NEWS UPDATE: SACOSS is very disturbed by the fact that the United Nations’ Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has had to cut short its visit to Australia because it was blocked while carrying out its mandate under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), that Australia has signed up to.
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Welcome to the SACOSS blog.
Human rights concerns - children in detention
25 October 2022
Let's call time on the pokie lie
7 October 2022
BLOG: Last weekend's Sunday Mail reported that last financial year South Australians lost more than $831m on pokies. It's an extraordinary amount of effectively wasted money - which might be ok if we could be confident that everyone who was gambling was doing so without compulsion and within limits that meant they had plenty left over to live a good life. But gamblers and gambling help services will readily tell you this is not the case for far too many people. People who should be, are not being protected from gambling harm and they, their families, and we as a community,...
Insurance costs exclude too many
22 December 2021
The 20th of December marked the two-year anniversary of when the Black Summer bushfires hit Cudlee Creek, killing one person, and destroying 72 houses and 227 cars. Fires continued into January, when Kersbrook and Kangaroo Island burned. The independent review into that bushfire season found that “A significant proportion of properties and businesses were underinsured or uninsured”. For these people, the effects of losing their homes or their vehicles must have been anything up to catastrophic.
Liveable Futures keynote: Ross Garnaut
5 December 2021
Prof Ross Garnaut's keynote address on the equity challenges of South Australia's transition to net zero, delivered at the SACOSS Liveable Futures Conference, 18 November 2021.
On A Cold Winter’s Night
27 August 2021
On a cold winter’s night, we think of people sleeping in cars, or in the open, or in a makeshift bed in a strange room – the people driven from home by violence, poverty or circumstance.
Smoke and mirrors hide housing crisis
5 August 2021
With the state government’s announcement this week about tightening the eligibility criteria for public housing you could be forgiven for thinking the real problem is we have wealthy people rorting the system and taking the place of more deserving people.
Councils of Social Service speak out on proposed NDIS changes
12 July 2021
On 9 July, federal, state and territory disability ministers met to debate a proposal to introduce independent assessments into the National Insurance Disability Scheme.
It's time to make new housing more accessible
3 March 2021
SACOSS is glad to be part of the Building Better Homes Campaign, a coalition of over 50 organisations representing Australian seniors, people with disabilities and the health, allied health, social and housing sectors.
What is the Building Better Homes Campaign?
$8 million a week blow to SA economy
1 March 2021
This week’s JobSeeker announcement means more than just a real hit to the hip pockets of people looking for work, writes SACOSS's Dr Greg Ogle. It also means a blow of over $8 million a week to the SA economy, while a range of industries are still suffering.
Overall youth detention down but proportion of Aboriginal youth is up
1 March 2021
Overall youth detention trends in South Australia are down but the proportion of Aboriginal youth detention is the highest it’s been for at least five years.
The AIHW has just released its report into youth detention in Australia, which presents information on the youth detention population in Australia from June 2016 to June 2020.