This week we opened registrations for the annual FRSA Member Only Strategic Leadership Forum being held in Canberra on 10-11 September 2024. With news coming out of Canberra yesterday that we are likely to see a re-shuffle of the Albanese Ministerial line up, the sense of ‘pre-election mode movement’ has been cemented. As we had been anticipating, September is certainly an opportune time for CEOs and Senior Leaders to be gathering as a network and to be meeting with Federal MPs and Senators.
Earlier this week the National Elder Abuse Conference was held in Adelaide, and it was good to see a number of FRSA members presenting as part of the Conference line-up. While government investment in elder abuse services and supports has not been as strong as we would like to see – particularly for the early intervention supports offered by FRSA members – there were a number of promising signals this week delivered in the Address provided by the Attorney General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP. Finding more holistic, social and justice-based solutions for addressing elder abuse is definitely on the Government’s radar. I also point readers to the Evaluation of the National Plan to Respond to the Abuse of Older Australians 2019-2023, which was recently released (see below).
Encouraging news on progress in preventing violence against women and children was announced today with the national tracker from Our Watch showing that efforts to prevent violence against women are having a positive impact on rates of violence (see below).
In this bulletin you will also see a great snapshot of the NAIDOC week celebrations throughout the FRSA network. Here in Canberra, Robyn and I attended the ANU Reconciliation Lecture delivered by Ms Selina Walker, Ngunnawal woman and respected emerging elder and leader who is also the ACT’s Local Hero in the Australian of the Year Awards 2024. She reminded us that the reconciliation journey sometimes means sitting with uncomfortable feelings and recognising that there is no one right way of doing things. Using the memorable analogy of multiple lanes at the Macca’s drive thru, Selina said:
“Be critical of yourself, are you trying to force them [Aboriginal peoples] to come into your lane or do you maybe need to jump into that other Macca lane cuz it’s still the same outcome it’s just a different way to get there”.
Don’t forget to check out the First Nations webinar series that we will be running from mid-August to November – register now!
As mentioned in last week’s eBulletin, we have received funding to continue to deliver the Communities of Practice for FaC Activity programs we have been delivering for the last two years. Just a reminder we are running a ‘Call for Expressions of Interest” until the end of next week.
