Welfare
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of [her or] himself and of [her or] his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood.
Article 25 (1), Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948
Despite relatively good economic times and lowering official unemployment rates, there remain a number of people who are out of work and reliant on income support payments. Not all of these people are jobless – many people have a few hours of work per week but not enough work to support themselves or their families.
An adequate social security safety net, as well as policies and programs which provide real support for workforce participation and address the multiple barriers that prevent many people from gaining and retaining paid employment, are priorities for VCOSS. In addition, as most VCOSS members work with people who have contact with Centrelink, VCOSS facilitates information-sharing and advocacy between community sector organisations and Centrelink.
Alongside The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and in conjunction with member organisations, VCOSS is advocating for the changes made in 2006 to Federal Welfare to Work legislation to result in better and fairer outcomes for all. VCOSS also convenes two forums on welfare-related issues.
The Work & Welfare Roundtable (formerly the Welfare Reform Working Group) serves to facilitate information-sharing and support advocacy amongst Victorian organisations on social security and related issues of equality and quality of life. Meetings are held at VCOSS approximately every 6 weeks.
Centrelink/VCOSS Dialogue Meetings are community forums jointly organised by Centrelink and VCOSS and are held bi-monthly, rotating between metropolitan, outer metropolitan and rural and regional locations. They’re an opportunity for representatives of local community sector organisations to raise issues of service delivery and policy with representatives of Centrelink and DEWR (Department of Workplace Relations).
VCOSS supports the ACOSS Australia Fair campaign promoting awareness and action around the essentials for a fair Australia, including fair welfare and fair work. VCOSS also convenes occasional public forums on welfare issues of great concern to the broad community, such as the Welfare to Work Community Forum held in August 2006. VCOSS works alongside the union movement to highlight the combined impacts of changes to welfare laws and ‘Work Choices’ on people who are disadvantaged in the labour market.
Publications on the subject are listed here. If you would like to find out more about VCOSS' work on welfare policy contact:
Rivkah Nissim
rivkah.nissim@vcoss.org.au