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HOME PAGE
NOVEMBER UPDATE
OCTOBER UPDATE
AUGUST
UPDATE
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We bring people
together in each federal electorate (150 electorates around
Australia) to work locally in engaging our communities and our
representatives in an agenda of empowerment of ordinary people
and strengthening of civil society.
CLICK HERE to join us. |
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SELF-DIRECTED
SERVICES AND PERSONAL BUDGETS
You can take charge of your social support, education and health
care through a personal budget.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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AGM SEASON
Making a difference in our not-for-profits.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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STREET BY STREET
Linking
up people who live in the same
street or nearby to build community through practical helping
tasks - on a national scale.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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COMMUNITY BUILDING
NATIONAL NETWORK
CLICK HERE
to participate in the
Network. |
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LEFT AND RIGHT?
"The Left and Right have been as bad as each other. The Left has
allowed its distrust of markets and endless faith in government
to obscure the importance of civil society. The Right has been
so focused on replacing the state with markets that it has
forgotten how to cultivate a trusting society.
This is the politics of the absurd. The Left identifies with the
good society but rarely talks about the mutualism and trust
between people. The Right recognises the importance of moral
obligation but gives the impression of trusting market
transactions more than civil society.
Few things seem to happen anymore
without a government law or market transaction to guide
them. This is how record levels of GDP in Australia now sit
alongside record levels of crime, social stress and family
breakdown. The political balance needs to swing back towards
civil society.
This task, in fact, requires a new type of politics."
Mark Latham, Mutualism: A Third Way for Australia," 1999.
CLICK HERE
to read more. |
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SURVEYS |
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If you are the proprietor of
a small business, please send us your thoughts on how we can support
small businesses through our |
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SMALL BUSINESS SURVEY |
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If you
are caring for an ill or disabled family member at home, please click
here to participate in our |
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Family CarERS SURVEY |
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National Federation of Parents, Families and Carers
CLICK HERE to read
the Platform as a PDF document (27KB).
FEDERAL ELECTION PLATFORM
10 Big Changes for
Parents, Families and Carers
The National Federation of Parents,
Families and Carers is calling for:
Leadership
1. A Royal Commission of Enquiry into the form and extent of system failure and
unmet need in the human services for children and adults with complex issues and
conditions across the fields of early childhood development; education;
disability; mental illness; learning, developmental and behavioural challenges;
chronic and acute illness; and aged care.
2. A declaration of "National Emergency" in relation to the crisis in families
with ageing carers.
3. A major audit by the Productivity Commission of the financial cost of
duplication, inefficiency and waste in government departments in the human
services due to federal-state divisions, silo-centred delivery systems, and
professional disciplinary demarcations.
Choice and Accountability
4. Establishment of a national network of One-Stop-Shop Information Services,
independent of governments and service providers, to provide access information,
comparative service quality information, and comparative price data to families
on support services, health services, schools, child care, accommodation
services, respite services, and practitioners.
Family Accounts
5. Establishment of an Office of Family Accounts in the Department of Prime
Minister and Cabinet to introduce mechanisms for consolidating money from
various funding streams and programs in Family Accounts held on behalf of
families to purchase personalised services for their family members.
6. A requirement that all federally funded services introduce a "per person"
unit cost for their services so that eligible families may draw down their "per
person" allocations and consolidate them in their Family Account.
Consolidated Child Care Payment
7. An overhaul of funding arrangements in early childhood services, child care,
primary school education, and before and after-school care, to consolidate
resources in a single payment attached to each child (adjusted with a
needs-based rating), allocated directly to parents through their Family Account.
Person-Centred Information Record
8. Major investment in an IT-based Person-Centred Information Record for
children and adults with complex issues and conditions, with legislative
recognition of parents as the authorised gatekeepers of this information record
for children, whose consent is required by providers and practitioners to access
it.
Respite
9. Introduction of a Respite Entitlement assigned directly to families through
their Family Account, adjusted with a difficulty-in-caring rating, giving 6
weeks of respite per year to families with a family member with complex issues
and conditions. The Respite Entitlement would be used to purchase in-home
respite or facility-based respite according to the preference of the family.
Supported Accommodation and Independent Living
Authority
10. Establishment of a federal Supported Accommodation and Independent Living
Authority to fast track a rapid development of innovative housing and
accommodation options for people with complex issues and conditions and those
requiring significant support.
SIGN UP NOW
CLICK HERE to
go back to the previous page on the Federation.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Vern Hughes
Secretary
federation@civilsociety.org.au
PO Box 159 Yarraville Vic 3013
Tel: 0425 722 890
CLICK HERE
to join up.
©
Centre for Civil Society 2007 | |
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TRANSFORMING OUR
SCHOOLS
CLICK HERE for
details of our campaign for a Real Education Revolution.
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PARENTS FAMILIES AND
CARERS
CLICK HERE
for
info on the National
Federation of Parents, Families and Carers. |
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MAKING IT PERSONAL
Charlie Leadbeater, Jamie
Bartlett and Niamh Gallagher have authored this highly
influential Demos Report on Self-Directed Services
and Personal Budgets.
CLICK HERE
to read
Making It Personal. |
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THIRD WAY FORUM
Communitarianism,
Mutualism, Third Way Thinking
CLICK HERE
to find out more. |
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SUBSCRIBE
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Family Carers
There are
2.7million family carers of people with a disability, a chronic
or mental illness, or aged frailty in Australia. They are
invisible to politicians and policy makers.
Read more... |
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How to Use this Website
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CAMPAIGNS
and
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