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Newsletter August 2012

Tasmanian Council of Social Service

Will this baby be a healthy adult?Social factors are major determinants of health, p 6Grassroots enterprise facilitation, p 4Don’t mention the word literacy, p 10The big switch for power retailing, p 13

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From the CEOThe Tasmanian community services sector must not be short-changed on funding of the Equal Pay Case decision

Tony Reidy

TasCOSS Chief Executive

Contents3 From the CEO

4Enterprise from the grassroots

6 Sharing responsibility for health

9 Overview of 2012-13 State Budget

10 Don’t mention literacy

13Reform of power sector

16Change for aged care

18 Income management takes off

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Editor: Gabrielle Rish gabrielle@tascoss.org.auPhone: 6231 0755

The February decision by Fair Work Australia in the commu-nity sector Equal Pay Case has the capacity to finally recog-nise and reward the remark-able work done by employees throughout the sector.

The FWA decision has now been put into effect through the 22 June handing down of the Equal Remuneration Order, which sets out the details of the manner in which this historic wage mile-stone will be put in place.

TasCOSS and other commu-nity sector representatives are working with the State Govern-ment on a project to implement the Equal Pay Case outcome through a steering committee based at the Department of Health and Human Services, which is government’s largest funder of the sector.

A small government/sector team is working on a Salary Census of Tasmanian commu-nity sector organisations. By the time this newsletter goes to print funded sector organisations will have completed their surveys, which will be supplemented by information sessions throughout the state.

The department will then assess the final cost of the implemen-tation prior to making a recom-mendation to the Minister and the Treasurer over the method-ology and quantum of the sup-plements need by organisations to fund the salary increases pay-able from 1 December 2012.

Commonwealth support increasedPrime Minister Julia Gillard an-nounced in July that the federal component of the additional funding to the community sector around Australia (for Common-wealth-funded programs) had been increased from $2 billion to

$3 billion – a very welcome rec-ognition.

It is understood that this increase has resulted from a recalcula-tion of the Commonwealth sup-plementation needed to fulfil the Prime Minister’s pledge that her government would pay its “full share” of the wage increas-es resulting from the wage case.

Although the State Govern-ment allocated an additional $3 million in this year’s budget, increasing to $12 million in 2015-16 towards the cost of the FWA decision, TasCOSS has identified in its State Budget response that this allocation will not be suf-ficient to cover the additional cost to sector organisations.

In close cooperation with all sector peak organisations, Tas-COSS is actively continuing its advocacy on the need for the State Government to revise its allocation for the ERO once the full picture is understood through the Salary Census.

The emphasis of our campaign-ing is to demonstrate the dev-astating immediate and longer-term effect on the sector, and the thousands of disadvan-taged Tasmanians it supports, through any short-changing of the State Government’s obliga-tion to support the equal pay landmark decision.

Cuts to grant indexationThe current advocacy cam-paign also includes continu-ing representations to the State Government on the decrease in the indexation of grants and the impact on sector organisations’ operating costs and capacity to deliver front-line services.

It is the sector’s view that all State Government grants, not just those provided by the De-partment of Health and Human

Services, should be provided with full, annual indexation to allow service providers to deal with additional pressures on their operating costs through increas-es in the cost of living.

Key points of Fair Work Australia decision• Increasetopayratesin

the SCHADS Award in line with the submission made by the Australian Services Union and Commonwealth Government, and supported by the Councils of Social Service around Australia.

• Increasesrangefrom19-41%

• Theratesgrantedareinlinewith the rates achieved in the Queensland equal pay decision of 2009.

• Therateswillbephasedin over eight years in nine instalments starting in December 2012, not the five years originally sought by the ASU.

• Afurther4%willalsobepaid in instalments over the eight years. This component is comparable to the Queensland component.

• TheSCHADSAwardwillalso be adjusted to reflect Living Wage Case increases as they are awarded. This will mean that the SCHADS Award will also keep pace with increases in all awards and so maintain the value of the equal pay rates decided in this case.

Cuts to grant indexation: how are they affecting your service delivery?

Join us at the conference in Novemberknowledge, ideas and experi-ences.

The aim is to provide inspiration and fresh energy for the impor-tant work of our sector.

World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello will deliver the Dorothy Pearce Address as one of the conference’s keynote speakers.

Premier Lara Giddings will also speak and participate in a Q&A.

To find out more and to regis-ter for the conference, visit our website, www.tascoss.org.au

conference 2012 Engagement, innovation & equity

Goodbye to Elida, welcome to Beng TasCOSS was sad to lose long-time staff member Elida Mead-ows in July. Elida has moved on to a role as a policy officer at the Mental Health Council after nearly six years at TasCOSS. Just before she left, Elida finalised a Diversity Toolkit for the com-munity services sector as part of her work for the Sector Development

Unit. The toolkit will be launched soon. Ciao bella!

TasCOSS has a new staff mem-ber, Beng Poh, who joined us in June as executive assistant to the CEO. She previously worked at Lifeline Tas-mania.

Beng is also a part-time fitness instructor, so she knows how to keep an office in good shape.

TasCOSS is holding its 2012 con-ference on Thursday and Friday, 15-16 November, at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart.

This is our first conference since 2008 and we are excited about once again bringing together so many people doing great work in Tasmania under one roof.

The theme of the conference is Engagement, innovation and equity. The conference will be structured to encourage crea-tive conversations: to share suc-cesses, promote relationships and facilitate the exchange of

TasCOSS is continuing its ad-vocacy aimed at restoring full, annual indexation to the grants provided by government for ser-vice delivery work in the com-munity sector. However, we need your help.

Information and examples of the sort of impact being experi-enced in your organisation, and any increase in disadvantage that occurs, are essential to en-sure that our representations to government are evidence-

based and demonstrate the real effect on ordinary Tasma-nians as a result of this funding shortfall.

Please send to beng@tascoss.org.au contact information for the most appropriate person in your organisation to assist us with this: include name, organisation and email address, and a very brief description of the nature of the impact you are experienc-ing. A TasCOSS project officer will then get in touch with you.

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Enterprise from the grassrootsThree Tasmanian regions will benefit from a trial of the Sirolli model of enterprise facilitation

Dr Ernesto Sirolli

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In March 2012, Premier Lara Giddings announced the Tasmanian Government’s intention to support job creation and innovation in regional areas by running a trial of the Enterprise Facilitation process first used by Dr Ernesto Sirolli in Esperance, Western Australia in 1985.

The Tasmanian Council of Social Service has promoted the Sirolli Enterprise Facilitation model as a means to address the root causes of poverty and disadvantage since inviting Dr Sirolli to Tasmania in August 2010, and was delighted to hear the Premier’s announcement.

The trial will be held in three regional areas, Circular Head, Scottsdale/George Town and the Huon Valley, over the two-year period from 2012-2014 at a cost of $950,000. These regions have all been hit by industry downturns in recent times. Jobs have been lost and community confidence has suffered due to the closure of food processing and manufacturing oper-ations, and forest industry restructuring.

The Enterprise Facilitation services will assist local people and organisations to develop their business ideas, whether in the form of social enterprises or conventional for-profit businesses.

What is enterprise facilitation?Enterprise Facilitation is a grassroots, community-led process that stimulates local economic activity while also building strong community support networks and civic engagement. A

local Enterprise Facilitator, who might wear jeans and has no office, meets people who have ideas or dreams for an enterprise. They meet in convivial places like cafes, around the kitchen table or in a workshop.

The facilitator helps them identify where their skills and passion in business lie, and encourages them to team up with others with complementary skills.

It is simpler and more powerful to find someone with complementary skills to join the business team

The Sirolli Institute has learnt that no single person is equally passionate and skilled in the three areas of business – product/service development, marketing and financial management.

Rather than encouraging someone passionate about marketing, food service or handcrafts to train to learn how to manage their finances, or someone who loves massaging spreadsheets and financial figures to learn to love talking to clients to generate sales, the Enterprise Facilitator says it is simpler and more powerful to find someone with complementary skills to join the business team.

The facilitator does not work in isolation. The engine room of an Enterprise Facilitation project is a local team of 30-50 volunteers who meet regularly with the facilitator and use their extensive networks to

help find people, resources and information needed by individual entrepreneurs to make their enterprise a success. This Resource Board provides an incredible mechanism to tap into the pool of often underutilised resources in any community.

If the Resource Board is the engine room of the good ship Enterprise Facilitation, the bridge from which the ship is steered is the Project Management Team. This consists of a volunteer group of experienced, successful business and community people who oversee each project.

They are responsible for hiring and firing the Facilitator, recruiting the Resource Board, promoting the success of enterprises supported by the project (which is the main way the service is promoted) and managing the project finances. Their skill is essential to the success of a project and its ongoing future beyond any initial funding period.

Project Management Teams have been formed in the three Tasmanian pilots, and consist of highly respected community leaders and senior managers from some of Tasmania’s largest companies. The strength of these groups bodes well for the future success of the projects.

Each project will be advertising for an Enterprise Facilitator in August or September with the aim of being active by October or November 2012.

Enterprise Facilitation is a process tried and proven over more than 25 years in hundreds of communities around Australia and the

world. Over this time, the Sirolli Institute has supported the creation of around 30,000 jobs.

The Sirolli Institute says Enterprise Facilitation is: “A model of development that supports the creation of wealth from within your community by nurturing the intelligence and resourcefulness of your people. We champion the development of community pride through the passionate mentoring of local talent.”

It is a process that com-plements but is very different from the top-down regional planning processes that lead to the development of the infrastructure local businesses and communities need to prosper.

Enterprise Facilitation is a bottom-up process which harnesses the intelligence and creativity of local people, leading to enterprises that are able to fully utilise the infrastructure developed through top-down processes.

An example of the relevance of Enterprise Facilitation to community organisations comes from a recent project set up in Blaenau Gwent in Wales.

A sign-writing enterprise employing disabled people lost some important contracts. They asked the local facilitator for help. When the chair of the local Resource Board heard their story, he sent two engineers from his own company to visit them. They discovered that the disabled workers had sophisticated welding skills and gave them a contract to weld high-end components for prestige cars, which his company had been contracting out to companies in Europe.

In Australia, an at-risk teenager told a teacher that all he wanted to do was set up a tattoo parlour. This was decades ago, when this suggestion sent shivers down the teacher’s spine. At

a facilitator’s suggestion, the teacher found the two best tattoo artists in Melbourne and arranged for the student to be apprenticed. He came home to establish his own tattoo business and provided an unexpected example of hope and success to his peers.

The role of TasCOSSTasCOSS was employed by the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and the Arts to play a role in coordinating the establishment of the three Tasmanian pilot sites.

In the process, we have learnt a great deal about what it takes to create a successful Enterprise Facilitation service, and have now begun working toward establishing a TasCOSS Enterprise Facilitation service.

The intention is that the TasCOSS service would cater to two different client groups. The first is community organisations and individuals who wish to establish or expand social enterprises (businesses whose profits are directed to a social or environmental mission rather than personal gain for the owners). These enterprises would be from any and every field of interest, such as social service, health, environment, creative arts, energy efficiency, food and IT.

The second client group would be clients of community service organisations – Tasmanians experiencing poverty and disadvantage with a business idea they wish to explore. We envision many of these would be for-profit businesses.

This idea is in the early stages of development and will need to attract new funding to support it. Most of this funding will be sought from non-government sources. Early responses to the concept have been very positive.

Tim Tabart

Sector Development Unit

"We believe that the future of every

community lies in capturing the

talent, energy and imagination of its

people" From the Sirolli Credo

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Sharing responsibility for health The social services sector has a major role to play in addressing the causes of ill-health in Tasmania

Education and literacy form one of the key social

determinants of health. 7 Miriam Herzfeld

Health and wellness consultant

Many people will be familiar with the concept of social de-terminants of health, whether as a turn of phrase or as a group-ing of societal issues including, among other things, housing, poverty, transport, education, work and sexuality.

However, our current collective efforts on these social determi-nants o f health are inadequate.

I say this because:

1) There is currently a disconnect between the work of the social services sector and the health sector.

2) There is even greater disen-gagement between these two sectors and other important parts of our society that have the potential to make an enor-mous contribution to health and wellbeing.

3) There is currently too little done on preventing poor health and wellbeing and too much on picking up the pieces.

The core business of the social services sector is inextricably linked to health and wellbeing – whether it is supporting those on low incomes, giving a voice to older Tasmanians or young peo-ple, supporting carers or people with a disability, advocating for housing or providing emergency relief for families, providing trans-port services or advocating so-cial justice causes.

The health sector, on the other hand, is traditionally viewed as comprising medical and health care, screening and other health services that focus large-ly on treating people when they are ill.

Despite sharing the common thread of health and wellbeing, the two sectors most often oper-ate in isolation from each other. When a person is unwell, the healthcare system will treat the body (and sometimes the mind) and the social services system treats the broader environmen-

tal conditions (such as housing, income, support) and never the twain shall meet. Yet they are both dealing with people’s health and wellbeing.

In a society where healthcare costs are spiralling, it is para-mount that we strengthen ac-tion on the social determinants – the core business of the social services sector – from the point of view of creating a healthier Tasmania.

Firstly, we must embrace collab-oration between the two sec-tors that currently ‘own’ these spaces so as to ensure greater sharing in the responsibility for creating a healthy Tasmania. To achieve this collaboration both sectors need to shift their think-ing and action.

While there are clearly other reasons why social services are important, the health argument is often overlooked, particularly when it comes to calculating the return on investment.

Programs addressing education, housing, transport, the wellbeing of the ageing population, pov-erty and social exclusion require more than just moral arguments for their retention and expan-sion.

It requires us to make a solid business case that shows that healthcare spending can be reduced by having these pro-grams in place.

Making stronger connections between social determinants and medical spending height-ens the relevance of social pol-icy to the pressing federal and state concern over spiralling health spending.

With the $325 million federal res-cue package for Tasmania’s healthcare system announced in June, now is the time for the social services sector to argue

that it should play an integral part in planning for the health-care system of the future and in planning for the health of Tas-manians of the future.

Rather than focusing solely on boosting clinical services, re-organising healthcare and im-plementing information tech-nology (such as the eHealth initiative), there must be far greater consideration of issues outside of medicine.

Here is where we can reduce the demands on our over-stretched healthcare system and keep more people health-ier.

Making stronger connections between social determinants and medical spending heightens the relevance of social policy

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek announced in June that a Commission on Tasma-nian Government Delivery of Health Services would be estab-lished to examine how the Tas-manian Government delivered health services and whether they were being provided as ef-fectively and efficiently as pos-sible.

Here is a marvellous opportu-nity for the social services sector to show leadership and foster stronger links with the health-care and medical sectors.

It’s not just the working relation-ships between social services and health that needs strength-ening: we currently also fail to maximise on the fact that other sectors – economic de-velopment, business, industry,

transport, tourism, education, arts and others – are intimately linked to health and wellbeing outcomes.

Economic opportunity, the infra-structure in our towns and cities, and education opportunities are conditions set not by doc-tors or hospitals, but by other sectors of society.

The leaders who can best ad-dress the root causes of poor health and health inequities, and prevent people needing the support of social services, in-clude those outside health and social services.

They may include planners, builders, law enforcers, legisla-tors, developers, restaurateurs, business leaders and teachers. These have the potential to be key change agents to address the root causes of inequities in health.

This leads to my last point, which is the need for a greater empha-sis on prevention of poor health and well-being.

Prevention makes sense not only from the point of view that Tasmanians being healthy is a good thing in itself. Also, if we are healthy in the true sense of the word – a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organisation) – we require less healthcare and medical intervention, and we require less support from the so-

cial services system.

This obviously has to be the com-mon goal for both the health and social services sectors. Why then is so little relative effort put into the prevention of poor health and keeping people well, healthy, connected and hap-py?

While there has been some good intention in the health space, ef-forts in health promotion still tend to target the individual, while ig-noring the fundamental causes of poor health and well-being, and inequities in health.

For example, criticism was re-cently aimed at the Federal Government’s Measure Up campaign – an anti-obesity so-cial marketing campaign. Aca-demics labelled the campaign as “portraying fat people as out-of-control enemies of the state”. They said anti-obesity campaigns stemmed from neo-liberal ideologies and targeted the most disadvantaged groups in society, with the Government placing responsibility for health inequalities on poor people’s bodies.

It is plainly unacceptable that health promotion efforts blame the victim and ignore the social determinants of health. Focus-ing on the personal responsibil-ity of the victim ignores the fact that choice and responsibility are rooted in the social context.

How responsible can one truly be when one is poor, has little

Health starts long before illness – it starts in our everyday lives. The houses we live in, the transport we are able to access, the level of stress in our lives, the job we have or don’t have, the social support we have around us and how much money we’ve got, have as much impact on our health and wellbeing as our genes and behaviours. These factors are known as the social determinants of health. The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play and age. They are sometimes referred to as ‘the causes of the causes’ because they are the underlying reasons why people experience poor health. Go to www.tascoss.org.au for a set of Social Determinants of Health action sheets.

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Overview of 2012-13 State Budget This year’s Budget outcome means community services will be belt-tightening at the same time as demand grows

The 2012-13 Tasmanian State Budget was once again deliv-ered in a straitened financial environment, with GST and state tax receipts lower than previous years.

The Government made the wise decision to enter into net debt rather than make further serious cuts to front-line services. This has provided welcome relief to DHHS in particular, which has been making savage cuts this year totalling $100 million and would have had to find a further $27 million in savings in 2012-13.

The Tasmanian Council of So-cial Service Budget Day media release, on 17 May, portrayed it as ‘a double-edged sword for struggling Tasmanians’. While we welcomed a small number of spending initiatives, we ex-pressed serious concern over further cuts to community sec-tor capacity, with indexation on DHHS grants set at 2.25% for the second successive year.

The Budget included allocations over four years for community sector pay increases resulting from Fair Work Australia’s deci-sion in the Equal Pay Case for disability and other community sector workers.

We fear that the allocations are inadequate to meet the full wage increases across the pe-riod. While an exact figure for the wage increases is unknown, pending the results of the current Salary Census, our early calcula-tions suggest that the allocation for 2012-13 is short by almost

$2 million and that allocations for future years may be equally, or even more, inadequate.

TasCOSS sees these Budget al-locations as a beginning rather than an end, and intends to work closely with the Govern-ment to ensure that Tasmanian community service workers re-ceive their full entitlements with-out any negative impact on staff numbers, organisations or service delivery.

The Budget did offer assistance to Tasmanians struggling with cost-of- living pressures with new funding over two years for food, energy efficiency and financial counseling programs, addition-al funds for energy-efficiency retro-fitting of Housing Tasma-nia dwellings and an exemption for Housing Tasmania tenants from water usage charges. The Budget also included several welcome electricity price and concession initiatives.

There is no new money for services including mental health, disability and child and family services

However, there is no new mon-ey for existing services includ-ing mental health, disability and child and family services, despite the obvious need and increasing waiting lists.

Cuts made in the past year to DHHS staffing and services have

Meg Webb

TasCOSS Social Policy and Research Unit

Not a TasCOSS member?The Tasmanian Council of Social Service has been an advocate for low-income and other disad-vantaged people in Tasmania, and worked for the good of the community services sector for more than 50 years.

Membership of TasCOSS starts from as little as $50 a year for organisations (depending on the organisation’s income) and is $57 for waged individuals ($15 concession or unwaged).

The benefits of being a member include concessions on TasCOSS conferences and training cours-es, plus a 20-page printed news-letter three times a year.

More importantly, every new member assists TasCOSS in its role of advocating for low-in-come and otherwise disadvan-taged Tasmanians and strength-ening the sector that supports them.

Our membership base is diverse, including post-graduate stu-dents, organisations with one paid staff member, 100 per cent volunteer groups and major em-ployers in the sector.

Newest member organisationThe most recent new member of TasCOSS is Anglicare’s Financial Counselling Tasmania service.

Financial Counselling Tasmania provides people with advice on organising a budget, managing debt, negotiating with creditors, consumer rights and responsibili-ties, accessing superannuation, bankruptcy and its alternatives, and gives referrals to other ser-vices if needed.

This free service is available to anyone experiencing financial

difficulty. Financial counselling is available in Hobart, Launces-ton, Devonport and Burnie. The service also offers outreach to Huonville, Cygnet, Sorell, Roke-by, Georgetown, Scottsdale, Deloraine, West Tamar, St Marys, St Helens, Smithton and in Tas-manian prisons.

Contact Financial Counselling Tasmania on 1800 243 232 or click on the support and coun-selling tab on the Anglicare website, www.angliacre-tas.org.au for more information.

• Visit the TasCOSS website to find out more about member-ship or call 6231 0755 for a mem-bership pack or to take out your annual membership.

put further pressure on remnant government services and on the community sector, especially in the areas of mental health and alcohol and drug services.

The single allocation of new funding for a community sec-tor organisation in this Budget is $125,000 per year for the next four years for COTA Tasmania. In general the 2012-13 Budget was very flat with few real increases or new money.

A striking feature of the 2012-13 Budget papers is their lack of detail – very few line items appeared and funding details were more difficult than ever to locate. TasCOSS will convey this view to the Government and hope that it results in more trans-parent budgetary reporting in future years.

Kath McLean

TasCOSS Social Policy and Research Unit

Minister Cassy O’Connor with TasCOSS President

Noel Mundy at the TasCOSS Budget briefing.

education and little to no op-portunity?

Change has to be about social responsibility, not individual re-sponsibility, if health is the de-sired outcome. We will inevita-bly do better, all of us, when we privilege social responsibility.

The best way to achieve sustain-able health is to address the in-equities at the determinants of health level. Health will follow.

The social services system is also responsible for prioritising an in-dividual, crisis-management ap-proach with little focus on long-term solutions and prevention.

I am not suggesting that this is entirely the responsibility of the sector – far from it. Inadequate resourcing, poor long-term plan-ning, lack of leadership, limited integration and other contextual change have forced the sector to adopt an approach that by and large picks up the pieces.

However, if we continue to use these issues as justifications – for example, “We would love to address broader issues, but our mandate, mission, funding ex-pertise and so forth is not really about the broader issues, so we will focus on the other really and equally important thing” – we will not create a fair, inclusive and healthy Tasmania.

The social services sector is su-perbly placed to demonstrate leadership and unite with not only the health sector but also other sectors to act on the social determinants of health.

As part of the sector, readers of this article will know better than most the end result of failure to act on the social determinants of health. Let’s not give anyone who should be involved in the creation of a healthy society the option of getting out of ad-dressing the social determinants of health. The health of all of us is at stake; we must ensure that

the whole of society and all our institutions put our shoulders to the wheel.

The following references are acknowledged in the develop-ment of this article:

• Backhouse, M, 2012, ‘Anti-obesity campaigns a form of ‘class war’, NZ Herald, 4:08pm, Thursday Jul 12, 2012.

• Goldbery, DS, 2012, ‘Social Justice, Health Inequalities and Methodological Individualism in US Health Promotion, Public Health Ethics, Advance Access published 5 July 2012.

• Raphael D and Quiñonez, C, Commentary on Social Deter-minants of Health Listserv: LIST-SERV@YORKU.CA 11 & 12 July 2012.

• Woolf, SH & Braveman P, 2011, ‘Where Health Disparities Begin: The Role Of Social And Eco-nomic Determinants And Why Current Policies May Make Mat-ters Worse’, Health Affairs, 30, no.10:1852-1859.

Gabrielle Rish

TasCOSS Communications and Membership Officer

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Research participants favoured flexible program

delivery, including one-on-one home tutoring.

Don’t mention the word literacy Stigma was the first obstacle in researching the motivations of Tasmanians with low core skills

In March 2011, TasCOSS asked me to conduct a research pro-ject into ‘what motivates adults with low core skills to take up literacy programs’. I was aware from the outset that sourcing participants could prove diffi-cult, but having taken on other similar challenging research as-signments in the past, I thought that this project couldn’t be any more difficult. How wrong I was!

Most adults with functional liter-acy skills never stop to consider what it would be like not to be able to read letters, emails, text

messages, signs, newspapers or read to their child. Or how diffi-cult it is, day to day, if you can’t write down information, sign your name, fill in forms, know how much something costs or if you’ve received the correct change.

Low literacy is a significant prob-lem in Tasmania, with an esti-mated 47% of adults not to hav-ing enough literacy to cope with everyday tasks.

Fortunately, as I came to realise, many people also find ways to

compensate for their low core skills; some having phenomenal memories, are great networkers or develop exceptional skills in other areas.

We were asking people to speak about something many hid from their partners, families, friends, work colleagues every day of their lives

There were two aspects to the research: one was to interview adults already attending litera-cy programs (N=30); the other was to find non-engaged adults with low literacy who were will-ing to talk about why they were not taking up literacy programs and what would encourage them to do so (N=60).

Initially I contacted community organisations across Tasmania to organise interview dates and times. Many of the community centre staff said it would be dif-ficult to recruit people, but they would try.

It quickly became apparent that low literacy is a very per-sonal issue which most people are extremely embarrassed to discuss. Finding research par-ticipants was going to be much more difficult than anyone had anticipated.

After all, we were asking people to speak about something many hid from their partners, families, friends, work colleagues and the general community every day of their lives.

Interestingly, people from non-English-speaking backgrounds did not have the same sense of embarrassment or shame that

many locally born people expe-rienced. Adults from NESB tend-ed to attribute their low core skills to a lack of access and op-portunity to education in their country of origin.

A breakthough came when the recruitment strategy changed to cold canvassing in shopping centres, coffee shops, shopping malls, bus shelters, outside Cen-trelink offices, wherever a good cross section of people congre-gated.

The next issue was identifying adults with low literacy, and how to broach the subject with-out offending people or making them withdraw. The answer was to talk in general terms about the issue of low core skills. Us-ing this approach, most people soon lost their reluctance to en-gage and, in fact, many actu-ally became absorbed in the discussion.

At the end of the interview each person was given a $30 gift voucher in recognition of their time and contribution. Only data from those with a literacy level of one or two, as listed in the criteria of the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF), were included in the research.

The benefits of this approach were immediately clear. The majority of research participants in the disengaged group were truly disengaged from educa-tional programs and services and most had no involvement with any local community or-ganisations.

What caused your low literacy?Many adults with low core skills stated that they didn’t enjoy school when they were young-er; this was sometimes due to bullying, being bored or too fo-cused on socialising.

Others spoke of school as a ref-uge from early traumatic events (loss of a parent), or blamed their lack of learning on things like constantly moving schools. Oth-ers spoke about being forced to leave school early or that they were eager to get into the work-force and make money.

Some adults said they enjoyed school, but had difficulty learn-ing for some unexplained rea-son or had some form of disabil-ity, such as dyslexia, which was often not picked up until they were adults.

Disengaged and engaged adults stated that the main barrier to engaging in literacy programs as an adult was the social stigma and embarrass-ment. Many adults felt that oth-ers in the community were quick to judge and label anyone with low core skills as being ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’.

Most openly stated that they would do anything to avoid others finding out about their low core skills. Others admitted holding various attitudes and

Karen Donnet-Jones

consultant

What motivates adults to take up literacy programs

A simple desire to learn or improve one’s situation.

• Staying connected with others.

• Helping one’s children learn.

• Good-quality learning environments, and the availability of one-to-one tutors.

• Tangible benefits following participation, ie job work experience

placement

• Increased pensions/benefits.

• Marketing campaigns to reduce stigma and embarrassment.

• Avoiding the word ‘literacy’ (especially in rural/ remote and low socio-economic areas).

• Flexible program delivery, such as home tutoring, evening/weekend classes, one-on-one tutoring, small groups of people at similar levels, a range of community venues, eg sporting/social clubs, men’s sheds.

• Free or low-cost programs and the provision of childcare.

• More bi-lingual workers/CALD volunteers to support CALD adults on

arrival and after initial participation in English classes.

• Second -chance programs to assist adults who are excluded from employment or learning opportunities as a result of relatively minor convictions when young.

• Partnering with schools to capture young parents, grandparents and carers who want to improve their literacy skills so they can help children learn.

• Homework clubs ideally across the community but especially in low socio-economic areas.

beliefs that limited their motiva-tion, such as believing that no amount of training or learning would allow them to gain a bet-ter income or job.

Many engaged adults said they took up a literacy program at a turning point in their lives, such as having an accident or serious illness, becoming a carer, being unemployed, retrenched, retir-ing, following divorce or having experienced a significant loss such as the death of a partner orchild.

These life events often allowed adults time to reassess their lives and to take up learning oppor- cont: page 12

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Factors that support ongoing involvement in learning• Promotion of life-long learning.

• Stable programs with continuity of teachers/tutors.

• Non-judgmental teachers/tutors.

• Assistance to move between levels of educational programs and services, and into work.

• Greater involvement of adults with low core skills in the design, development, delivery and evaluation of low core skills programs.

• Joining a low core skills program with a friend.

• Assisting people in core skills programs to access other services, eg alcohol and drug, housing, physical and mental health services.

• Recognising and talking about the anxieties that attending core skills programs can raise for adults who had negative experiences in their early education.

• Increased opportunities for CALD adults to participate in conversational English, ie conversing and making friends with other adults whose first language is English while participating in some activity such as learning to drive or craft group.

• Emphasising the skills and experience of adults with low core skills, while promoting the benefits of improving core skills.

• Identifying young people who are core skills champions.

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tunities, which they had not con-sidered before.

The findings of research have shed some light on an area where little previous research has been done in the Tasma-nian context. The adults who shared their stories where brave, funny, interesting and insightful people, who had much to say about how low core skills affect-ed them each day of their lives and what would help them to engage with core skills learning.

Thank you to all those partici-

The big switch The introduction of electricity retail competition in Tasmania in 2014will have questionable benefits for low-income households

In May 2012 the Tasmanian Government announced major changes to the state’s electricity supply industry and to electricity pricing methodology.

This came in response to con-cerns about the level of the price rise due on 1 July and to the recommendations of the Expert Panel appointed by the Government in 2010 to review the Tasmanian electricity supply industry.

The Government accepted some, but not all of the Expert Panel’s recommendations.

The price rise announced by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator that took effect on 1 July was lower than anticipated due in part to some of the actions tak-en by the State Government.

The change that had the most immediate impact on electricity prices for Tasmanian households was the amendment of the Elec-tricity Price Control Regulations which set out the methodology that the Tasmanian Economic Regulator must use to deter-mine the wholesale price of en-ergy as a part of the regulated retail price. The Department of Treasury and Finance is responsi-ble for making the price control regulations.

The methodology used previ-ously inflated the price of energy that Tasmanian households and small businesses paid while the average market price declined.

The Expert Panel’s report sug-gests that the disparity between the spot or market price and the wholesale price paid by Tasma-nians in recent years was as high as $45 per megawatt hour (with a regulated price of $75/MWh and a market price between $30-$50/MWh).

The Tasmanian Economic Regulator estimated that the altered methodology shaved about 6.1% off the 1 July price increase this year.

In concert with the change in pricing methodology, the Gov-ernment says Aurora Energy received permission from the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) to smooth over several years its income from previous under-recovery of revenue – shaving around 2% off the 1 July price increase.

In addition, the Government said Transend had elected not to increase its revenue by the total amount allowed by the AER but to accept lower rev-enue for the coming financial year – reducing the 1 July price rise by an average of 3%.

The 1 July price rise ended up being 10.56%, which was sig-nificantly lower than the Gov-ernment estimate that the in-crease might be as high as 26%.

However, those who work with low-income and disadvan-taged Tasmanians know that this 10.56% increase is enough to push many households further into financial hardship.

Longer term reformsThe Government also an-nounced a number of longer term and more substantial changes to the industry.

These changes are focused on the introduction of full retail competition, that is, competition between different electricity re-tailers for customer contracts to supply electricity to homes and businesses.

The introduction of full retail competition and the eventual end of retail price regulation are commitments that all states and territories made some years ago in the context of National Com-petition Policy.

Most other states have intro-duced full retail competition but

All residential customers will be asked to choose

between a standard or a market contract.

pants for the privi-lege of allowing me to listen to your many ‘voices’.

The Tasmanian Voic-es report can be downloaded from the TasCOSS web-site, www.tascoss.org.au

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Energy industry reforms

• Introduction of full retail competition in Tasmania from 1 January 2014.

• Sale and transfer of Aurora Energy’s small retail customers to three new privately owned retailers,

to be effective from 1 January 2014.

• Independent regulation of Hydro Tasmania’s wholesale market activities in Tasmania by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator from 1 July 2013.

• Merger of Aurora Energy’s distribution business and Transend’s transmission network from 1 July 2014.

only Victoria has completely de-regulated prices as well.

The Tasmanian Government has been introducing retail compe-tition to large electricity users, in a number a tranches deter-mined by annual usage, for sev-eral years.

It had intended to introduce re-tail competition for all electricity customers in 2011 but delayed it due to uncertainty about the viability of competition with only a single major electricity whole-saler in the state (Hydro Tasma-nia). It was thought that the lack of wholesale competition would deter retailers from entering the Tasmanian retail market.

To address this barrier, the Gov-ernment has decided that the Tasmanian Economic Regulator will regulate Hydro Tasmania’s wholesale activities to ensure that all retailers have access to wholesale energy at fair prices and that Hydro does not misuse its market power.

It is uncertain whether or not retail competition will result in lower prices for all Tasmanian households.

Low-income households with histories of payment difficulties will be less attractive to retailers

In other states where full retail competition has been intro-duced, prices have continued to rise, including in Victoria where the retail price is no long-er regulated. The Tasmanian Government has stated clearly that price regulation will contin-ue in the state ‘until the Govern-ment is satisfied that competi-tion is fully effective’.

The Government has decided that the risk to Aurora Energy’s retail business in a fully competi-tive market would be too great and has decided to sell Aurora’s small retail customers to new retailers and to transfer the re-mainder of the retail business to Hydro Tasmania’s mainland

retail company, Momentum En-ergy.

This means that from 1 January 2014, all Tasmanian households will have their electricity supply provided by a new retailer.

After that occurs, the new retail-ers will compete to attract cus-tomers away from their assigned retailer and on to a new con-tract. Customers will have the choice to remain on a ‘stand-ard contract’ (or ‘standard of-fer’, with a regulated price) or to take up a ‘market contract’ (or ‘market offer’) for which the price and/or terms and condi-tions may vary.

Experience from other jurisdic-tions indicates that energy re-tailers engage in vigorous mar-keting activities which include door-to-door and telemarket-ing, and often offer induce-ments unrelated to electric-ity service or price (such as free football club membership or a free DVD player).

Retail energy marketing ac-tivities have caused significant problems in other jurisdictions, especially with vulnerable con-sumers, such as those for whom English is not a first language and those whose comprehen-sion or judgement may be im-

paired through disability, mental illness or other factors.

There is a danger that consum-ers may not fully understand the market offers made to them. Like mobile phone contracts, energy contracts can be complex and the benefits and disadvantages may be unclear.

Not all consumers are fully aware of their usage patterns and may not understand which terms and conditions will suit their particu-lar household circumstances. It is concerning that marketing practices do not always provide clarity in this regard.

While energy marketing activities are regulated under the Nation-al Energy Customer Framework, it is essential that compliance is carefully monitored and en-forced, and that breaches are appropriately penalised.

Pay As You GoAurora Pay As You Go customer contracts will also be sold. It is likely, given the need to main-tain dedicated point-of-sale agents for card re-charging, that the entire APAYG customer base (about 37,000 households) will be sold to a single new re-tailer. It is also likely that APAYG prices will remain unregulated.

The planned merger of the Au-rora distribution and Transend transmission businesses into a single company is likely to pro-vide cost savings in the long run. Obvious savings will be made by merging corporate structures, while additional savings will be realised through combining reg-ulatory, maintenance and other field staff and sharing network-related equipment.

It is likely that the new network entity created by the merger will remain under state ownership.

Impactonlow-incomehouseholdsIt is not clear whether these longer term reforms will ben-efit all Tasmanian households. The Government obviously puts value on choice and expects that customers ‘should receive a price benefit’ from being able to choose their retailer.

However, this has not necessarily been the case in other jurisdic-tions, where some retailers have cherry-picked households they see as low-risk and potentially profitable. These are generally more affluent households, and they are offered lower prices in return for regular, on-time pay-ment by direct debit or other low- cost payment methods.

Low-income households with histories of payment difficulties will be less attractive to retail-ers, although there will be an obligation, on some retailers at least, to provide contracts to all households.

All retailers will be required to have a Hardship Policy in place, approved by the Australian En-ergy Regulator, and to provide a Hardship Program for custom-ers who are experiencing dif-ficulty paying their electricity accounts. Approved Hardship Policies must include access to negotiated payment plans, as well as referral to external assis-tance from financial counselling and emergency relief services.

However, Retailer Hardship Poli-

cies do not require retailers to provide emergency relief funds such as those currently provided to customers by Aurora Energy via emergency relief providers in Tasmania.

Aurora currently allocates more than $300,000 per annum for distribution to its customers ex-periencing hardship. This will be sorely missed by many Tasmani-ans in need.

All households will have access to standard-offer contracts with prices regulated by the Tasma-nian Economic Regulator. How-ever, many may be persuaded to take up a ‘market offer’ that may not be well understood and that may include disadvanta-geous conditions, such as high penalties for late payment or price increases after a fixed pe-riod.

In addition, all households may be subject to persistent and in-trusive marketing from electric-ity retailers, at least in the early stages of competition. Some will be more vulnerable to such marketing than others, it is there-fore vital that marketing activ-

ity is closely monitored and that robust regulation and consumer protections are actively en-forced.

The fact that electricity supply is an essential service makes it im-perative that electricity remains affordable to all households, regardless of their income and regardless of the nature of the electricity market.

The Tasmanian Council of Social Service believes that the State Government must ensure that adequate protections are in place – and that these are rigor-ously enforced – to ensure that no Tasmanian household will be disconnected from electricity supply solely for inability to pay.

For further information, read Energy for the Future: Reforming Tasmania’s electricity industry, May 2012, Tasmanian Govern-ment. Available for download from the Department of Finance and Treasury. http://www.treas-ury.tas.gov.au/domino/dtf/dtf.nsf/v-elec-ref/0/

Standards and performance pathways breakthroughTasCOSS is very pleased to have received funding from the De-partment of Health and Human Services to provide an online system that will drastically re-duce the time it takes communi-ty service organisations to com-plete the processes required to meet industry quality and safety standards.

TasCOSS will engage the Brad-field Nyland Group to create an online portal providing access to their patented commercial tool, the Standards and Performance Pathways (SPP), designed spe-cifically for Australian commu-nity service organisations.

TasCOSS is working to develop a pricing structure that is fair and equitable for organisations of varying sizes.

It is hoped the SPP will be avail-able through the portal by Oc-tober.

For more information, contact Tim Tabart, tim@tascoss.org.au or 6231 0755.

The system will also give organi-sations access to tailored tools and resources to support them to improve their management and governance.

The SPP is available on an an-nual subscription basis. The TasCOSS portal will allow Tas-manian organisations to use the service at a significantly re-duced rate.

The DHHS funding will also pay the subscription fees for 120 or-ganisations for one year.

Kath McLean

TasCOSS Senior Policy and Research Officer

Tim Tabart

Sector Development Unit

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A primary focus of the reforms is support for people to

remain living in their own homes.

Changes for aged care The new federal Living Longer. Living Better reforms recognise the realities of Australia’s ageing demographic

Australia has an ageing popu-lation, with Tasmania in the lead as the most rapidly ageing of all states and territories. By 2020 almost one in four Tasmanians will be over the age of 65 and by 2050 this figure is expected to be one in three.

It has been apparent that to avoid a crisis in the provision of aged-care services in Australia, especially as the baby boomers reach older age during the next decade or so, significant reform of the current system is needed.

A single entry point for all inquiries relating to aged-care assistance and services will be created

The looming reality of an age-ing Australian population, and the policy and service provision challenges this presents, lan-guished for many years in the political ‘too hard’ basket. In 2010 the federal Labor Govern-ment recognised, to its credit, that addressing this issue could be delayed no longer and em-barked on a process of seeking solutions and options for reform.

The first step in this process was to commission a comprehensive inquiry by the Productivity Com-mission on the nation’s aged-care system and how it might best meet the needs of older Australians in coming decades.

This inquiry released its final re-port, Caring for Older Austral-ians, in March 2011. This year, in April 2012, the Gillard Govern-ment responded to the Produc-tivity Commission’s report with an aged-care services reform package, Living Longer. Living Better.

The Living Longer. Living Better package provides $3.7 billion over five years and represents the commencement of a 10-year reform program. Overall, the direction of these reforms has been well received – they are based on principles of eq-uity, greater say for consumers and funding of more services. The reforms are seen as well-focused and a good beginning.

Key elements of the reforms1. An easier way to get informa-tion, enter and navigate the system

A single entry point for all inquir-ies relating to aged-care assis-tance and services will be cre-ated – an aged-care gateway. This gateway will be a national call centre, operating from 1 July 2013, and providing local information on aged-care ser-vices. It will simplify the process of seeking information and re-ceiving referrals to appropriate services.

As part of the gateway, in early 2014 a linking service will start operating to assist older people with multiple needs to access housing, health, disability, finan-cial and aged-care services.

Also in 2013, a new website called My Aged Care will begin. On this website people will be able to find information about aged-care services and also make comparisons between services.

The implementation of the new reforms will include a national assessment framework which will mean that when a person enters the aged-care system a single assessment will be made which can be used for any or all services that may be required by that person.

2. Flexible assistance to remain living independently at home

A primary focus under the new reforms will continue to be sup-port for people to remain living in their own homes. People as-sessed as requiring assistance to live independently in their home will have access to two pro-grams for that support:

• Home Support Program – for those who require some basic help, which will be an integrated service including meals, trans-port, respite care and home maintenance.

• Home care packages – pro-viding services for those with higher needs, ranging from a couple of hours a week through to 10-14 hours a week. Addi-tional funding will be provided through the care packages for those requiring higher levels of care due to dementia.

From 2013, as part of the switch to a consumer-directed ap-proach to aged-care services, people will have more say over the services they receive and the delivery of their home care packages. The mechanism for this will be the Consumer-Direct-ed Care initiative, which has been trialled over the past two years.

Over the next 10 years the Gov-ernment will fund an additional 80,000 care packages to meet the need for these services.

3. Changes to residential care

The Living Longer. Living Better reforms will remove the distinc-tion between low and high resi-dential care and, as with home care packages, provide addi-tional funding in the residential care setting for consumers who require higher levels of care due to dementia. A more consumer-directed approach will also be implemented in the residential care setting.

4. Who is going to pay?

In the current aged-care sys-tem, arrangements for paying for services are not standard-ised and are inequitable. The Productivity Commission found that the current system inequita-bly advantages those who are wealthy.

Under the Living Longer. Liv-ing Better reforms, the fees and charges for all services have been remodelled with a view to achieving greater equity. The methods of means-testing have been reviewed to create a fairer system for working out how much people will pay for the care they receive. There will be more options for how you pay for residential aged care – including lump sums, periodic payments or a mixture of both. And, as with the current system, the Commonwealth will remain the major source of funding for aged-care services.

Fees and costs under the new system will be monitored by a new Aged Care Financing Au-thority.

As a criticism of the reform pack-age, COTA (Council on the Age-ing Australia), has raised the fact that it does not include govern-ment support to unlock the eq-uity in your home to pay for care if that is what suits you best. Nor does it prevent the pension sta-tus of people who downsize or move to accommodation that better meets their needs be-ing affected by the money their house sale puts in their bank ac-count.

5. Developing a sustainable work-force

An enormous challenge in meeting the current and future aged-care needs of Australia is ensuring that there is a sufficient and appropriately skilled work-force to deliver the services that are required.

Working in aged care and geri-atrics has traditionally been low- paid and low-status, so the reforms have focused on improv-ing the wages and conditions of the aged-care workforce to en-

sure that an adequate and ap-propriately remunerated work-force can be attracted and retained in the sector.

Additional elements of the reform package include:

• Increased funding for the Na-tional Aged Care Advocacy program.

• Quality and regulation moni-tored through the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency.

• An Aged Care Reform Imple-mentation Council established to oversee the implementation of the reforms over a 10-year period, including a review of progress after five years.

A key message from the sec-tor and the community to the Productivity Commission during their consultation on aged-care reform was that aged-care ser-vices should no longer be pro-vided on a rationed basis, but should rather be an entitlement for all Australians as they be-come older.

It was widely argued that older people should be entitled to access appropriate services to meet their needs and that the aged-care sector needed to be reformed to meet that require-ment. Unfortunately, this has not been achieved in the Liv-ing Longer. Living Better reform package.

While the reforms show every sign of being a genuine im-provement on the current sys-tem, and there is to be a signifi-cant increase in the number of packages of care and residen-tial places available, services will still be rationed and are likely to still fall short of meeting the pro-jected need.

Of course, as with any major re-form process, the Living Longer. Living Better reforms will not be

implemented overnight. While there is some disappointment in the length of the timeframe for the implementation, there has been widespread agreement from the sector and from con-sumers that these reforms take Australia a number of steps in the right direction and are most welcome.

For more information on the Liv-ing Longer. Living Better aged care reforms:

• Department of Health and Ageing information and fact sheets http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/ageing-aged-care-re-view-measures-living.htm

• COTA Australia fact sheets http://www.cota.org.au/austral-ia/Achieving/cma.aspx

Meg Webb

TasCOSS Policy and Research Officer

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IncomemanagementtakesoffWhat started as a control measure in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities is now being extended to Centrelink clients in urban areas

Income management began as part of the Howard Govern-ment’s Intervention into North-ern Territory Aboriginal commu-nities in 2007. On 29 June this year, Federal Parliament passed the Stronger Futures legislation, which has entrenched income management in the Northern Territory for 10 more years and extended it to five new areas from 1 July.

The new areas for this social experiment are Bankstown – a suburb of Sydney, Playford in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, the Victorian regional centre of Shepparton, the north Queens-land city of Rockhampton and Logan, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Federal Minister for Families, Community Services and Indig-enous Affairs Jenny Macklin, who was booed at the national NAIDOC Week event in Hobart on 9 July because of her support for the Intervention, maintains that not all families have the skills to balance their budgets. She says income management will ensure the children of these families get fed.

A key part of the income man-agement strategy is the Ba-sicsCard. People referred for income management receive only half of their Centrelink al-lowance in cash, with the oth-er half put on the card for the purchase of essentials from ap-proved stores and businesses.

“Imagine having to ask a gov-ernment agency permission to pay your regular bills; think about the stigma of shopping with a card that marks you as a social security recipient who can’t manage their money,” acting Australian Council of Social Service CEO Tessa Boyd-Caine wrote in the Herald Sun newspaper on 15 July.

“Compulsory income man-agement is a policy based on stereotypes rather than hard evidence. The basic idea is that recipients of social security pay-ments are not good at manag-ing their money, waste it on al-cohol or gambling, don’t care for their children properly, and/or have adapted to life on ben-efits,” Dr Boyd-Caine said.

“As with most stereotypes, these things are sometimes true. But policies based on a stereotype will only make life harder for the majority who are simply strug-gling to meet all of their living costs and search for jobs on payments as low as Newstart Al-lowance, which is $35 a day.”

The Federal Government is spending more than $117 million to fund the bureaucracy need-ed to micro-manage the spend-ing of just 4000 Centrelink clients, according to the peak National Welfare Rights Network.

Income management will cost around $6000 per person under management.

There is strong opposition com-ing from the five communities being used for the trial of in-come management outside of the Northern Territory.

“Rather than helping people look after their families better and manage their money bet-ter, income management pun-ishes and stigmatises people in our community who are already struggling,” said Woodville Com-munity Services executive offic-er Pam Batkin, a member of the Not in Bankstown Not Anywhere Coalition.

“When so many people across our community agree that the Newstart Allowance is simply not enough for anyone to live on, there is something profoundly wrong with the Government

spending so much to manage the spending of a single person on this allowance.”

Rather than helping people look after their families better and manage their money better, income management punishes and stigmatises

Randa Kattan, executive direc-tor of Arab Council Australia and spokesperson for the Bankstown Coalition, visited NT communi-ties in late 2011 to see first-hand the impact of income manage-ment.

“From the bush to Bankstown, people do not need income management. They need job opportunities, higher incomes and improved social services,” Ms Kattan said.

“But here in Bankstown Stronger Futures means the same punitive approach that we see in the NT. Only $2.5 million has been al-located for community-based programs, while $23 million will be spent on income manage-ment.”

Terry Stedman, chairman of the Logan Indigenous Community Justice Centre, said: “We are very concerned about the ab-sence of any way of evaluating decisions made to refer people onto income management and the lack of an appeals process.”

“Instead of punishing people the Government should be spending this money on ensur-ing enough support services for these families.”

Information courtesy of

Australian Council of Social Service

Tessa Boyd-Caine

ACOSS

The Tasmanian Council of Social Service, TasCOSS, was established in 1961. TasCOSS is the peak body

for the Tasmanian community services sector.

Our mission To advocate for the interests of low-income and

otherwise disadvantaged Tasmanians, and to serve as the peak council for the state’s community

services industry.

Our visionA fair, just and inclusive Tasmania.

Meg Webb

Social Policy and Research Officer

Wynne Russell

Social Policy and Research Officer

Gabrielle Rish

Communications and Membership Officer

Jill Pope

Finance Officer

Tony Reidy

Chief Executive Officer

Tim Tabbart

Development Officer

Sector Development Unit

Klaus Baur

HACC Project Officer/Consumer Engagement

Sector Development Unit

Beng Poh

Executive Assistant to the CEO

Dale Rahmanovic

Development Officer

Sector Development Unit

Kath McLean

Senior Social Policy and Research Officer

TasCOSS is supported by the Department of Health and Human Services.

conference 2012

Engagement, innovation & equity HOBART

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Lure Wishes

Adult Literacy Support Officer

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