Media release
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) today welcomed legislation by the ACT Government to provide an avenue for vulnerable older people or people with a disability, and their advocates, to access ACT Human Rights Commission processes in seeking to address situations of abuse, neglect and exploitation. The change is part of legislation that introduces […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has welcomed the recommendations by a major ACT inquiry into planning and urban renewal as an opportunity to better engage with diverse members of the Canberra community on development in the Territory. The report from the Inquiry into Engagement with Development Application Processes in the ACT recommends a […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) today highlighted the importance of maintaining increased levels of income support and called for more government action to address the shortage of affordable housing in the ACT following the release of data on rental affordability in Canberra. Anglicare’s 2020 Rental Affordability Snapshot data on the ACT and Queanbeyan […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has united with the Women’s Centre for Health Matters, the Women’s Legal Centre ACT and Professor Lorana Bartels to support the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services’ (NATSILS) COVID-19 policy statement and to call for its implementation in the ACT. The NATSILS statement calls on government, the […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has welcomed a landmark statement by internationally-recognised human rights advocates calling for equal access to lifesaving medical treatment for people with disability during COVID-19. Signatories to the Statement of Concern on COVID-19: Human rights, disability, and ethical decision-making include former Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Inness AM; Vice-Chair of […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has welcomed the second ACT Government stimulus package, which focuses on relief to renters and additional funding to community organisations working to see Canberrans through the COVID-19 crisis. Highlights of the second phase of the ACT Government’s economic survival plan include: In addition to the initial $7 million […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) is calling upon the ACT Government to reduce the administrative burden on community service providers as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The Chief Executive Officer of ACTCOSS, Dr Emma Campbell, said: “It is really important that community service providers continue to be funded and supported so they […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has welcomed key elements of the ACT Government’s rescue and stimulus package announced today in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The package includes support for low-income people through rates and rebates, a cash payment to housing tenants, funding for community organisations at the front line and […]
Government support for the not-for-profit (NFP) community service sector in the ACT is failing to keep up with demand for services, foster collaboration and allow for advocacy. This is a key finding from the Australian Community Sector Survey prepared by the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW Sydney in collaboration with the Councils of Social […]
The ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) has welcomed last week’s public hearings on government services by the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body (ATSIEB). The annual hearings provide an opportunity for scrutiny of ACT Government programs by ATSIEB. ATSIEB was created to enable Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT […]