|
HOME PAGE
NOVEMBER UPDATE
OCTOBER UPDATE
AUGUST
UPDATE
|
|
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. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
AGM SEASON
Making a difference in our not-for-profits.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
COMMUNITY BUILDING
NATIONAL NETWORK
CLICK HERE
to participate in the
Network. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
SURVEYS |
|
If you are the proprietor of
a small business, please send us your thoughts on how we can support
small businesses through our |
|
SMALL BUSINESS SURVEY |
|
If you
are caring for an ill or disabled family member at home, please click
here to participate in our |
|
Family CarERS SURVEY |
|
| |
| |
| |
|
|
EDUCATION HEALTH DISABILITY AGEING
Parents Families and
Carers
as a Movement for Change
NATIONAL
SERIES OF WORKSHOPS
Brisbane:
Friday 22nd October
New Farm Neighbourhood Centre
Adelaide:
Tuesday 26th October
Bowden Brompton Community Centre
Canberra:
Monday 1st November
Pearce Community Centre Pearce
Perth: Tuesday 30th November
Loftus Community Centre
10am - 3pm
Register Here
Program
For
far too long there has been no broad public voice in Australia advocating for
parents, families and carers. Crucial decisions by government on policies
shaping how we care for our families - children, the elderly, the ill and those with a
disability - are usually dominated by a neo-liberal/managerial view of the world which reduces family
values to rhetoric about increased workforce participation and assigns 'support'
exclusively to formal and often impersonal agencies. There is no serious
discussion of realistic policies to ease what is often a collision between work
and family life.
On health, or schools, or disability, or parental leave, the debate is
restricted to politicians, academics, and service providers, with parents and
families invisible.
Often the only voice claiming to speak for families is the
conservative Christian lobby through organisations like the Australian Family
Association, but such groups do not ‘represent’ the diversity of contemporary
Australian families. Because there is no inclusive and representative voice, too
many of us are excluded from public debate on policies which profoundly affect
our well being.
What we want to do in these Workshops is explore ways of changing all this and
developing a broad parents and families movement.
You are warmly
invited to participate.
What are the
obstacles to parents families and carers
working together to become the strongest movement for change in the land?
What are the
divisive issues and how can they be overcome?
How do we influence the public
debate so that parents and families do the talking,
and not simply be talked about?
How do we
build up our own capacity?
Who are our
leaders?
Our aim is to develop a parents
and families movement that can have a big influence on the minority Commonwealth government over the coming three years.
Register Here
Program
Enquiries:
Vern Hughes
vern@civilsociety.org.au
Tel: 03 9824 4713
M: 0425 722 890
Click Here
for information on the National Federation of
Parents, Families and Carers.
There is no cost to join the Federation.
SIGN UP NOW
|
|
|
|
|
|
©
Centre for Civil Society 2007-2010 | |
|
TRANSFORMING OUR
SCHOOLS
CLICK HERE for
details of our campaign for a Real Education Revolution.
|
|
|
|
PARENTS FAMILIES AND
CARERS
CLICK HERE
for
info on the National
Federation of Parents, Families and Carers. |
|
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. |
|
THIRD WAY FORUM
Communitarianism,
Mutualism, Third Way Thinking
CLICK HERE
to find out more. |
|
|
SUBSCRIBE
To SUBSCRIBE to our FREE email news bulletin, enter your
email address here.
|
|
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... |
|
|
How to Use this Website
|
If you are visiting
this website for the first time, please note that there are two
sets of links - one at the top of each page; and a second on the
left hand side.
Click on the links on the top of the page for information on the
Centre for Civil Society - including an overview of our current
CAMPAIGNS
and
POLICIES
we would like you to comment on
.Click
on the links on the left to
JOIN,
VOLUNTEER
or make a
DONATION; or to participate in one of our
DISCUSSION forums.
Use the
SEARCH
button to find items of interest; or the
WRITE
button to send us your comments and suggestions.If you are
having problems navigating, there are additional links at
the bottom of each page. Or click here for our
PLAIN TEXT version (ideal for printing).
For those with
reading difficulties, this website has been designed so you can
click on 'Text Size' in your 'View' menu to enlarge the font..
If you need more
assistance, feel free to send a message to our
WEBMASTER.
And don't forget
to visit again soon to see our website - and our ideas,
campaigns and policies - evolve. We value your
contribution. |
|
|
|
