This week’s release of the Commission of Audit’s Final Report has been much anticipated and on Wednesday QCOSS attended a briefing by the Premier and the Treasurer on the report and the Government’s response to each of the 155 recommendations. Speaking at this briefing the Premier introduced the government’s response to the 155 recommendations of the audit - A Plan: Better Services for Queenslanders.

ACOSS is seeking your assistance in ensuring that your organisation completes this year’s Australian Community Sector Survey. The Australian Community Sector Survey is the key national source of information about the community services sector and the issues that face our clients. It is a key advocacy tool in highlighting unmet demand for services and key challenges facing organisations trying to address them. It is used widely by policy makers and researchers.

Paul Barclay, ABC Radio National, talks with representatives of all sides of federal politics at the ACOSS National conference.

We have released our pre-budget submission which calls on the government to carefully consider their investment to support people experiencing poverty and disadvantage. It is a message that we will be repeating when the government considers the recommendations of the Queensland Commission of Audit.

This submission asks government to carefully consider its investment in the community services to ensure the very best outcomes for people experiencing poverty and disadvantage. It focuses on the need to build a strong foundation for the community services sector - that government recognise the strength in the sector and build on it while recommissioning.

A submission to the Senate Community Affairs Committee on NDIS Bill 2012 has been prepared by the Council of Social Service NSW (NCOSS) on behalf of the National, State and Territory Councils of Social Service (COSS) network. The submission outlines a range of issues and concerns regarding the Bill and the implications of the Bill for the longer term implementation of the NDIS scheme.

Today the Queensland Government has announced its next six month plan (January – June 2013). It highlights some key items for the community services sector.

Rapidly increasing electricity prices have received a great deal of attention in recent years. What has received less attention is that the number of disconnections for non-payment of electricity bills has been on a similar upwards trajectory. In three of the four years to June 2011, the percentage of customers disconnected in Queensland was higher than in any other jurisdiction in Australia. Since disconnection rates are an indicator of market performance and levels of hardship, Queensland’s high rate should be a matter of concern for the electricity sector. QCOSS undertook a survey of community sector workers in late 2011 to gather information about the factors contributing to disconnection. The findings of this survey and an analysis of a log of calls made to QCOSS about energy issues are presented in this report.

We strongly recommend that all of our members take a moment to read the notes from the roundtable as they provide insight into the Department’s direction and priorities into the new year.