ACT Budget Priorities 2017-18. It outlines why the commitments were chosen, and provides some additional analysis and commentary on Budget impacts.