It’s great to see the Australian Government is inviting all people living in Australia to have their say on the future of Government services and supports – services such as Medicare and Centrelink (see below). As Minister for the Public Service, the Hon Katy Gallagher observed in her media release, the centralised, universal offering of government services does not distinguish between communities, places or peoples. Inviting people to share their views on how Government services can better engage with them and meet their needs can only be a good thing. Hopefully this reflects what we refer to in our network as a no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Given the experience of our FRSA members’ understanding of local context/s and how to shape service delivery to respond to local need – we believe there is much that the FRSA network can contribute to the design work underway.
Thanks to the many people in our network who also work tirelessly to end homelessness/make housing more affordable. In Homelessness Week we are reminded that housing is vital to stability and can create a pathway out of poverty and vulnerability – I encourage you to check out the resources and stories below.
It was also great to see former FRSA Board member, Judge Matthew Myers talking about his involvement with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and the Chief Justice, the Hon William Alstergren in making the FCFCOA more accessible and culturally safe for First Nations People. The intention is to help Indigenous families utilise the FCFCOA to settle disputes, before child protection becomes involved.
We too have our champions in the FRSA network working to make their services accessible and culturally safe for First Nations people. I encourage you to sign up for FRSA’s First Nations lunchtime webinar series that is starting up next week. We are delighted to have Sarah Decrea from Relationships Australia sharing her knowledge and wisdom with us, the network and other interested people as she delivers the first webinar on ‘Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Leadership is best practice in Child Protection’ on Wednesday next week. Don’t miss out!
