Australian Council of Social Service

Dr Cassandra Goldie | CEO

Cassandra has an extensive career in the community sector in Australia and internationally working in human rights and law and justice. Cassandra joined ACOSS in July 2010 from the Australian Human Rights Commission where as Director of the Sex and Age Discrimination Unit she played a pivotal role in the inquiry into pay equity and paid parental leave.

She has previously been the Director of the Homelessness Legal Rights Project at UNSW, a consultant to UN Habitat, Solicitor in Charge of Client Services with Legal Aid in Western Australia and Executive Officer of the Darwin Community Legal Service.

Cassandra has also been President of NTCOSS and Board Member of ACOSS (2001-2002) and was an ACOSS Law and Justice Policy Advisor (2000-2006).

Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine | Deputy CEO | Community Services, Community Sector Development and Health policy

Tessa is a criminologist by training and worked in the areas of criminology, criminal justice, mental health and human rights before joining ACOSS is 2009. Tessa's previous work has included studying the impact of the human rights internationally; developing policies on corporate social responsibility; and policy and management in forensic mental health. She coordinated the human rights report and advocacy to the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda (2007). She has a PhD from the London School of Economics, examining the public protection agenda in the release of mentally disordered offenders. Her book on this subject, ‘Protecting the public: detention and release of mentally disordered offenders' was published by Routledge in 2010. Tessa is an Adjunct Lecturer with the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney.

Peter Davidson | Senior Policy Officer | Employment, Economics & Tax, Social Security

A recognised expert in social security, employment and tax policy, Peter's research and policy interests include employment assistance, the labour market and unemployment, income support, poverty research, taxation and superannuation policy. He has served on a number of Government advisory bodies and contributed to major reform efforts in these areas. ACOSS publications prepared by Peter cover such topics as reform of the personal income tax system, an analysis of tax concessions for superannuation and proposals to make them fairer, and reform of employment assistance for long term unemployed people. He is currently undertaking a PhD in social policy at the UNSW Social Policy Research Centre. 

Tony Westmore | Senior Policy Officer | Energy and Climate Change

Tony's work at ACOSS is focused on issues affecting low income households in the national energy markets, including regulation of retail customer matters, affordability, energy efficiency and amenity, the roll-out of smart meters and climate change and related policy responses. Tony has worked for non-government, not-for-profit organisations for twenty-five years, mostly in legal services, public policy and research.

Emily Hamilton | Senior Policy & Research Officer | Climate Change

Emily is delighted to return to ACOSS in 2012 to deliver the ‘Climate Change and the Community Welfare Sector - Risks and Adaptations' project in partnership with Climate Risk Pty. Ltd. She is a social worker by training and holds a First Class Honours degree from the University of NSW. Emily last worked with ACOSS in 2010 on the Emergency Relief Handbook Project; the revised Handbook was published to positive feedback from ACOSS members and community organisations across the country in 2011. She has worked in the welfare and NGO sectors since 2004 and, in addition to her previous project work with ACOSS, has extensive experience in direct social work practice and social research, including: casework and advocacy experience with the Asylum Seekers Centre of NSW and Amnesty International Australia; and research experience with the UNSW School of Social Work and the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse.

Emily is passionate about social justice and human rights, particularly the rights of asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and other vulnerable groups within the community. She is looking forward to applying her extensive practical knowledge of the community welfare sector and research skills to a project focussed on the very real and potentially devastating effects of climate change on the sector and the vulnerable Australians it supports.

Penny Dorsch | Publications and Information Officer

Penny is responsible for ACOSS publications, both electronic and print. She undertakes research for ACOSS and manages the ACOSS archive. Prior to joining ACOSS, Penny worked in Information Services at Fairfax Media and as a consultant for the National Parks Association. She has an MA (Information Management) from the University of Technology in Sydney and is an Associate of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA).

Fernando de Freitas | Media and Communications Coordinator

Fernando comes to ACOSS after a varied professional career in journalism, marketing, market research, and as a political advisor, both in Australia and overseas. He spent over 10 years producing daily radio programs for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Local Radio and Radio National in Sydney and Darwin. He also worked in ABC newsrooms and filed news stories from East Timor during the period of Independence between 2000-2002.

More recently, Fernando was part of the successful Australian Greens 2010 election campaign serving as a Media Advisor to Greens Senator's Rachel Siewert and Scott Ludlam. Fernando is committed to social justice issues and human rights and is delighted to have joined ACOSS.

Louise Stanley | Events and Membership Officer

Louise’s role at ACOSS includes coordinating events such as sector forums, network meetings, virtual link ups, policy gatherings and most importantly the ACOSS National Conference which is held in March each year. Alongside this, Louise is developing the ACOSS membership strategy and liaises with ACOSS members on key events and policy developments. Louise has recently completed a BA (Social Science) at the University of Sydney and has a diverse range of experience working in community events and community sector organisations. Louise is passionate about social justice and is interested in innovative community development strategies to support disadvantaged communities across Australia.

Personal Assistant to the CEO