AUGUST 2026
As we ease into Guling season in the Wurudjeri calendar, here is our latest update from Research, Policy and Advocacy at the Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL). We are especially delighted to share our latest BSL Talks where a panel of experts shared lessons from transitioning services to Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs).
In this issue you can also read the latest from our Enhanced Early Supports evaluation; learn about the Balancing Act gas decommissioning framework project; read lived experience feedback to the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC); read our submission to the Jobs and Skills Australia Work Plan; and more.
You can read more about our current work at www.bsl.org.au/research and also browse our policy submissions.
Please share this update with your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe.
RECORDING: WHAT ACCO TRANSITIONS ARE TEACHING US
The transition of programs to First Nations organisations represents a significant shift in how services are governed and delivered, and a broader systems transformation. Guided by community leadership and self‑determination, the transitions show what becomes possible when power is shared and when organisations and government work in genuine partnership with Elders, families and local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs).
This discussion, hosted by BSL’s Executive Director Travers McLeod, explored themes including cultural governance, power sharing, community‑based engagement, capacity vs capability and the evolving role of ally organisations.
The expert panel comprised Catherine Liddle, CEO of SNAICC; Rowena Mouda, CEO of Ngunga Group Womens Aboriginal Corporation; Timmy Duggan OAM, Founder of Hoops 4 Health.
Watch Building better systems: what ACCO transitions are teaching us (61 minutes)
REPORT: ENHANCED EARLY SUPPORTS FOLLOW-UP
BSL has been delivering the Enhanced Early Supports pilot since January 2024. The pilot provides timely, targeted foundational supports for children with developmental concerns and their families. One year after the first cohort completed the Enhanced Early Supports (EES) Pilot, BSL undertook a follow-up survey of 48% of families from the first cohort to understand how children and their caregivers were progressing. Findings indicate that the pilot’s coaching and capacity‑building approach equipped families with enduring knowledge and skills that continued to shape everyday interactions, service engagement and developmental opportunities. The EES Pilot offers a practical example of the type of early, family‑centred assistance that Thriving Kids seeks to expand.
Read the Enhanced Early Supports Pilot: one-year follow-up (347 KB)
REPORT: BALANCING ACT
The Balancing Act project investigates how gas network spending could be avoided and diverted to assist households to move away from fossil fuels by electrifying their homes.
While gas is widely used in Australian homes, phasing it out is essential to meet our climate targets. It is likely that gas networks will shrink and eventually become largely redundant as households switch to electric-only. This presents opportunities to reduce energy stress as well as slowing climate change – but it requires action. If we do not implement fair policies and change the energy rules, which are premised on gas networks growing, the transition risks being inequitable and inefficient, with the costs potentially borne by disadvantaged households.
One way to to shrink the gas network through electrification is through ‘pruning’ pipelines (also called ‘strategic decommissioning’). Balancing Act developed a framework for gas network pruning and analysed what information required to apply the framework is available. It then tested a hypothetical pruning proposal in a real location.
Read Balancing act: project report on pruning gas networks (857KB)
Read Sunk costs: a framework for avoiding further spending on gas networks (1.1 MB)
REPORT: LIVED EXPERIENCE ADVICE ON SOCIAL SERVICES REFORM
This report presents early insights from two lived experience advisory groups – on family payments reform and employment services reform – convened by BSL for the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC) across 2025–26. The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC) is an independent advisory body that provides advice to the Australian Government on poverty and economic disadvantage before each Federal Budget.
The groups bring together 12 lived experience advocates, EIAC members and government representatives in a collaborative approach intended to deepen participation, improve policy relevance of recommendations and strengthen the evidence base for economic inclusion reforms.
Findings reflect the experiences and perspectives of advocates with diverse backgrounds. Their insights highlight systemic barriers, unintended harms and opportunities for practical, person-centred reform across both family payments and employment services. As the advisory groups continue into 2026, they will co-develop solutions to support EIAC’s recommendations and advance economic inclusion for families and jobseekers across Australia.
Read Lived experience advisory groups: report to the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (933 KB)
RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: CLIMATE SAFE HOMES
Climate Safe Homes was an energy‑upgrade pilot delivered between 2020 and 2025 by BSL. It aimed to improve indoor temperatures for households with low income, where residents had temperature‑sensitive health conditions. The program delivered 148 upgrades in 126 homes, including 74 reverse-cycle air-conditioners, 67 solar upgrades and 7 insulation upgrades.
We found that making energy efficiency upgrades to homes can improve indoor temperatures, bring down energy bills and reduce carbon emissions while supporting households to be more resilient to climate change. The Climate Safe Homes pilot has shown that provision of a modest subsidy, combined with tailored navigation support and access to trustworthy suppliers, can enable energy efficiency upgrades in the homes of people living with a temperature-impacted chronic health condition or disability and a low income.
BSL’s work on Climate Safe Homes was mentioned in an opinion piece for The Conversation with ClimateWorks Centre on how better insulation can lower energy costs.
Find out more about Climate Safe Homes
POLICY: JOBS AND SKILLS WORK PLAN
The Jobs and Skills Australia Work Plan focuses on priorities to support Jobs and Skills Australia’s (JSA’s) delivery of high-quality advice to underpin Australia’s response to current, emerging and future workforce, skills and training needs.
BSL values the role played by Jobs and Skills Australia in undertaking research and analysis on the labour market. BSL endorses the proposed focus on integrated evidence to support employment services reform, including how training, pathways and skills development interact with employment outcomes. Our submission focused on the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system.
We made three recommendations to build equity and inclusion, track who is enrolling in VET and how to help them complete and that JSA works to increase the uptake of Earn While You Learn pathways in critical sectors.
Read Jobs and Skills Australia Work Plan (254 KB)
BSL LIBRARY UPDATE
As we reflect on both National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week, we're highlighting the BSL Library’s First Nations collections, which include historical publications, contemporary research and resources by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The curated list, Indigenous Australians and BSL, brings together publications that reflect BSL’s engagement with First Nations issues throughout the years. This list includes items from the BSL Archives such as Aboriginal Child Poverty by Christine Choo, one of the earliest studies documenting the extent and impact of child poverty among First Nations people in Australia. It also features a selection of relevant Sambell Orations and more recent publications, including this year’s Hoops 4 Wealth research report.
As well as these BSL publications, the BSL Library also holds a broader collection of First Nations focused books, reports and online resources covering a wide range of topics and perspectives. These can be found by searching the BSL Library Catalogue for the subject topic: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
For any further questions or assistance finding resources, accessing archival materials or learning more about the collection, please contact the Library team at library@bsl.org.au
Image: Desert Meeting Places by Chris S, 2025.
We are delighted to welcome former Tony Nicholson Fellow, Dr Jeremiah Brown, back as Senior Policy Officer, Disability. Jeremiah returned to BSL in June 2026.
He is passionate about building inclusive communities where everyone can live a life that they have reason to value, and on designing policy that can support people when they need it.
Jeremiah obtained his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 2018. Prior to joining BSL Jeremiah worked in a variety of social policy research roles across the Australian higher education sector, most recently as a Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Melbourne. His recent research work has focused on how the transition to digital service delivery impacts access to services, and on how administrative burden is produced in administrative processes, with a focus on the NDIS.
Jeremiah previously worked at BSL from 2019–20 as the inaugural ANZ Tony Nicholson Fellow, working on issues related to financial wellbeing and economic dignity.
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© Brotherhood of St. Laurence 2023
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