Advocacy Publications

This submission to the 2024-25 ACT Budget process comes at a time when the ACT faces a number of critical challenges. While the ACT has the highest average weekly earnings in Australia, when we look beyond the average we see that the cost of living in Canberra means many households cannot afford the fundamentals of […]

ACTCOSS welcomed the opportunity to work collaboratively and in partnership with ACT Government colleagues in the development of the 2023 Listening Report. The joint analysis ensured a more comprehensive process to identify both challenges and opportunities for meeting the ambition of the Government’s reform agenda set out in the Commissioning Roadmap. ACTCOSS recognised the constraints […]

ACTCOSS’ submission into the Inquiry into Loneliness and Social Isolation in the ACT outlined key concerns related to the substantial impact that poverty has on loneliness and social isolation. ACTCOSS advocates that policy change needs to occur to reduce poverty and create understanding and supported pathways out of poverty to assist and support those groups […]

Given the vital role of education in fostering social and economic inclusion and equity, ACTCOSS are deeply concerned about the stark and growing disparities that characterise the education system in the ACT. Our education system is one of the most inequitable in Australia, with the ACT having the worst relationship between socio-economic status and performance […]

ACTCOSS provided a submission to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) review of the exemptions framework for embedded networks (ENs). We highlighted that energy must be regarded as an essential service. For exemptions to be granted, developers and/or Owners Corporations (OC) should have to demonstrate that their proposed EN will provide material benefit to consumers. The […]

ACTCOSS provided a submission to the Australian Energy Regulator’s draft decision and Evoenergy’s revised proposal and tariff structure statement as part of the Electricity Network Determination 2024–29. ACTCOSS seeks to ensure that the energy system in the ACT is inclusive as well as sustainable and provides optimal outcomes for all people, communities, and the environment. […]

ACTCOSS believes the establishment of the Inspector of Correctional Services has been vital in increasing transparency and providing independent oversight of the ACT’s correctional facilities and youth detention. This submission identifies a number of ways in which the Inspector’s legislative mandate, resourcing, and context of operations could be further improved in order to strengthen preventive […]

The ACT Government has committed to transformational reform of the ACT’s child, youth and family services, including comprehensive changes to the Children and Young Peoples Act 2008 (CYP Act). ACTCOSS welcomes this commitment and recognises the need to reform the CYP Act to improve the care and support provided to children and young people involved with the […]

ACTCOSS made a submission to the ACT Government’s Inquiry into Immediate Trauma Support Services in the ACT. The submission focused on the burden of vicarious trauma and secondary trauma in the community sector workforce, as well as the urgent need for increased community sector funding to meet trauma support demand. Our submission makes recommendations including […]

ACTCOSS provided a submission to the inquiry into the Human Rights (Healthy Environment) Amendment Bill 2023. While ACTCOSS supports the incorporation of the right to a healthy environment into the ACT’s Human Rights Act, we remain concerned that fundamental economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights continue to be absent from the Act. Given the indivisibility […]