UnitingCare Australia Continues to Contribute to the Community Response Taskforce

Election 2010

Major church groups call for a ten year plan to overcome poverty. 20 August

UnitingCare's Election Report Card released. 19 August

Both Major Parties fall short on Social Policy Commitments. 19 August

A report card on Aged Care election promises. 18 August

UnitingCare Australia applauds the Greens in calling for a Children's Commissioner. 17 August

Coalition's Job Commitment Bonus not the answer to tackling Long-term Unemployment. 17 August

New lease of life for social services welcome. 9 August

Greens aged care policy offers action and vision. 8 August

Help for vulnerable teenagers welcome. 2 August

UnitingCare Australia launches Key Social Policy Priorities for the 2010 Federal Election at Parliament House. 2 August

Compulsory widespread income management will not address disadvantage. 28 July

Major church groups seek action on community mental health. 21 July

Draft Child Protection Standards welcome but independent National Children's Commissioner needed. 7 July

Time for Action on Gambling. 23 June

Vulnerable Australians miss out because of red tape. 31 May

Budget 2010: Election is now the best chance for the Government to deliver on its Social Inclusion Agenda. 11 May

2010 Budget priorities for action. 10 May

UnitingCare Australia calls for Ministerial Taskforce following Henry Review. 2 May

UnitingCare Australia Continues to Contribute to the Community Response Taskforce

29 May 2009

The Community Response Taskforce’s (CRT’s) most recent meeting was in Melbourne on Friday last week. The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Macklin and Senator Stephens were all in attendance. Lin Hatfield Dodds was present at the meeting as UnitingCare Australia’s National Director and gave us some on-the-ground feedback from the meeting:

The work and thoughts of the Major Church Providers (MCPs) were seriously considered at the meeting. Significantly, the only non-government papers submitted to the meeting were the MCPs’ Financial Health and Wellbeing paper and UnitingCare Australia’s CRT submission: ”Social Service Sustainability: Regulation, compliance, and administrative process reform.”

As Lin reported, “The department has been very positive to work with and credit to both them and the Minister for recognising the expertise across our networks.” The MCPs have been requested to continue to work with the department as the CRT work enters the implementation phase.

The quality of our services sustainability paper was commented on, and the Deputy Prime Minister committed to a number of our recommendations immediately, with the rest going to be considered by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s grants reform working group.

It is hoped that many of the issues we raised in our paper about the broader sustainability agenda will be addressed through the Productivity Commission findings and the Compact. As Lin’s report concluded, “While we will continue to work hard in both these spaces, we will continue to work across Government in many places to keep services sustainability under active consideration.”