Support ACOSS in developing sound policy and undertake effective advocacy on the needs of people affected by poverty, disadvantage and inequality, and to build a strong and sustainable community sector.
ACOSS publications inform public debate about ACOSS policy issues, document ACOSS research and influence Government on policy. Many ACOSS publications are developed in partnership with other organisations
10 May 2012
The initial ACOSS briefing on the 2012-13 Federal Budget. This briefing does not offer extensive comment on the merit or otherwise of these measures. The paper provides a general background on the Budget surplus, revenue and expenses, a table of ACOSS proposals that were announced in the Budget, and an outline of the key measures in ACOSS' major policy areas.
26 April 2012
Action can be taken in this Budget to meet the most pressing social needs while at the same time restoring the Budget to surplus. This report identifies $8 billion of poorly targeted expenditure programs and tax breaks that could be cut and redirected to other priorities. Waste not, want not.
5 April 2012
This supplementary submission comments on the findings of the 2010 SEAM evaluation that was released on 2 February 2012 – after the due date for primary submissions to the Committee’s current Inquiry into the Stronger Futures legislation
28 March 2012
This report presents findings from a new study conducted by Saunders and Wong from the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), that measured material deprivation in Australia by asking a random sample of Australian adults in 2010 what goods and services they regarded as essential (for example, a ‘decent and secure home’), whether they had those items, and if not whether this was because they could not afford them. For the purpose of this research, ‘multiple deprivation’ was defined as lacking three or more out of 24 items regarded by the majority of respondents as essential. Respondents were also asked whether they identified their household as ‘poor’.
The report is an analysis by ACOSS of data from the Poverty and Exclusion in Modern Australia (PEMA) survey, on material deprivation among households whose main source of income is an income support payment such as Age Pension or Newstart Allowance.
16 March 2012
Submission to Fair Work Australia on minimum wages for 2012. Within this submission, ACOSS' recommendations focus on how the needs of people on low pay can best be assessed and the respective roles of wages and social security in sustaining a decent standard of living. Our starting point is that the Federal Minimum Wage (FMW) should be designed to at least provide a decent living standard, well above poverty levels, for a single adult and that the tax-transfer system should meet the basic costs of raising children in a low income family.
6 March 2012
This submission is ACOSS' supplementary submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee on the Social Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2011.
This submission explores measures affecting sole parents on income support, such as the changing of rules regarding eligibility for Parenting Payment Single as of 1 January 2013, which would result in a loss of up to $58 per week in income support for around 28,000 sole parents over the next 4 years; and measures affecting young unemployed people aged 21 years, whereby 21 year old unemployed people would lose access to Newstart Allowance and have to remain on the lower Youth Allowance for an extra year after they turn 21.
22 February 2012
A briefing setting out ACOSS priorities for improving the viability and effectiveness of community services by reducing the overly onerous and unnecessary burden of red tape.
20 February 2012
Superannuation is vital to Australia's system of support for retirement. Compulsory super, along with voluntary contributions, enables people to have a much higher standard of living in retirement than possible on the Age Pension alone. Australian governments currently support retirees not only through the Age Pension but indirectly through tax breaks for superannuation. However, the current tax treatment of superannuation benefits high income earners rather than people on lower levels of income. This paper discusses how the current tax system benefits high income earners, and how we could make the tax system more equitable.
9 February 2012
The ACOSS Emergency Relief Handbook provides information to assist organisations to develop their policies, programs and service delivery.
This fourth edition of the ER Handbook is a practical, hands-on resource for staff engaged in the delivery of ER to clients. It provies a general guide that can be adapted by organisations to assist them to best meet the needs of their clients. Managers and coordinators of community organisations and Australian government departments will also find useful information about the design and evaluation of ER services.
The ACOSS ER Handbook is an invaluable resource for workers, volunteers and managers alike.
8 February 2012
ACOSS' submission to the inquiry on how Job Services Australia (JSA) and Disability Employment Services (DES) purchasing arrangements can be streamlined to reduce red tape and improve the responsiveness of these systems to jobseeker and employer circumstances and needs.
ACOSS' submission focuses mainly on JSA, although many of the comments equally apply to the DES system. However, ACOSS does not, at this stage, support the integration of these two systems due to the risk that the benefits of specialisation in disability employment services would be lost.