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SEPTEMBER UPDATE
JULY NATIONAL 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 a non-party, neither-left-nor-right
agenda of empowerment of ordinary people.
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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The Centre for Civil Society is a think tank of a different kind. Most think
tanks in Australia and overseas are formed by organisations on the Right or the
Left who have money to spend commissioning and then publishing opinion pieces
which are intended to advance the interests of their backers. Big business,
trade unions, and left-leaning universities sponsor and fund most think tanks,
and they do so with money that is usually not their own (big business uses
shareholders's money, trade unions use their members' money, and universities
use taxpayers' money).
The Centre for Civil Society has been established to
promote an agenda of empowerment for people with little money or influence. That
makes it a different creature from every other think tank in the country. It
conducts events and publishes papers, but it also organises in a practical way
(bringing together citizens with common interests to take initiatives, or to
further social innovation).
The core unit of our organising is the
FEDERAL ELECTORATE ASSEMBLY (FEA). In each
federal electorate (150 around Australia) we will appoint a Convenor to bring
together people who wish to work locally to influence policy and opinion.
Disability, mental health and family carer issues
are the immediate (but not exclusive) focus of each FEA. Participants will
organise local initiatives, events, lobbying and media activity to effect a
sea-change in public policy on disability, carer and mental health issues and to
advance our agenda of empowerment.
Applications for appointment as an FEA Convenor should be made to the Director -
vern@civilsociety.org.au
The Board of Trustees of the Centre is also able to authorise the establishment of
Campaign Groups of participants around various activities or interests.
A
CAMPAIGN GROUP may form to work on a campaign in a local council, a credit union,
a not-for-profit that has lost its way, a public company, or may work to develop
an empowerment agenda in a sector or field or industry. anything else. It may be initiated by
citizens who approach the Centre, and it must work to a charter approved by the Board
of Trustees.
Applications for approval of Campaign Groups should be made to the Director -
vern@civilsociety.org.au
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©
Centre for Civil Society 2007 |
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TRANSFORMING OUR
SCHOOLS
CLICK HERE for
details of our campaign for a Real Education Revolution.
CLICK HERE
for
info on the National
Federation of Parents, Families and Carers. |
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STREET BY STREET SUBURB BY SUBURB
Community Building and Social Inclusion
National Development Conference
21/22 April 2010
CLICK HERE for details. |
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CORPORATE
WELFARE WATCH
Latest Handout Tally
$6.4b Car manufacturers subsidies
$2b Commercial property construction industry
$3.9b Free emission permits to coal-fired electricity generators
$2b Car dealer finance guarantee
$149m GMH 4 cylinder car
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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THIRD WAY FORUM
Communitarianism,
Mutualism, Third Way Thinking
CLICK HERE
to find out more. |
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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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RESPECT
EMPOWER
INCLUDE |
Participate in our five-point
non-party-political campaign to empower ordinary people.
CLICK HERE
to join us and to express an interest in Convening in your
electorate. |
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SUBSCRIBE |
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To SUBSCRIBE to our FREE
email news bulletin, enter your email address here. |
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Family Carers
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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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Standing Up to Telstra and
the Big Four Banks |
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Help us create a
voice for consumers. Read more... |
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How to Use this Website
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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.
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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
.
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Click on the links
on the left to
JOIN,
VOLUNTEER
or make a
DONATION; or to participate in one of our
DISCUSSION forums.
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Use the
SEARCH
button to find items of interest; or the
WRITE
button to send us your comments and suggestions.
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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).
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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.
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If you need more
assistance, feel free to send a message to our
WEBMASTER.
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And don't forget to
visit again soon to see our website - and our ideas, campaigns
and policies - evolve. We value your contribution.
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