Welfare services

Organisations

Centrelink is an Australian Government Statutory Agency, assisting people to become self-sufficient and supporting those in need. It administers the Austudy and Youth allowance payments for youth.

National Welfare Rights Network provides free and independent information, advice and representation about Social Security law and its administration. They also publish a newsletter, rights review, and the annual Independent social security handbook.

Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is the peak council of the community services and welfare sector.

Agencies:
The following networks deliver most of Australia's non-government social services, dealing with more than four million Australians each year:

• Anglicare Australia is the peak body for a national network of locally-based and governed Anglican care organisations serving the needs of disadvantaged Australians and their communities.
• Catholic Social Services Australia is the Catholic Church’s principal national body for social services. It helps promote better social policy for the most disadvantaged people in Australian society. It has 67 member organisations that employ over 10,000 people and provide 500 different services to over a million people each year from sites in metropolitan, regional and rural Australia.
• The Salvation Army is an international movement that is an evangelical part of the Christian Church and has provided service to the Australian community for over 125 years. Part of the Salvation Army's mission involves meeting human need wherever it occurs, without discrimination, and it provides a myriad of services throughout Australia including aged care, court and prison services, crisis and support accommodation, employment services, financial and telephone counselling and youth support through its 520 centres across Australia.
• UnitingCare Australia is a national agency of the Uniting Church in Australia and represents the nationwide network of over 400 UnitingCare community services. The UnitingCare network is one of the largest providers of community services in Australia, providing services to more than two million Australians each year.

(Source: The impact of the global financial crisis on social services in Australia, an issues paper prepared by Access Economics for Anglicare Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia, The Salvation Army and UnitingCare Australia, 2008; PDF document, Salvation Army website.)

Social Policy Research Centre, a research centre of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, conducts research and fosters discussion on all aspects of social policy in Australia, as well as supporting PhD study in these areas.

Publications:
The biennial report on Australia's welfare, issued by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, is a comprehensive and authoritative source of national information on welfare services in Australia.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence publishes a 'Social Barometer', the second of which was titled, The Brotherhood's Social Barometer: challenges facing Australian youth (PDF file, 200 KB). Published in 2006, it examined "how well equipped Australia are (or are not) to negotiate successfully the transition from childhood to adulthood, from school to work in a rapidly changing world. It presents indicators of young people’s capabilities covering seven key dimensions of life from physical and mental health to education and employment and social and civic participation ... The barometer concentrates on national data, and pays particular attention to young people with socioeconomically disadvantaged, refugee and Indigenous backgrounds".