Barriers to voting, board effectiveness and the Theranos saga, and a risk assessment toolkit

All the latest news from the Councils of Social Service of Australia.

ACOSS

ACOSS is looking for a media advisor and a director of communications to join the team. If you’re passionate about working in the community sector, have a genuine commitment to social justice, understand the power of media and communications to effect social change, and can bring energy and creativity to the team – then ACOSS wants to hear from you. See full details for these positions linked here. Applications close on 22 November. 

ACTCOSS

ACTCOSS has commended the ACT government on its progress towards raising the age of criminal responsibility in the ACT. In its Listening Report, the ACT government found that 90 per cent of submissions supported raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 years. Click here to read more. 

QCOSS

A number of Energy Charter signatories have committed more than $1.5 million in new funding to deliver a range of programs across Australia for customers in vulnerable circumstances. QCOSS will be exploring the new services and supports available in Queensland to support your clients to pay their energy bills. Register for the free webinar. 

NCOSS

NCOSS has developed a COVID-19 Vax Risk Assessment Toolkit for social sector service organisations. The toolkit aims to help organisations navigate requirements and issues in deciding whether to mandate vaccination for their workers to keep their workplaces safe. It is intended to help organisations think through ways to minimise COVID risks for everyone accessing their services, including clients, and develop their COVID-19 management plans.

SACOSS

Next week, SACOSS’ Liveable Futures Conference will be held at the Hilton Adelaide (18 November) on the very topical theme of climate justice and social equity. We’ll hear from a great range of speakers, including from community service organisations that have taken leadership in the field. Register here.    

TasCOSS

Could the ongoing Theranos saga have been avoided with a more effective board? For a board to be effective it must take a thoughtful, disciplined and professional approach to its work. In this episode of TasCOSS Take Me To Your Board Podcast, Bridget and Cameron unpack the role AICD Not-for-profit Governance Principle 4: Board Effectiveness played in the case of Theranos, the Silicon Valley start-up that wasn’t quite what it seemed. Listen here.

VCOSS 

VCOSS recently hosted the 2021 Community Sector Education Forum. This year’s theme was “creating a sense of belonging” and VCOSS was honoured to welcome a fantastic array of people (over a mammoth five hour session). 30 speakers including young people, sector experts as well as Victorian government ministers responsible for education all shared what belonging meant to them. Click here to watch the recording.

NTCOSS

The priority of government should be removing barriers to voting, not creating them. The NT has the worst voter enrollment and turn-out in the country and now the federal government has introduced unnecessary legislation that will make more Territorians unwelcome at the voting booth. Read the oped by NTCOSS CEO, Deborah Di Natale.

WACOSS

On 1 December 2021, the WA government’s Community Care Services Workers (Restrictions on Access) Directions will come into effect, preventing community care services workers from entering or remaining at a community care services facility or a community care services accommodation if they have not been vaccinated against COVID-19. A number of key recommendations made by WACOSS on behalf of the sector have been included, such as the coverage of students, volunteers and interns as well as financial counselling, food relief and other emergency relief services. Click here to learn more about the new directions and other COVID-19 resources.

This article was contributed by ACOSS Community Hub.