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Papers

• Seeking cost effective approaches to building a safer Victoria

  Click here for ‘Assessing cost-effectiveness in building a safer Victoria’, a paper recently prepared for Catholic Social Services Victoria by Gavin Kempen.  CSSV has provided this paper to the Victorian Government, and has advocated that the Government undertake an inquiry into the benefits and costs of alternative approaches to crime prevention and rehabilitation, in order to underpin sustainable, long-term improvements in the safety of society and individuals within it.  As the paper highlights, this is particularly important in light of the current $10 billion annual cost of crime to Victorians. 

• Click here for Australian Catholic Bishops 2011-2012 Social Justice Statement,
  Building Bridges, Not Walls: Prisons and the Justice system.
  

• On 24 August 2011 Rev Jonathan Chambers, Senior Chaplain, Anglicare Criminal Justice Ministry, led a lunchtime dialogue on The Victorian Criminal Justice System: A chaplain's perspective, in light of the restorative justice of God in Luke's Gospel. Jonathan's insight into the current Victorian system, and to options for improved outcomes through a Gospel-inspired restorative justice approach, were appreciated by all. Click here for a copy of the paper on which Jonathan's presentation was based.
  
• Thank you to Professor Margaret Somerville from McGill University for her Breakfast Briefing on Wednesday 6 July 2011:A contemporary reflection on the case against euthanasia - well worth braving the Melbourne winter morning. Click here for the text of her Australian lectures, and click here for a video interview immediately following the Breakfast, in which Margaret summarises her key points. With thanks to co-sponsors Catholic Health Australia, and the Ambrose Centre for Religious Freedom.

• The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities: Catholic social services are among the many parts of the Church with a keen interest in the 2011 review of the Charter, to ensure that justice for all is advanced through the “recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples” (as Pope Benedict XVI highlighted in his 2009 Encyclical Charity in Truth). Click here for an introduction to the central role that human rights play in Catholic social teaching; here for the July 2011 submission to the review from CSSV; and here for a submission to the Review lodged by the Victorian Council of Churches on the freedom of religion.

• Catholic social teaching underlies advocacy for a higher minimum wage for families: Click here for a paper by Brian Lawrence, Chair of Australian Catholic Commission for Employment Relations, on this topic. The paper draws on Catholic social teaching to underpin the ACCER's submission to the current Fair Work Australia national wage case. Click here for a CSSV media piece summarising the principles and the issues.

• Click here for the CSSV response to the Draft Report from the Productivity Commission on Disability Care and Support, and for a short summary of our two submissions to this enquiry. While welcoming the Commission's support for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (which we had also supported in our earlier submission), there is more work to do in a number of areas, including impacting on community attitudes, support for service providers within a client-directed service environment, and support for families and carers. Comments, and suggestions for further CSSV action, would be welcome. Thanks to Helen Burt and to member organisations for their input and work on the Response.

• CSSV made a further response in March 2011 in response to the Draft Report from the Productivity Commission enquiry on aged care. The submission largely re-iterated points made in our earlier contribution, namely, that funding levels were not currently sufficient to provide adequate care for many with special needs; and that support for capital as well as recurrent costs needs to be targeted at organisations that have a special capability to care for ageing people who have been homeless. 

• Professor Ruth Webber of the Australian Catholic University (pictured)spoke at the CSSV Annual General Meeting on 24 March 2011, on Rebuilding Communities after Natural Disasters - Lessons from community sector responses to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires. Her message was one of congratulations to the Catholic organisations who are still engaged in this work, and of encouragement to respond more systematically to such disasters in the future – Ruth’s findings have also been shared with agencies in Queensland and beyond, who have faced more recent tragic emergencies.

• The Victorian Interchurch Criminal Justice Taskforce, of which CSSV is a member, on 8 February urged the Victorian Government to proceed cautiously on sentencing reform, in order to achieve just outcomes.

  This is particularly important in light of the Sentencing Further Amendment Bill 2010, which is currently before the Victorian Parliament, and which would extend the recent abolition of suspended sentences to a wider range of offences when they are heard in the higher courts. It is argued that, unless such changes are introduced gradually, so that effective sentencing alternatives are in place, and unless these alternatives are both tested for effectiveness and properly resourced, then there is a strong risk that the abolition of suspended sentences will unduly restrict judicial discretion, and that injustices will result. Click here for a summary or the full comments.

  Thanks to CSSV members and supporters who commented on the Bill and contributed to the comments released today by the Taskforce. The input from people engaged in various aspects of the criminal justice system makes it possible to develop with confidence a response on issues of the day, such as the currently proposed changes in sentencing options.

• January 2011 submission by the Interchurch Gambling Taskforce, in conjunction with the Victorian Local Government Association, to the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform. (A postcard to the Prime Minister urging further measures to minimise harm from electronic gambling machines has also been distributed to parishes.)

• On 16 August 2010 CSSV lodged its submission on Disability Care and Support to the enquiry by the Productivity Commission into a proposal for a National Disability Insurance Scheme.

  The submission was built on consultations with the Catholic social services community, including a workshop with carers. It strongly supported the concept of a national insurance scheme, with its key features of being consumer directed and responsive, that would address the needs of people with disabilities regardless of how their location or the cause of their disabilities, in the context of an efficient and viable framework for ongoing funding. The CSSV submission complements a submission to the enquiry by the Australian Bishops Conference.

  Our response is based on a Gospel-inspired vision of integral human development that holds as fundamental the inherent dignity of all people, and from a focus on the common good – that no part of society can flourish if other parts of society are unable to achieve their potential.  It is fully aligned with the urgings of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

  One of the points of emphasis of the CSSV submission is that reform needs to be underpinned by a strategy to enhance community attitudes toward the right to inclusion and support of people with disabilities and their families. In support of this, we will continue to work with stakeholders in this area to better inform ourselves, member organisations and other parts of the Church of the issues at stake, and of the need for broad understanding and support for the full participation in our society of people with disabilities.

  [Photo: Bruce Bonyhady addresses a CSSV breakfast gathering on 14 April 2010 on the topic of Why Australia needs a National Disability Scheme]

• Click here for the July 2010 CSSV submission to the Productivity Commission enquiry into Caring for Older Australians. 
  The submission complements the analysis of Catholic Health Australia, and supports their objective, that all Australians, irrespective of socio-economic status, personal circumstances and location who are in need of aged care and support, have access to quality aged care services.
  The focus of the submission is on the needs of people who have been homeless, or have other special needs.  Current recurrent funding is not flexible enough to provide the care that is needed, and to fund the innovative services that are needed to reach out to these vulnerable groups.  Additional capital funding is urgently needed, as is recognition in the funding process of those organisations who have expertise and experience in working with people who are homeless

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• Click here for a presentation on 18 May 2010 to a 'Day of Reflection' for staff on the Archdiocese of Melbourne on the theme of spirituality and mission. The presentation was by Denis Fitzgerald of Catholic Social Services Victoria and Jenny Glare of MacKillop Famiy Services.
  The presentation is about the connection between our personal spirituality and our shared spirituality, and the vitality of the mission of a Catholic organisation. The main point is that there is a connection, which we should nurture.
• Click here for a submission in April 2010 to a Victorian Parliamentary Enquiry into Disadvantage and Inequity in Rural and Regional Victoria.
• Click for a copy of a presentation and a report from the Breakfast Briefing on 14 April 2010 by Bruce Bonyhady, Chair of Yoralla, on the need for a national disability insurance scheme.
• Click here for summary and full text of a recent CSSV paper on counselling in a Catholic agency, delivered to the 2010 Catholic Bioethics Conference, on 25 January 2010. The paper considers counselling in Catholic agencies in the context of the role of the Church in social services, and the features of Catholic social services in Australia. A key finding is that dialogue is needed within agencies and more broadly to ensure that people and processes are in place to maintain a continued focus on mission within Catholic agencies, and particularly in recruitment and in staff formation.
• CSSV prepared Background Notes for politicians who participated in our 2009 Victorian Political Forum, held on 1 December 2009. This statement sets out principles that CSSV ascribes to in public policy analysis, and some of the issues that the Catholic social services community consider are important in Victoria today. Click here for a copy.
• Documents from September/October 2009 CSSA study program to Rome and Leuven
  • An overview of Rome visit
  • Reflections on Catholic social teaching
  • a presentation on 11 Nov 09 to people at the Melbourne Archdiocese
  • Summary notes on Catholic identity
• 'A Catholic Perspective on Social Justice', notes for a presentation to the Unitarian Church of Melbourne, 6 September 2009
• 'Religious exemptions under the Equal Opportunity Act 1995', a submission by CSSV to a review by the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee of the Victorian Parliament (July 2009),
• InterChurch Gambling Taskforce Submission to Productivity Commission enquiry into Gambling (April 2009)
• Reports on three Seminars on Catholic Identity in health, education and social services agencies in the Archdiocese of Melbourne (March 2009). Click for
• seminar 1
• seminar 2
• seminar 3
• 'Economic and financial adjustment'. CSSV article of 17 November 2008
• CSSV Issues Briefing 20 Aug 08
• Submission "Because mental health matters". (August 2008)
• Submission on Homelessness (June 2008)
• Notes on 2008 Victorian Budget (May 2008)
• Submission to 2020 Summit (April 2008)
• Launch of Nuclear Power: cure or curse? (November 2007)
• Nuclear Power - Executive Summary (November 2007)
• Nuclear Power: cure or curse? (November 2007)
• How to reduce our ecological footprint at home (July 2007)
• Women After Prison Report (September 2006)
• CSSV Election pamphlet 2006
• Printer friendly version of Election Pamphlet 2006
• Shattered Dreams (2006)
• Submission _Review of Electronic Gaming Machine Arrangements (2006)
• A Call to Mission - Catholic Agencies and Older Homeless People (2005)
• Spheres of Influence (Conference 2005)
• War On Iraq, is it just? (2003)
• Senate Inquiry into Poverty (2003)
• Surviving not Living (2001)