I got home from work yesterday to find the kids had decided it was time to put the Christmas tree up!  It was a stark reminder that Christmas is not that far away and I must concede my initial emotional reaction was filled more with ‘fear’ than joy given everything that needs to be done between now and then!   A key focus for us in this last month of the year are the current reviews of the sector underway – the Families and Children Activity at DSS and the Review of the AGD Family Relationship Services Program.   I just wanted to reinforce my message out to members last week that it is critically important that you engage with the Australian Institute of Family Studies’ (AIFS) processes of information gathering that are in the ‘marketplace’ at the present time.  I appreciate time is far from optimum – but it is vital that members are involved.  We are currently working on a written submission responding to the FRSP Review Terms of Reference and are also working on our response to Minister Leigh’s “Blueprint for NFP Reform” Discussion Paper – also due before the year is out. 

Thanks to everybody for the great response to our call for abstracts process. These are currently under review but are happy to advise the early bird registrations for the National Conference are now open for 2024.  

In September/October this year, a revised FRSA Constitution was approved by the FRSA Membership.  A main driver behind the changes was to ensure the Constitution was fit for purpose in supporting the organisation to meet its objects and strategic endeavours.  In doing so – there has been a bit of a shift in the makeup of the Board to reflect more contemporary Governance thinking regarding skills- based Boards.  

The tenure of FRSA Board Directors is linked to the timing of the Annual General Meeting which was held, virtually, on Wednesday this week.  The 2023 AGM was the last meeting for the outgoing Chair, Glenda Devlin; outgoing Treasurer, Serge Sardo who had reached their end of their tenure on the Board and co-opted Board members Judge Matthew Myers, AM; and Megan Mitchell also departing.  It was reflected at the AGM that between them they had contributed over 23 years to FRSA during their time on the Board. The commitment and dedication Glenda, Serge, Matt and Megan gave to the life and times of FRSA was acknowledged by their Board peers and I too am extremely grateful to each of them for their leadership, guidance and collaboration.   

At the FRSA AGM the newly appointed Board Directors who will take up a three year appointment were announced and welcomed to the FRSA Board: 

• Judge Alexandra (Alex) Harland, Judge, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia | Division 2 
• Ms Cheryl Orr, Principal Solicitor, Cheryl Orr Family Law 
• Ms Felicity Williams, Chief Executive Officer, Upper Murray Family Care 

Continuing on the Board will be:   

• Fallon Roberts, Executive Manager, Centacare NENW 
• Teresa Jayet, Chief Executive Officer, Mallee Family Care 
• Zoe Locke, Deputy Director, CatholicCare Social Services 
• Leanne Strommen, General Manager, Centrecare Inc 
• Allison Wainwright, Chief Executive Officer, Family Life 

Teresa Jayet was appointed as the new Chair of FRSA; Allison Wainwright as Deputy Chair and Zoe Locke as Treasurer.  Allison Wainwright will continue to lead the Board Research and Policy Committee; Leanne Strommen the Sector Events Committee and Zoe Locke steps into the role of Chair of the Finance, Risk and Governance Committee.  There is one remaining position to be filled with the intention that the recruitment process will be finalised early in the New Year.   

You can find out more about the FRSA Board and the Governance structure on the FRSA Website. 

I note that 25 November marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on which the UNiTE campaign was launched – an initiative of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence around the world.

International Day of People with Disability will be held on 3 December. The United Nations theme for IDPwD 2023 is United in action to rescue and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for, with and by persons with disabilities.

Kind regards,
Jackie Brady
FRSA Executive Director

Don’t miss out on early bird registration rates, which end 4 March 2024. As the sector’s ‘go to’ National, annual event – FRSA will not fail to deliver great speakers, great sessions, great networking and a great venue.

Early Bird Registration Fee* Until 4 March 2024

* To be entitled to the early bird registration fee you must have registered and paid by 15 March 2023.

Pre-Conference Workshops – FRSA MEMBERS ONLY

FRSA is pleased to announce that two bursaries are available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are registered for or would like to attend the 2024 Family & Relationship Services Australia National Conference,

Bursaries are provided to assist with covering the cost of conference registration, and travel & accommodation. Each package includes:

• 1 x Complimentary full registration to the Conference (including dinner)
• $500 towards travel and accommodation

To be eligible you must be an employee of a fully financial FRSA member organisation. Applications closes on THURSDAY, 28 March 2024.

FRSA’s Annual Report for 2022-23 was launched at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 29 November 2023 by FRSA Board Chair, Glenda Devlin.

Under our new constitutional arrangements, we were able to hold the AGM online for the first time. While we always value the opportunity to meet face to face, holding the AGM online did enable more people to attend.

FRSA’s annual reports provide an overview of FRSA’s activities during each 12 month period (July-June). This includes program activity and evaluation, policy and advocacy, research, events and the financial report for that period.

Read the full report here.

Over October-November, FRSA made three submission to government consultations. All submissions are published on our website.

A stronger, more diverse and independent community sector – DSS Consultation

As part of the Australian Government’s election commitment for a stronger, more diverse and independent community sector, the Department of Social Services is exploring opportunities to better support Australian communities through the design and administration of grants to the sector, including more meaningful working partnerships and options for greater innovation. Read FRSA’s submission.

Family Law Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2023: Exposure draft – Attorney-General’s Department Consultation

In late September 2023, the Attorney-General’s Department released a second round of proposed amendments to the Family Law Act, which seek to improve the family law system so that it is accessible, safer and simpler to use. Parliament passed the first tranche of legislative amendments on 19 October. Read FRSA’s submission.

National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) Review

The NLAP is being reviewed by an Independent Reviewer, Dr Warren Munday. NLAP is a national partnership agreement between the Australian Government and states and territories for funded legal assistance. Read FRSA’s submission.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recently released information from the 2021-22 Personal Safety Survey, which outlines disturbing statistics on partner violence and child abuse.

An estimated 4.2 million Australian adults (21 per cent or one in five) have experienced violence, emotional abuse or economic abuse by a partner. Women were more likely than men to have experienced violence, emotional abuse, or economic abuse by a partner since the age of 15. The survey found that financial stress was associated with experiencing partner violence and abuse for women.

An estimated 2.7 million Australians aged 18 years and over (14 percent or one in seven) have experienced childhood abuse.

Women were more likely to have experienced sexual abuse (11 per cent) than physical abuse (10 per cent) during their childhood, whereas men were more likely to have experienced physical abuse (8.3 per cent) than sexual abuse (3.6 per cent).

Most people who experienced childhood abuse knew the perpetrator. The survey found that 1.9 million people (10 per cent) experienced childhood abuse by an adult family member, while nearly 380,000 (2 per cent) experienced abuse by an adult within an institutional setting.

People who experienced childhood abuse were more than three times as likely to experience partner violence as an adult. The survey also found that people who witnessed parental violence during childhood were more than twice as likely to experience partner violence as an adult (25 per cent) compared with those who did not witness parental violence during childhood (9.3 per cent).

ANROWS has launched the Australian National Research Agenda (ANRA) for 2023-2028. Developed in collaboration with dedicated stakeholders, researchers, frontline practitioners, and victims and survivors, the ANRA serves as a national framework that will guide collective efforts over the next five years.

The ANRA identifies what evidence is needed to end domestic, family and sexual violence and how that evidence should be produced. The framework can be used by the community of committed people and organisations who are working to grow the evidence base: researchers, funders, policymakers, services, survivor advocates and social impact organisations.

There are nine research priorities across three topics:

• Systems and Society
  • Structural inequities
  • Gender relations, gender norms and attitudes
  • Trauma and DFSV-informed, victim-centred systems
• Populations in Focus
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
  • Children and young people
  • People who use domestic, family and sexual violence
• Type and Patterns of Violence
  • Sexual violence
  • Coercive control
  • Economic abuse.

People with Disability Australia has released the Building Access End Of Project Report. The Building Access project was an innovative initiative enabling domestic and family violence (DFV) services to better meet the needs of women and children with disability.

The key findings of the report revealed that of the women with disability interviewed:

• 100 per cent have experienced fear and mistrust of services and authorities.
• 71 per cent would avoid reporting incidents of DFSV to police in the future.
• 57 per cent avoided seeking support due to negative past experiences including dismissal, discrimination and experiencing further harm.
• 28 per cent reported fear of having children removed from their care if they accessed services.

The report indicates that inclusive policies and practices produce better outcomes for women with disability (WWD), both as staff and clients, of DFV services. These policies and practices, along with accessibility audits and disability awareness training create an environment of attitudinal accessibility. This means notable and meaningful organisational change with accessibility integrated into their organisational structure, planning and delivery, and WWD experiencing violence getting the support they need. Read the full report.

On 29 November, SNAICC launched its Family Matters 2023 Report.

The annual Family Matters Report examines government actions to address the over-representation and the outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection systems. It highlights Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led solutions and calls on governments to support and invest in the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to lead on child wellbeing, development and safety responses for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Key findings:

• 22,328 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children currently in out-of-home care
• 10.5 times more likely to be living in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children represent 42.8% of the total number of children in out-of-home care but only represent 5.98% of all children in Australia.

Concerningly, the current trends suggest that the National Agreement on Closing the Gap’s Target 12 (to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care by 45% by 2031) will not be met. SNAICC has said that the most effective and immediate action the government can make to ensure the safety and protection of First Nations children is to stand up a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Commissioner, with the legislated power to investigate and make recommendations on issues impacting First Nations children.

Mission Australia has released their Youth Survey 2023 report. This year, more than 19,500 young people were surveyed for the 23rd annual Youth Survey between March and August 2023.

This year’s report reveals the environment (44%), equity and discrimination (31%), the economy and financial matters (31%) and mental health (30%) topped the issues young people aged 15-19 considered most important in Australia. There were greater levels of concern among young people about issues relating to housing and homelessness this year (19%, up from 12% in 2022).

Mission Australia CEO Sharon Callister said the research showed young people were engaged with major environmental, political and societal issues facing the country.

“Responses were given amidst Australia’s severe weather disasters as well as public discussion and advocacy on climate change, mental health, the Voice Referendum and racism, the rising cost of living and the housing and homelessness crisis,” she said. Read more.

The ABS has just released data on barriers and incentives to Labour Force Participation in Australia for 2022-23.

Long-term health conditions or disability was the largest barrier to participation in the labour market for people out of work or wanting more hours, but only slightly ahead of caring for children.

The latest figures give insights into the barriers for around 2 million people who did not work full-time and who either wanted a job (1.3 million people) or were working part-time and wanted more working hours (730,000 people).

In 2022-23:

• The most common reason women were unavailable to start a job or work more hours within four weeks was ‘Caring for children’, while for men it was ‘Long-term sickness or disability’.
• The most important incentives for people to seek a job or more hours were the ‘ability to work part-time hours’ and ‘finding a job that matches skills and experience.’

The new lead of the review of the Family Relationship Services Program (FRSP), Mr Andrew Metcalfe AO, welcomes submissions from all interested stakeholders.

The FRSP is funded by the Attorney-General’s Department and offers a suite of family law services aimed to improve the wellbeing of Australian families who are at risk of separation or who have separated.  The review of FRSP has been commissioned by the Attorney-General’s Department, with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) undertaking research to support the review. AIFS currently has a survey of family law professionals in the field, which will close on 1 January 2024.

Submissions to the review are due by 18 December 2023 and can be emailed to FRSPLeadReviewer@aifs.gov.au

On 1 November, the Albanese Government released an Issues Paper – the Not-for-Profit Sector Development Blueprint. The Blueprint will be used to develop a suite of sector-led workable and effective options for reform to strengthen social capital and a vibrant sector.

More information about the consultation can be found on the DSS Engage website. Submissions close 20 December.

A Ministerial Forum on Child Safety was held on 24 November 2023 bringing together Commonwealth, state and territory ministers to discuss national reforms to prevent child sexual abuse in Australia.

Participants in the Forum reaffirmed existing child safety reforms, emphasising the need to ensure national consistency to protect Australia’s children.

This included:

• prioritising working with children check harmonisations
• ensuring this work complements broader worker screening reforms
• renewed commitment to embedding the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations in legislation
• options to enhance sharing child safety and wellbeing information across sectors and jurisdictions.

Participants also agreed to further consider options to improve child safety through enhancing monitoring of working with children checks, raising awareness and understanding of child safety issues, and alignment of jurisdictional reportable conduct schemes.

The Forum was chaired by Attorney-General the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP.

The Women and Women’s Safety Ministerial Council met virtually on 24 November 2023.

Minister Rishworth provided an update on women’s safety matters, including the Department of Education’s work under the Universities Accord reforms. Assistant Minister Elliot provided an update on the Online Harms Ministers Meeting.

All states and territories shared high-level updates with the Council on the work underway in their jurisdictions to advance gender equality and address violence against women and children.

You can read the Women and Women’s Safety Ministerial Council communique here.

The submission closing date to the Parliamentary Inquiry on Cost of Living has been extended to 28 March 2024. The committee is particularly interested to hear about solutions that address cost of living pressures, and is encouraging both new submissions as well as supplementary submissions from those who have previously submitted to the inquiry.

The committee is due to report by 31 May 2024. Information about the inquiry is on the committee’s webpage.

On 25 November the Albanese Government announced the implementation of a new statistical dashboard which will provide more timely reporting on intimate partner homicide.

The new dashboard will be released by mid-2024 and will be managed by the Australian Institute of Criminology. The dashboard will enable police, governments, policy makers and all those who are working to end violence against women and children, to better understand what is happening and when.

FRSA Executive Director, Jackie Brady, and Manager of Policy & Research, Robyn Clough were delighted to join the celebration of Relationships Australia 75^th anniversary at the National Gallery in Canberra on 14 November.

The event was attended by Relationships Australia members, past and present, from across the federation as well as Ministers, stakeholders, and other dignitaries.

Guests were able to explore a curated exhibition of the history and journey of Relationships Australia as well as hear from guest speakers. It was a great line up of speakers, each bringing different insights to the evolution of Relationships Australia and to the themes of connection, families and relationships in Australia:

• Professor Lyn Littlefield OAM, Chair of the National Council of Relationships Australia
• Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, and the Assistant Minister for Employment
• The Hon. Amanda Rishworth, MP, Minister for Social Services
• Sarah Decrea, Aboriginal Families Practice Leader at Relationships Australia South Australia.

The evening was both reflective and forward looking.  In the words of Nick Tebbey, National Executive Officer for Relationships Australia, “Today we not only pay homage to our past and acknowledge our present but also reaffirm our commitment to expanding support in the future. Our vision is one where every member of the community can access transformative support services that empower them to overcome relationship difficulties and lead fulfilling lives.”

The Social Enterprise Development Initiative Grants Administrator funding opportunity is being provided by the Department of Social Services.

The Australian Government is inviting applications through an open grant process to apply to deliver services under the Social Impact Investing Program – Social Enterprise Development Initiative (SEDI) from March 2024 to 30 June 2026. SEDI will run over 3 years from 2023–24 to 2025–26.

SEDI will engage a Grants Administrator to provide capability building grants of up to $120,000 (GST exclusive) to eligible social enterprises. The grants will be targeted towards supporting social enterprises to be more effective and efficient in demonstrating and increasing social impact for the vulnerable individuals and communities they exist to support.

The SEDI Grants Administrator must work with the department to design the capability building grant administration process to ensure that grants are awarded to eligible recipients through a robust selection process that meets Commonwealth requirements.

Applications are now open and close 5pm AEDT on Wednesday 6 December 2023. Click here to find out more.

If you use any Australian Institute of Family Studies'(AIFS) practice or evaluation resources in your work with the community, they want to hear from you.

The aim of the survey is to learn about the issues you’re facing, how AIFS can support your use of evidence in your work, and the best way to provide resources to you. It asks about the work you do, how you use their resources, and what you’d like to see in future resources.

Click here to complete the survey, it will take around 10-15 minutes to complete. This survey will close on Monday 15 December 2023.

If you have any events you’d like listed on the FRSA Events and Training Calendar or job vacancies you’d like listed on the FRSA Jobs Board, email Communications Officer, Vanessa Lam at communications@frsa.org.au. Please note that posting onto the FRSA website is reserved for FRSA Members only.

If you have an news item or event that you would like to be featured in a future eBulletin please submit your announcement via the form below or email communications@frsa.org.au with the subject “FRSA eBulletin submission”.

Please note FRSA members receive priority for items posted in the eBulletin. And to keep information current, relevant and useful, submissions will not be repeated from week to week.