Justice, Opportunity and Shared Wealth for all South Australians

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Welcome to the SACOSS blog.

In Memoriam ~ Christine Halsey 1942-2022

16 January 2023

The Community Sector mourns the passing of Christine Halsey on 18th December 2022.

Chris is known by many as a champion of social justice and advocate for community inclusion, particularly for women, children and young people. We celebrate her many contributions to social policy and to sound collaborative practice in this state and beyond.

75 years fighting for fairness

1 December 2022

The CEO and Chair report in SACOSS' 2021-22 Annual Report provides a great lead in to our wrap up of another big year, which included our pre-election Cover the Basics campaign. In honour of this being our 75th annual report, we also took some time to reflect on what the past decades have meant, as well as what remains to be done.

Human rights concerns - children in detention

25 October 2022

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. 

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?