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6 min read

Update from our Impact Fund Partners: October 2021

Profile of ACF
Written by ACFPosted on 7/10/2021

In this month’s Impact Fund Partner Update, we take a look at new reports from the Poverty and Inequality Partnership, Farmers for Climate Action, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative and Renew, plus Country Needs People celebrates the announcement of new Indigenous Protected Areas and SNAICC supports the handover of services to Indigenous community-controlled organisations.

Don’t miss this month’s additions to our new section ‘Quick and easy ways to support’ at the end of the article.

ACOSS and UNSW Poverty and Inequality Partnership

Tackling Inequality Partner

Following on from this, the Partnership has just released another report analysing income support during Covid lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

The first of a number of reports for the Partnership’s Covid-19 Building Back Fairer Series, the report demonstrates how the pandemic has hit lower-income areas the hardest. Accompanying the report is an interactive map that shows the numbers of people eligible for Covid disaster payments across the two years.

The Partnership continues to advocate against the ending of these payments once vaccine milestones are reached.

“We know many people are unable to go straight back into paid work after a lockdown, which is what we saw last year. The OECD has told Australia it needs to increase its unemployment payments because they drive people into poverty,” said ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie in an article for Pro Bono Australia.

“People won’t be able to pay their rent, afford food and cover the cost of other essentials. The mental health consequences are serious.”

The ACOSS and UNSW Poverty and Inequality Partnership has received ongoing support from the Impact Fund since 2018.

Farmers for Climate Action

Safeguarding the Environment Partner

Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) has released a landmark report exploring how good climate policy can support Australian farming families to diversify their incomes and increase profitability while reducing emissions.

Ahead of the forthcoming UNFCCC Glasgow Climate Change Conference this November, FCA is using the report to attract broad industry support for a low emissions pathway that would see the agricultural sector achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

Read the report or watch the launch below. FCA is also calling for signatures on its petition for climate action, which you can sign here.

Farmers for Climate Action was first supported by the Impact Fund in 2018.

Public Interest Journalism Initiative

Strengthening Democracy Partner

“There is a very real and urgent sense that there is a larger role for philanthropy to play in protecting quality public interest journalism, particularly in under-serviced regional markets, and in ensuring that underrepresented voices are heard,” the report concludes.

“News media organisation participants suggested that, due to the scale of the sustainability challenge facing public interest journalism, time is of the essence and that philanthropy can help promote and complement other fiscal measures to ensure that Australia maintains a robust and independent news media industry.”

The Public Interest Journalism Initiative was first supported by the Impact Fund in 2018.

Renew

Safeguarding the Environment Partner

Renew has been working tirelessly with anti-poverty organisations to bring consumer perspectives to policy discussions on home energy efficiency.

In September 2021, the Australian Building Codes Board released its draft energy efficiency rules for the 2022 National Construction Code. The draft rules include an increase in minimum standards from 6 to 7 stars NatHERS ratings. This is the measure used to rate home energy efficiency. They also include a new ‘energy budget’ for new homes that will, in effect, require more efficient appliances and encourage solar. These are the goals Renew has been pushing for so if they become law, it will be a great result.

Renew has released a report showing the impact the Code can have on household bills. The modelling detailed in the report demonstrates that bill savings from better energy standards far outweighing any increases in monthly mortgage repayments due to the upfront cost of improvements.

Renew was first supported by the Impact Fund in 2018.

SNAICC

Supporting Indigenous Self-Determination Partner

Indigenous peak-body SNAICC – National Voice for Our Children is supporting one of Australia’s largest providers of out-of-home care services, Life Without Barriers, to transfer its out-of-home care (OOHC) services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to the Aboriginal community-controlled sector.

“The future of decision-making about the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is community-controlled,” said SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle in an article for Pro Bono Australia.

“We’re hoping [the Life Without Barriers handover] sets an example where other providers also start looking at their service delivery models… We need to be looking at how we can keep our families better connected, better resourced, and with the tools to remain strong.”

SNAICC was first supported by the Impact Fund in 2018.

Quick and easy ways to support

Below you will find some quick and easy ways to show your support this month on some of the other critical issues our Impact Fund Grant Partners are tackling.

  • Climate and Health Alliance: Send a message to your MP insisting that Australia commits to a stronger 2030 emissions reduction target to protect health: climateandhealth.good.do/act-on-climate-to-protect-health
  • Invasive Species Council: For the first time in recent history four organisations – Invasive Species Council, Animal Health Australia, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions and Plant Health Australia – have joined forces as the Biosecurity Collective to create the Biosecurity 2030 Project. Read the proposal and share with others you think might be interested in supporting this work.
  • SNAICC: Download the preliminary program for the upcoming 9th SNAICC National Conference, ‘Our Children Matter: Innovative Approaches to New World Challenges’, and consider registering to attend. The conference has been postponed to 6 – 9 December 2021.
  • Big Deal documentary: Lastly, a reminder to register for the on-demand screening (available until Monday 11 October) and Q&A session with Director Craig Reucassel at 12pm AEDT 11 October.

Disclosure: Eric Beecher, Chair of Australian Communities Foundation, is also on the Board of Public Interest Journalism Initiative.