Policy submissions

Here you’ll find a wide selection of policy papers and submissions we’ve published. Each paper draws on our experience working with disadvantaged youth, families and communities.

Submission on the NT Aboriginal Justice Agreement
- 22 April 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the draft Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Agreement. Almost 20 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody that initiated the development of Aboriginal Justice Agreements (AJA) in other jurisdictions, the development of an AJA for the Northern Territory is an historic process. Jesuit…
Submission to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability – Criminal Justice System Issues Paper
- 8 April 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the consultation on the Criminal Justice System Issues Paper prepared by the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. We support the Royal Commission’s focus on key issues that people with disability face when they come into contact with the criminal…
Submission to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Australia
- 8 April 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs’ Inquiry into Homelessness in Australia, in recognition that homelessness is a significant issue across our country. Our submission focuses on four interconnected areas of policy and practice relating to housing and homelessness: Structural disadvantage and the need to increase…
Submission to the Freedom of Religion Consultation
- 25 February 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Freedom of Religion Consultation on the second exposure draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill. Jesuit Social Services supports the rights of all Australians to freedom of religious expression and freedom from direct or indirect discrimination arising from those beliefs. However, the right to freedom from…
Submission to the New South Wales State Budget 2020-21
- 6 January 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the 2020-21 NSW State Budget. For more than ten years, Jesuit Social Services has been working in Western Sydney to help communities break out of cycles of disadvantage by developing local answers to local problems. Our submission to the State Budget is centered on…
Submission to the 2020-21 Victorian State Budget
- 6 January 2020
Many Victorian communities experience significant and persistent disadvantage that manifests in high rates of disengagement from school, joblessness, homelessness, drug and alcohol misuse, family violence, child maltreatment, offending, mental illness, and pain and trauma. These are complex challenges and, not surprisingly, evidence shows that simplistic, siloed solutions do not work to turn around entrenched disadvantage…
Submission to the 2020-21 Federal Budget
- 6 January 2020
In supporting people to reach their full potential, we cannot ignore the structural barriers to participation that many people face, including poverty, locational disadvantage, a lack of appropriate housing and a social safety net that has been chronically underfunded. The imperative to address these factors underlines Jesuit Social Services’ submission to the 2020-21 Federal Budget.…
Submission on the proposed Residential Tenancies Regulations 2020
- 6 January 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation regarding the proposed Residential Tenancies Regulations 2020, the implementation of which offer a positive framework to protect the rights of vulnerable and disadvantaged renters across Victoria. Our submission focuses on ecological justice – that is, the interconnection between environmental and social justice, and how…
Submission to inquiry into the over-representation of Aboriginal children and young people in Victoria's youth justice system
- 6 January 2020
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Commission for Children and Young People’s Our Youth, Our Way systemic inquiry into the over-representation of Aboriginal children and young people in Victoria’s youth justice system. The impacts of colonisation, racism and dispossession continue to be felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and…
Submission to the Inquiry into Gender Responsive Budgeting
- 18 December 2019
Jesuit Social Services welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Inquiry into Gender Responsive Budgeting. In our submission, we argue that Gender Responsive Budgeting offers a critical mechanism to help achieve gender justice. To ensure that gender equality commitments are fully realised, we believe that the Victorian budgeting framework should take into account the effect…