Advocacy Publications

ACTCOSS made a submission to the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety inquiry into the Electoral Amendment Bill 2021 (Voting age). Our submission supported lowering the minimum voting age to 16 and the voting enrolment age to 14 in the ACT in order to empower young people to participate in democratic processes. We also […]

ACTCOSS supports the proposed Public Health Amendment Bill. The Bill will provide a regulatory framework to manage health risks around COVID-19 and is better suited to addressing public health concerns than emergency public health orders.

ACTCOSS has contributed to the ACT Government’s consultation on singe-use plastics. We wrote to the Waste Policy Team calling for the transition to environmentally friendly policy to be just and aim to reduce poverty, inequality and improve wellbeing. We echoed concerns from Disabled People’s Organisations and Disability Representative Organisations that ban plastic straws would be […]

ACTCOSS has made a submission to the ACT Government’s review of electronic gaming machine bet and credit limits. We welcome the initiative as part of the ACT Government’s commitment to reducing gambling harm. It responds to a long-standing campaign by ACTCOSS, the Canberra Gambling Reform Alliance (CGRA) and other stakeholders in the ACT. However, this […]

ACTCOSS wrote to ACT Policing and Minister for Police and Emergency Services expressing concern about the recent move to digital reporting for some types of property crime. There are many for whom digital reporting is inaccessible and exclusionary. Those who are most likely to be disadvantaged are amongst ACT’s most vulnerable, including older Canberrans and […]

Each year the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW Sydney in collaboration with the Australian Council of Social Service and the network of Councils of Social Service of Australia, supported by Bendigo Bank, conducts a national survey of community sector demand. This factsheet provides a snapshot of key findings for the ACT from the Australian […]

ACTCOSS made a submission to the federal Religious Discrimination Bill 2021, endorsing Equality Australia’s position that the Bill will remove protections for LGBTIQA+ people, women, people with disabilities and others. We need fair and equal discrimination laws that protect all of us, equally.

This submission responds to the ACT Government’s consultation paper on minimum energy efficiency standards for rental homes in the ACT. It outlines why the establishment of minimum standards is an important social justice measure and provides responses to each of the issues raised in the consultation paper: the proposed standard; support for introduction of the […]

This submission responds to the ACT Government’s consultation paper on ending no cause evictions and other measures – proposed reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. In this submission, ACTCOSS supports: the removal of no cause terminations from the Act, prohibiting rent bidding, introducing best practice minimum standards for all residential tenancies, and strengthening the […]

ACTCOSS has produced a factsheet presenting data on poverty and inequality in the ACT. This is one of a series of ACTCOSS factsheets that will harness data to provide accessible insights into key social policy issues in the ACT. Disadvantage in the ACT tends to be hidden behind high averages across indicators such as income, education, […]