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Single Parent Support Australia Report to Annual General
Meeting - November 7, 1998
Mission:
The Single Parent Support Australia fights for
improvements in the social legal and economic status of single mothers and their
children for the benefit of all sole parent families.
Aims:
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To ensure that
children of single mothers have a fair start in life
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To recognise single
mothers and their children as a viable and positive family unit
�
To promote the
understanding and acceptance of single mothers and their children in the
community so that they may be free of prejudice
�
To work for
improvements in the social, legal and economic status of single mothers and
their children, particularly when new legislation and services are introduced.
The principal
issues affecting our membership can be summarised as follows:
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Women�s and
children�s access to safety from violence
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Lone mothers access
to income security via income support, market earnings and child support:
including access to childcare to participate in training/education and the
labour market
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Post-separation
parenting issues including Family Law and ancillary services and access to legal
aid.
Although
Single Parent Support Australia was formed 25 years ago, the issues with which it engages have continued
to expand across diverse areas of federal government including:
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Treasury and Finance
- ATO, Tax reform, child support
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Attorney-Generals
Department, Family Court and ancillary services, Legal Aid, Law Reform
�
OSW - National
Policy approaches to women�s issues, eg violence against women, women�s access
to superannuation
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DSS - income
security for sole parent families
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Department of Health
and Family Services - childcare, maternal and child health
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DEETYA - JET, access
to labour market training programmes, access to higher education
Over the year
Single Parent Support Australia has taken every opportunity to access diverse areas of government and to
network with other national women�s organisations ranging from the Playgroup
Association and Nursing Mothers Association, through to the National Women�s
Justice Coalition.
Single Parent Support Australia has
been a special assembly member of ACOSS for many years. Single Parent Support Australia�s current
National Convenor, Rille Walshe, attends and has been an active policy resource
co-ordinator.
The following
are some of the submissions and representations in which Single Parent Support Australia has participated
over the past year:
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Share care post
separation parenting and DSS income support policy
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Parental Abduction
of Children and law reform
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National Planning
Framework for Child Care
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Model Criminal Code,
Sexual Offences Against the Person
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Senate Housing
Assistance Inquiry
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Implementation of
the Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency
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The Joint Standing
Committee Inquiry into the Status of the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child
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The Office for the
Status of Women on the Optional Protocol for the UN Convention for the
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
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Attorney-General�s
Department on the new Commonwealth Guidelines for Legal Aid.
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Community Affairs
Legislation Committee on the Parenting Allowance Bill
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Attorney General�s
Department on the Delivery of Primary Dispute Resolution Services in Family Law
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Australian Law
Reform Commission Review of the adversarial system of litigation: Rethinking
Family Law Proceedings
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Senate Community
Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Child Care Funding
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Senate Legal and
Constitutional Affairs Committee Inquiry into Legal Aid
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DSS Women�s Policy
Consultation
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Senate Community
Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Youth Allowance
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Attend the Round
Table meetings of National Women�s Organisations
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Attend Child Support
Agency RAP and Regional RAP Panel meetings
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Attend Child Support
Agency New Services Consultation
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Attend Women �s
Constitutional Convention
Single Parent Support Australia
participates in community education and information through talks to
universities, colleges, community groups, schools etc. It publishes a
quarterly newsletter �Flying Solo� and responds to media regularly.
Single Parent Support Australia has
undertaken a program of social work student supervision and has supervised
students from Flinders University and University of SA as well as overseas
placements with the University of Gottenburg in Sweden.
Single Parent Support Australia gets
its information from a variety of sources but the most important source is its
membership. A large proportion of time is spent on the telephone with individual
members. (Sometimes the only assistance we can offer is the time to hear how
hard it is. Sometimes we hear the triumphs also!)
Single Parent Support Australia gets
its direction largely from the biennial conference resolutions.
Immediate
Goals:
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Securing funding
for 1999-2000 funding period
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Improving
international links with sole parent organisations via the Global Alliance of
Single Mothers and their Children
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Indentification of
significant research areas which should be pursued
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Monitoring outcomes
of changes in child support legislation, parenting payment and family payments
eligibility and delivery, family law reforms and legal aid funding delivery as
these changes affect single mothers and their children and other sole parent
families
Further
Goals:
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Improving
information to and about single parents amongst the membership, associate
organisations, agencies and government and the media and the wider community
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Responding to
legislative initiatives which affect sole parents and improving the lobbying
skills of the membership
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Planning and
conducting biennial conference
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Increasing
membership both organisation and individual
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Improving and
securing a long-term funding base.
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