Jesuit Social Services welcomes the news that a new youth detention facility will be built close to Darwin and Palmerston, in line with the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory’s recommendation that the Don Dale facility be closed down. It is crucial that the new facility is designed in line with international best practice in youth detention, and that facilities themselves should be small and home-like, with an emphasis on education and skill development. Read the media release, here.

Thousands of people come to CatholicCare for support each year, and each year we in the Catholic Social Services sector are finding more and more people who are in need of help. This month the CatholicCare Sunday Appeal is launching in parishes across the Archdiocese of Melbourne and Diocese of Sale. Its is asking for your help to reach more people in need so it can give them the support to break through the barriers they face, and live life to the full.

Only a long-term national strategy and a deep, non-partisan commitment from federal, state and territory governments will begin to address the chronic shortage of secure, affordable housing for low income Australians, including a significant number of older Australians. Speaking ahead of the launch of National Homelessness Week (4-10 August) in Hobart this morning, St Vincent de Paul National Council CEO Toby O’Connor repeated the Society’s call for a 30-year National Strategy.

ACRATH members have once again walked the halls of Australian Federal Parliament advocating on behalf of people who are trafficked into slavery. During the visit, on July 29 and 30, a team of ACRATH advocates not only continued their advocacy and lobbying work, but they also congratulated Parliamentarian representatives for passing the Modern Slavery Act 2018.

At a time when the Royal Commission into Mental Health is hearing heartbreaking evidence of a broken and inadequate service system, McAuley Community Services for Women has been stripped of nine per cent of its Victorian government funding. McAuley will lose $334,032 by December 2019. "The funding loss will completely undermine our ability to give women who are very unwell, dealing with family violence and homelessness the full range of support they need," said McAuley’s CEO, Jocelyn Bignold.