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.
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Welcome to the SACOSS blog.
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.
JobSeeker announcement a low blow
24 February 2021
During the past decade, as CEO of the South Australian Council of Social Service, I have spoken to hundreds of people who are unemployed and underemployed. And many people working at, and leading, the services that support them.
I’ve repeatedly heard first-hand what the cruelly low rate of income support has meant for people as they’ve searched desperately for work to put food on the table, keep a roof over their families’ heads, buy medicine and pay bills.
Poverty cycle puts pressure on parents
31 December 2020
The 2020 annual reports from the SA Department for Child Protection and the SA Guardian for Children and Young People highlight concerning statistics on the number of children in state care in South Australia. Taken together with news reports in recent weeks that highlight just how vulnerable children in state care can be, they provide a compelling case for action.