Elevating the voices of communities facing socio-economic disadvantage
Australian Progress + ACOSS
Economic Media Centre

TOTAL GRANTED
$216,500

Impact AreaTackling Inequality
Year First Supported 2020
Elevating the voices of communities facing socio-economic disadvantage
The Economic Media Centre identifies and equips spokespeople on economic issues, and connects them with journalists to get their voices into mainstream media.
Issue
During the pandemic in 2020, community voices were missing from the media coverage of economic issues in Australia’s major daily newspapers. The prevailing narrative centred on key messages of austerity, funding cuts and the burden of government debt, reinforcing a narrative that looking after people is costly and unsustainable. While many civil society groups had policy solutions to address the challenges presented by Covid-19, they could not get traction in the media.
Response
The Impact Fund provided core funding for the launch of the EMC in 2020 to begin identifying and training spokespeople from different backgrounds and support them to engage with the media effectively. The EMC now helps place media stories that draw on a diverse range of people with economic expertise and knowledge, alongside people with lived experience, to speak to the critical economic issues facing Australia.
The Impact Fund community provided further funding in 2022 to support the Economic Media Centre to work more closely with ACOSS one of its founding partners. ACOSS has unrivalled access to key decision-makers in the Federal Government and exceptional media reach.
Progress update
UPDATED MARCH 2022
- Building media expertise in the civil society sector: EMC has so far delivered media training to 330 media spokespeople, which has directly resulted in securing nearly 6,000 media stories.
- Influencing public policy and debate: EMC played a key role in building public pressure that resulted in the Federal Government committing $3.4 billion for women’s health, safety and economic wellbeing in the May 2021 budget.
What the Impact Fund’s support means
“The Impact Fund connected us with funders who understood the crucial role that people with lived experience can play in shifting debate for a more inclusive economy.” – Kirsty Albion, Executive Director, Australian Progress
Read case study in Making Change Together: Five years of the Impact Fund
Grants
- 2020 ‘Reimagining Australia’ Large Grants round: $110,000 in core funding
- 2022 Collaborations Large Grants round: $106,500 in core funding
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