AUGUST 2023

This month we feature the 2023 Sambell Oration, as well as our latest research about digital platforms for disability support and about enabling households to move from electricity to gas to reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions.

The Voice to Parliament, skills for young people, dental care and youth justice are also included.  

You can read more about our current work at www.bsl.org.au/research and also browse our policy submissions. 

Please share this policy and research update with your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe.

Federal Treasurer, the Hon. Dr Jim Chalmers, spoke in this year's Sambell Oration about responsible economic management and compassion being complementary, not at odds. He also foreshadowed Australia’s first national wellbeing framework, ‘Measuring What Matters’.

Read the Treasurer's speech, Hard heads and warm hearts (PDF, 153 KB) and the response by BSL's Travers McLeod (PDF, 141 KB).

Watch the video of the 2023 Sambell Oration (85 mins)

Named after former BSL executive director Geoffrey Sambell, the annual Sambell Oration reflects his concern for social justice.

REPORT: USER EXPERIENCES OF ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR SERVICES

People with disability can now choose the providers of support services, by accessing profiles created and posted on digital platforms by individual support workers. This study found that these platforms can offer increased choice and control. However, reforms are needed to achieve the best outcomes for both workers and people with disability.

Read the report by Andrew Thies, Deborah Warr and Georgia Katsikis, Support online: user experiences of digital platforms in the NDIS market (PDF, 869 KB)

REPORT: ENABLING ELECTRIFICATION FOR LOWER-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS

Our report explores the views of lower-income households about moving from gas to electricity as a home energy source, the barriers they face to the transition, and the implications for policy to achieve equitable solutions. Moving away from residential gas is an essential step for reducing Australia’s emissions and should also lower household energy bills.

This study involved researchers from the Life Course Centre at the University of Melbourne and the Social Policy and Research Centre at the Brotherhood of St. Laurence.

Read the report by Sangeetha Chandrashekeran, Julia de Bruyn, David Bryant and Damian Sullivan, Enabling electrification: addressing the barriers to moving off gas faced by lower-income households (PDF, 1.3 MB)

PRESENTATION: PARTNERING FOR A POVERTY FREE VICTORIA

A special live edition of BSL Talks in Queens Hall at Victoria’s Parliament House explored the importance of partnerships in working for a poverty-free Victoria. It featured

• Travers McLeod, BSL Executive Director
• Danielle Wood, CEO Grattan Institute
• Emma King, CEO VCOSS

in conversation with Hutch Hussein, BSL’s Senior Manager Government Engagement.

Watch the recording of Partnering for a poverty-free Victoria

REPORT: PREPARING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR CARE ROLES

The National Skills Trial was designed to counter the immediate effects of the COVID pandemic by offering young people a stepping stone into employment in aged care and disability support. At the same time it aimed to address entrenched problems facing young jobseekers. The evaluation identified both enablers and obstacles. 

Read the report by Kira Clarke and Madeleine Morey, National Youth Employment Body Entry to Care Roles Skills Trial: evaluation findings and implications for systemic change (PDF, 1.02 MB)

POLICY: DENTAL CARE MATTERS

Around 2 in 5 Australians have avoided or delayed dental care due to the cost, and this proportion is increasing. Access to and affordability of dental care must be improved, particularly for women who have experienced family violence and/or poverty.

Read the Submission by Good Shepherd and the Brotherhood of St. Laurence to the Senate inquiry into the provision of dental care across Australia (PDF, 98 KB)

POLICY: REFORMING YOUTH JUSTICE AND ACHIEVING CHILD WELLBEING

The rights and wellbeing of children are best protected by laws, policies and programs that focus on education, support for families and young people, and on prevention of offending and early intervention instead of punishment. A child-centred, national approach could reduce siloing between departments and inconsistencies between states.

Read our Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission re Youth Justice and Child Wellbeing Reform across Australia (PDF, 148 KB)

WEBINAR RECORDING: ENGAGING MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITIES ON THE VOICE REFERENDUM

At a referendum later in 2023, Australians will vote on including a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Constitution. How can members of CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) communities engage with and understand the referendum issues?

BSL’s Hutch Hussein chaired a conversation with guests Thomas Mayor (author and signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart); Carlo Carli (Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia (FECCA); and Priscella Mabor (Community Migrant Resource Centre, NSW).

Watch the recording of the webinar Engaging multicultural communities on the Voice referendum.

INTERVIEW: FINANCIAL SECURITY FOR REGIONAL WOMEN

BSL’s Margaret Kabare spoke on The Wire community radio about her research with women in the Victorian town of Seymour, as part of The Seed Project

Listen to the recording Financial security a challenge for regional women
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Catch up on the report by Margaret Kabare and Dina Bowman, Flip it: reframing issues affecting women’s economic security in Seymour (PDF, 728 KB)

LIBRARY NEWS: RESOURCES ON THE COST OF LIVING 

​The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) is a social justice organisation that works to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia. You are receiving this email as you have previously subscribed to the BSL Research and Policy Centre e-newsletter. To unsubscribe, please click on the link below.