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Community
COMMUNITY
25 million new reasons to inspire generosity
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The Community Council for Australia
The Community Council for Australia is calling on Australians to get behind an innovative new initiative launched in October by the Australian Mint that has the potential to deliver millions of dollars in additional funding to charities and community organisations each year. A new one dollar coin, called a Donation Dollar, has been minted and is entering circulation. The Donation Dollar is legal tender and the world’s first coin that features a call to action: a call for the holder to give. Over the coming years 25 million coins will be minted and circulated – one of for every Australian. The Donation Dollar is an initiative of Saatchi and Saatchi who have consulted with several charities in developing the concept, and The Lost Dogs’ Home are here to stay with The Lost Dogs’ Home permanently implementing appointments for all adoptions – whether for a specific animal, or to browse.
The change in process which was implemented in March because of the state lock down regulations has been reviewed and deemed a better option for both animals and potential pet owners.
The Lost Dogs’ Home’s spokesperson, Suzana Talevski, said the appointment system means that they can better inform potential dog and cat owners of the quirks and needs of the individual animals in our care.
“It means that we further minimise impulse purchases, and that the animals are more likely to have successful outcomes. So that is better for animals and owners” she said.
“This is an important step for large shelters like The Lost Dogs’ Home as we prepare for restrictions to further ease which means more people are going back to work and the potential for animals that have been adopted from us could rise.”
Our May adoption total of 566 animals is the largest single-month adoption total since January 2018.
The Home also said its appointment-based system makes better sense of time for staff and visitors to the shelter.
‘’We can get a lot of administration out of the way before a person gets here, so that means potential adopters get to spend more time with the animal in the meet and greet stage, and get a better indication of the animal’s personality.
“From the shelter’s point of view, we are ready when someone gets here. Our adoption attendants have studied up and the Australian Mint who have embraced the idea and made it their own. David Crosbie, CEO of CCA said: “If every Australian donated just one Donation Dollar a month, together the charities
COVID restrictions a positive for animals at The Lost Dogs’ Home
Appointment-based adoptions
sector would receive an additional $300 become acquainted with the animals deeply. The person you make the appointment with is the person who takes you through the meet and greet and does all your paperwork. It is a much more curated and efficient process than it ever was.”
Ms Talevski said although the appointment based system can be frustrating for some who have been waiting a while to adopt. The Home’s priority will always be making sure the most stringent processes are place to make sure animals are matched with the most suitable owners.
SOCIETY
COVID-19 has created new challenges for us all, however, for many young people the pandemic has compounded highly EMMA LENNON complex vulnerabilities, including experiences of family violence.
The Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS) supports young people experiencing complex issues including alcohol and other drugs (AOD) use and is conducting an important new project that outlines the unique experience of family violence for young people, particularly during a global crisis such as COVID-19. YSAS understands the need for a public health response to COVID-19, and to support the experiences and needs of young people in accordance with directives and advice from public health authorities. million in donations every single year. That’s an additional $300 million to support the most vulnerable people in society and to support the organisations that help our communities to flourish.” “Charities in Australia employ over 1.3 million people and contribute over 8% of GDP – when we support our charities we are strengthening our communities and our economy. The ongoing circulation of Donation Dollars will help to continuously remind people about the value and importance of the charities sector in Australia. It will remind us that a dollar spent by charities circulates within our economies, generating jobs and economic activity as well as positive community benefits. This is really a win-win for the community.” Australia is a generous country, and with millions of Donation Dollars soon to be in circulation there will be so many opportunities for Australians to think actively about the causes they care about and how they can contribute by donating, volunteering or supporting in other ways. Charities leader and CCA Chair Tim Costello said: “Every one of these coins is a chance to spark new conversations about generosity. It might be a small coin, but it will circulate as a constant reminder to give, and that can make a big difference. We are hoping people will ask questions like. who are you giving your donation
Last year, YSAS was engaged by Family Safety Victoria (FSV), in a project to align existing youth AOD support sector practices with the Family Violence Capability Framework that emerged from the 2015 Royal Commission into Family Violence. Findings in the early stages of this project shed light onto the intersections between AOD use and family violence for young people and showed opportunities for professionals in the youth AOD sector to better support young people experiencing family violence. The findings quickly demonstrated how complex these intersections were, and how important it was to create service provision models that adequately supported young victim-survivors of family violence.
Particularly for Intimate Partner Viodollar to, which charities do you already support, is it time to give a little more?” “Every coin that was passed on would relay a message to inspire generosity and raise vital cash for the nation’s charities large and small, and the 600,000 not-forprofits,” he said.
Please cut the tawny tape strangling our charities Charities across Australia are frustrated with governments not acting to remove out of date regulations and duplication The Community Council for Australia preventing registered charities being able to legitimately fundraise online. According to David Crosbie, CEO of the CCA: “Now more than ever, we need to enable charities to pivot to online fundraising, but multiple levels of government bureaucracy is strangling charities by making them satisfy seven different sets of regulations requiring at least six weeks of pointless compliance work. All registered Australian charities engaged in online fundraising are legally required to satisfy every government in Australia. “There is an easy fix if all governments agreed to work with the information already collected by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission rather than duplicating and collecting their own. “It’s important to note that all registered charities in Australia are overseen by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) who have significant powers to investigate any complaint by anyone against any registered charity. The consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, also has the power to investigate and act against any charity engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct,” Mr Crosbie said. “At this rate we will have humans on Mars before fundraising regulations are
streamlined,” Mr Crosbie added. lence (IPV), research and public discourse is often centred on adults, despite concepts like gender inequality, power and control being unique for young people, many of whom are entering their first romantic relationships and developing their understanding of what is ‘normal’ during this developmental period.
A lack of specialised understanding of how these factors compound trauma and complexity may create barriers to support-seeking for young people and limit the sector’s ability to respond adequately.
For example, young people may use substances themselves as a way of coping with trauma caused by family violence. Perpetrators may also weaponise substances as a form of power, manipulation and coercion by withholding substances that a
Australia’s youth learn more about earthquakes than bushfires, floods, survey finds
Australian youth feel unprepared for disasters like bushfires, saying schools are failing to arm them with the skills they need, World Vision Australia and politicians are not listening to their climate change concerns, a major report has found.
The Our World, Our Say Report released in August reveals that while youth are increasingly frightened by the spectre of disasters, a staggering 88 per cent believe they are not being taught enough to protect themselves and their communities.
The research was conducted in the wake of Australia’s devastating ‘Black Summer’ bushfire season, finding young people learned more about earthquakes in class than more relevant hazards like bushfires, floods, drought and tropical cyclones.
The nation’s most comprehensive consultation of children and youth on climate victim is dependent on if they do not succumb to the perpetrators control. To create a holistic approach to the prevention of violence and supporting victim-survivors, these factors need to be better understood.
The consequences of the COVID-19 crisis became clear during this year’s project phases, and soon trends emerged in the research indicating higher rates and increased severity of family violence during the pandemic. Demand for housing support and material aid also increased, and some young people who may have previously been living independently moved in with romantic partners to self-isolate together.
This period of increased isolation for young people presented new opportunities for perpetrators to use violence, change, disasters and disaster-resilience involved the polling of almost 1500 children aged 10-24. It was led by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience and World Vision Australia, with the support of UNICEF Australia, Plan International, Save the Children, Oaktree and Australian Red Cross.
Overwhelmingly, survey respondents wanted politicians to give them a voice on climate change and disaster risk, with nearly 90 per cent saying they did not feel heard by leaders in government.
Young people were deeply worried about climate change, but most felt Australia was not doing enough to address it.
Students also said their education had not equipped them with the knowledge needed to prepare for disasters and reduce their impact, even though almost twothirds (64 per cent) had experienced at whilst significant disruptions to service provision posed an additional barrier to help-seeking. In some cases, the pandemic restrictions have been weaponised against victim-survivors, for example by perpetrators giving misleading information about the extent of the restrictions or claiming to be infected with COVID-19 as a form of controlling or manipulating the victim-survivor into remaining isolated.
The implications for these findings are now being used to inform the later phases of the project which explores what knowledge, skills and resources are required by the sector to effectively respond to family violence facing young people, including during the COVID-19 and other crises. Safety plans, which outline strategies for young people to remove themselves from least three events such as bushfires, heatwaves and drought in the past three years.
The Our World Our Say survey also found:
AIR pollution has emerged as a significant climate change concern for 76 per cent;
SIXTY-seven per cent don’t believe Australia is doing enough to reduce carbon emissions. A representative panel of young people helped analyse the survey results, including Maddie Canteri, 17, of Cairns.
She said young people had both the capacity and desire to be powerful agents of change, and their voices on issues like climate change needed to be heard. More than 8000 young people from India to the Philippines contributed their voices to a similar survey on climate change and disaster risk reduction. dangerous situations, need to consider additional challenges such as transport availability, impacts on young people’s employment and income, and service availability or disruptions.
YSAS will soon release a report with key findings from its research, and recommendations to support and upskill the sector to better protect young people from violence, and to understand their unique experiences and understanding of family violence, power, control and gender inequality
For more information about this project, please visit: YSAS Family Violence Project.
If you or someone you know needs sup-
1800 Respect National Helpline 1800 737 732
ACOSS appearing at Senate Inquiry on JobMaker wage subsidy for people under 35
Australian Council for Social Services
ACOSS Principal Advisor Dr Peter Davidson & ACOSS Senior Advisor (Social Security) Charmaine Crowe appeared at the Senate Inquiry into the JobMaker wage subsidy for people under 35. ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said: “The JobMaker wage subsidy offered a glimmer of hope for young people on jobs in an otherwise devastating Federal Budget for the more than a million people who are unemployed. “It’s clear that young people have been disproportionately impacted by unemployment in this pandemic, however, there are people of all ages who will struggle to get back into employment, including older people suffering discrimination, people with disability, and people with caring responsibilities. “We’re urging that the JobMaker wage subsidy be extended to people over 35 who have been unemployed for a year or more. It’s also crucial that the JobSeeker payment and other income support payments are permanently increased to a rate that allows people to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, as they try to rebuild their lives and get back into the workforce.” ACOSS Principal Advisor Dr Peter Davidson said: “Experience with wage subsidies indicates that they can boost employment, especially when the economy is recovering from recession.
Read ACOSS’ Submission to the Inquiry.
port, please contact:
Download the Accessible Version here.
Women’s Crisis Line 1800 811 811 Men’s Referral Service 1300 766 491 Lifeline 24 hour support 131 114 Victoria Safe Steps crisis response line 1800 015 188
