Our thinking Archives - Page 30 of 31 - Jesuit Social Services

No 'one size fits all' solutions to youth unemployment
- 24 June 2016
In an election focused on ‘jobs and growth’ both major parties have addressed youth unemployment. But the proposals of neither party will meet adequately the needs of the most severely disadvantaged young jobseekers. They ignore the human reality. Youth unemployment is now at its highest peak since the late 1990s. The average number of young…
Calling for Just Justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cognitive impairments
- 21 June 2016
In the Northern Territory, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with cognitive impairments are being indefinitely detained in prison despite not being charged. In 2014 the Australian Human Rights Commission found that the inability of both the Commonwealth and Northern Territory Governments to provide adequate accommodation and support services for four Indigenous men with disabilities…
New mental health funding model brings uncertainty and instability
- 10 June 2016
Yesterday (June 9), Professor Patrick McGorry from Orygen, the world-leading youth mental health program, ensured that mental health is given the focus it deserves during the federal election campaign with a powerful address to the National Press Club. Professor McGorry called for government spending on mental health to increase from 7 per cent to 13…
Helping Aboriginal children stay out of the justice system
- 3 June 2016
For many 13-year-olds, life revolves around school, hanging out with friends, spending time with family and extracurricular activities like sport or learning a musical instrument. But that wasn’t the case for Sarah*, aged 13, when she was first referred to Jesuit Social Services’ Barreng Moorop program. Barreng Moorop is a small intensive case management program…
National Sorry Day: "The Apology is not an event. It is a way of life."
- 25 May 2016
It seems an age since the Australian Parliament apologised to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children taken away from their parents. At the time it seemed a brand new day; even now, children continue to catch the freshness of what was done and are inspired by it. But the condition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders…
Community legal centre cuts will hurt the most vulnerable
- 19 May 2016
This National Law Week, Jesuit Social Services has joined a coalition of organisations from the legal and social services sectors to support the Law Institute of Australia’s Legal Aid Matters campaign. The campaign calls for urgent improvements to legal assistance funding at state and federal levels, including an increase of the Commonwealth’s share of legal…
Youth unemployment scheme must meet the needs of the most vulnerable jobseekers
- 5 May 2016
Youth unemployment is one of the most important issues facing our nation and this week’s 2016-17 Federal Budget contains some positive initiatives and investments towards addressing this. Jesuit Social Services believes that a $750 million investment into assisting young people with the transition from education to employment is a step in the right direction, however…
2016-17 Victorian State Budget responds to needs of a growing population
- 5 May 2016
The 2016-17 Victorian State Budget has been welcomed by the community and social services sector. The Budget responds to the needs of a growing Victorian population with investment of $925 million in education infrastructure, $3.2 billion on public transport and funding for child and family services (including $133 million for Maternal and Child Health Services…
PNG Supreme Court finding on Manus Island shaming for Australians to read
- 27 April 2016
In recent days the plight of the people whom Australia has despatched to Manus Island has twice been highlighted. The Four Corners program on the death of Mr Hamid Khazaei displayed in horrifying detail the negligence, indifference, lack of urgency and priority given to following bureaucratic procedures over the value of a human life. The…
Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody: up to us to improve outcomes for future generations
- 15 April 2016
Today marks 25 years since the landmark Royal Commission into Deaths in Custody handed down its final report. The report made 339 recommendations on how the Federal Government could work to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal people in our criminal justice system. Twenty five years later it is an indictment on our nation that we…

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