eNewsletter-16 February 2023

This year holds the promise of a significant step towards recognition, reconciliation and justice as Australians are called to vote in a referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, to be enshrined in the Constitution.

I am also hopeful that 2023 will be the year that our Federal Government takes the long overdue step of significantly increasing the rate of JobSeeker and other income support payments on which so many Australians struggle to get by.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers made some promising remarks in his October 2022 budget speech: about making sure multinationals pay a fairer share of tax, investing in childcare and healthcare, and providing more affordable housing.

However, we now wait to see whether the Government will take further bold but sensible steps to lift Australians out of poverty; it is hard to see proceeding with the stage 3 tax cuts, and continuing to support other schemes which further increase the wealth of the already super wealthy of this country, as anything but immoral when so many Australians have to make daily choices between necessary medication and food.

I live in hope that the Government led by a Prime Minister who grew up in social housing will do better.

On behalf of the Society I welcome the government’s courage in honouring its election commitment to provide a permanent visa pathway for existing Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) holders. This has been a contentious issue for years, with many setbacks and disappointments, especially for the refugees and asylum seekers who have faced uncertainty and disadvantage, with limited access to social services, job opportunities and tertiary study.

Enabling these temporary visa holders to access free refugee legal services to apply for a permanent Resolution of Status Visa offers hope to the more than 19,000 TPV and SHEV holders who have been contributing to Australian society for more than a decade, often in rural and regional areas.

Further, those granted permanent protection will now be able to sponsor family members, particularly given the recent cancellation of Ministerial Direction 80. 

However, we call on the Government to fully implement its 2021 election platform on refugees and people seeking asylum, including an end to the unfair fast-track assessment process, and resolving barriers to the necessary levels of family reunion.

Looking at the year ahead I am also filled with hope and confidence that our Society is well placed to grow and flourish. National Council as currently composed is cooperative and collegiate and committed to working as ‘One Society’ in the best interests of our members and companions.

Supported by incoming National President Mark Gaetani and Deputy President Warwick Fulton, I am confident that National Council will continue to work to improve the Society’s governance and to ensure the Society is known as a fearless advocate for Australians doing it tough.

I think it is natural, when your time in office comes to an end, to think about the things you could have done differently or which you didn’t quite get time to achieve. I certainly feel that way as I near the end of my term as National President, but my main regret is that the pandemic prevented me from visiting more Vincentians around Australia from 2020-2022.

Meeting with fellow Vincentians never fails to inspire and energise me; we have so many committed members, volunteers and employees living our values every day, and I take comfort in knowing that even if our government fails to take real action to lift people out of poverty, we will at least be there for those who need our help and to do without hesitation whatever good lies at our hands.

National Congress 2023

The National Council of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Australia has agreed to hold a National Congress in November 2023.

National Congress 2023 will bring Society Leaders from across Australia together in November to reflect on the Society’s strategic vision on critical matters relating to the Society’s membership, mission and spirituality, and to guide the direction of the Society into the future.

The program will include keynote presentations, workshops to capture the views of members on key future challenges, and opportunities for spiritual reflection and renewal.

‘Members are the driving force of the Society and everything that we do,’ said National President Claire Victory.

‘National Council is committed to ensure that members are at the heart of conversations about who we are as a Society and how we can best respond to the challenge of serving our community and our faith in a changing society.

‘After a tough few years of supporting companions—and each other—through the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of natural disasters and the rapidly escalating cost-of-living crisis, it is timely to seek members’ views and to bring people together through a process of reflection and renewal,’ Ms Victory said.

A project team has been established in the National Council Secretariate to support the delivery of National Congress 2023.

Updates will be provided through this newsletter and the www.vinnies.org.au website, and email updates will be regularly sent out to keep members informed about the latest news on the program and opportunities to contribute to key areas of focus. To subscribe, please email congress2023@svdp.org.au.

Latest interest rate rise a 'punch in the guts'

The Society's National President Claire Victory called the Reserve Bank of Australia's interest rate increase of 7 February ‘another punch in the guts for Australians struggling to survive the cost-of-living crisis.’

Speaking on ABC Television, Ms Victory added that the higher rates will be ‘inevitably passed on through higher prices and rents,’ and the result would be devastating for Australians already struggling to survive, particularly income support recipients and low-income Australians.

The RBA's ninth consecutive increase takes official interest rates to their highest levels since September 2012.

‘We are calling on the Federal Government to take action to protect vulnerable Australians by lifting income support payments and increasing Commonwealth Rent Assistance,’ Ms Victory said.

JobSeeker, at $48 a day, consigns around 830,000 Australians to live below the poverty line, and should be unacceptable in Australia which prides itself on being the country of the ‘fair go’.

‘The upcoming Federal Budget must include support for vulnerable Australians to survive the cost-of-living crisis – an urgent increase to income support payments must be part of a comprehensive relief package.’

The Government’s failure to lift Commonwealth Rent Assistance is another brutal blow to disadvantaged Australians hoping to find a safe, secure home for them and their families.

Senators urged to address cost of living

The CEO of St Vincent de Paul Society National Council, Toby oConnor, lodged an in-person submission at the 1 February 2023 sitting of the Select Committee on the Cost of Living, saying the pressures facing Australians are ‘evident all around us’, and explaining how the situation could be eased through the tax and transfer system and increased Government assistance.

The Senate established the Select Committee on 28 September 2022 to inquire into and report on cost of living pressures, the Australian Government’s fiscal policy response, ways to ease pressures through the tax and transfer system, measures to ease the cost of living through the provision of Government services, and any other related matter.

The closing date for submissions is 10 March 2023 and the reporting date is 30 November 2023.

Mr oConnor said the Society’s assistance takes the form of emergency relief (around $50M each year) and housing support.

‘Our experience has been that as the cost of living rises, demand for assistance also rises.’

Of those seeking the Society’s help, most are aged 30-70 years (around 70%) and females are overrepresented (around 60%). Nearly all are on income support and around one-third live with disability.

‘Help is needed to cover the basics including food, rent, utilities, transport and medical costs.’

He advised the Committee that the Commonwealth’s Emergency Relief Fund is now being used as a supplement to Jobseeker and as a necessary additional income to address escalating prices driven by the cost of living cycle.  He urged the Commonwealth to provide additional moneys for the ER program in this year’s Federal Budget.

Mr oConnor said, ‘A lack of affordable and secure accommodation options is increasing housing stress – people are sleeping in their cars or living in motels, caravan parks and temporary camping sites.’

He outlined workable strategies to help alleviate cost of living pressures, including ‘higher taxation at the top end.’

‘We do not believe that giving wealthy households a tax break will ease cost of living pressures – the Society cannot support the proposed stage 3 tax cuts.

‘We believe that base rate working age payments must be increased – they were inadequate even before recent cost of living pressures.

The Society’s commissioned report from the ANU, A Fairer Tax and Welfare System for Australia, discusses the details. 

‘We believe the earnings threshold for income support recipients must also be increased (from $150 to $300 per fortnight),' Mr oConnor said.

Productivity Commission report highlights housing stress

The Productivity Commission’s latest Report on Government Services (ROGS) confirmed that of the low-income households renting private homes, 43.9 per cent were in rental stress and at risk of being pushed into homelessness in 2021-22, despite receiving Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA).

The report was released on 24 January 2023. It showed 33.9 per cent of people seeking help from Specialist Homelessness Services who needed accommodation did not have their housing needs met.

The Productivity Commission’s findings support the Society’s advocacy position that calls for a review of CRA and an increase to the maximum rate by 50 per cent.

SVDP National President Claire Victory said, ‘Fixing CRA could alleviate housing stress being felt by more and more people right now. This is one of the few initiatives that could be implemented immediately and would have a positive impact.  We know housing costs are proportionately much higher than for people on low income. We also know that half of households experiencing rental stress are still experiencing it four years later.’  

Mission Australia expressed concern that so many people and families across Australia face escalating cost-of-living pressures and skyrocketing rental stress at a time of scarce availability of affordable rental properties.

The majority of social housing respondents say they experience wellbeing, social connection and economic participation opportunities through living in social housing. The most common benefits for social housing tenants are feeling more settled and being able to manage rent/money better.

Support for The Voice welcomed 

On 6 February the St Vincent de Paul Society again recorded its support for a First Nations Voice to Parliament, welcoming the latest Newspoll showing majority support for The Voice and urging the 47th Parliament to back this critical reform.

The Society has a long history of supporting constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Nations Peoples.

The Society respects the generous and powerful 439 words contained in the Uluru Statement. A First Nations Voice will not have a veto right and will not be a third chamber. It will allow Aboriginal voices to be heard on matters that affect them.

The Society is a proud signatory of the From the Heart campaign and a member of the Coalition of Allies for the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

We welcome The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s endorsement of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The Society also welcomes the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council standing in solidarity with the Uluru Statement and echoing calls for substantial Constitutional reform based on a foundation of spirituality and subsidiarity.

A Voice to Parliament - free online course

This free online course, developed by the From the Heart Campaign, explores the first of the proposed reforms - enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution - developed in May 2017 by over 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates in the Uluru Statement process. 

Participants in the course will discover what is meant by Indigenous Constitutional Recognition through a Voice, and what a Voice to Parliament is and is not. You will also learn why a Referendum is required to make it happen. 

This experience takes only 15 – 20 minutes and is highly recommended.

Join the program (external link)

Oceania's focus on Synodality, mission, climate

Synodality, formation for mission and the effects of a changing climate on the oceans were the major themes of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania assembly, held in Fiji in early February.

Addressing the assembly following her multi-city visit to Australia was Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ, an undersecretary of the Holy See’s Synod of Bishops General Secretariat. The Vatican's most senior woman said the Catholic Church must listen more to its congregation and become more modern and inclusive to stay relevant. 

In light of some concerns that synodality is a novel concept, Sr Nathalie explained that it is a ‘dynamic vision of the Church in history, the realisation of the Church in history as communion in mission'.

The shortage of local priests was identified by the assembly as a significant emerging challenge to mission in Oceania.

St Vincent de Paul Society National Council maintains an active Overseas Partnerships Program that supports fellow Vincentians to undertake good works in our partnered countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The countries in Oceania include Solomon Islands, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia and Papua New Guinea.

Turkiye and Syria earthquake impacts

This is an update regarding the Society’s response to the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria based on the news story from Council General International’s (CGI) and an update from Kevin McMahon, Australia’s representative on the CGI’s Commission for International Aid and Development (CIAD)

CGI has advised that they are closely following the situation having been in immediate contact with local Vincentian leaders in Turkiye and Syria to 'verify the possible impacts on the Vincentian Conferences, our members and especially the people assisted'.

They were informed that sadly in Syria both Vincentians and assisted people in the Allepo region had been affected while in Turkiye the earthquake occurred in the south and all members and assisted families are in the north so were not affected.

CGI will continue to monitor the situation. While early feedback was that funds were not immediately required, subsequently an initial request for financial support has been made by the Society in Syria and has been approved by CIAD members via circular motion.

President General International has also asked for Conferences and Councils to pray for the people affected by this devastating disaster.

CGI, CIAD and Kevin will keep the Society in Australia updated on further developments.

If there are any other questions please contact Tricia Wilden, Overseas Development Program Facilitator, overseasdevelopment@svdp.org.au