29 July 2009
The final report of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission was released 27 July 2009. NCOSS has prepared a summary of the report's recommendations and further analysis will occur as the Commonwealth Government determines its position with respect to the Report.

The Auditor-General of New South Wales, Peter Achterstraat, released a review of Grants Administration on Wednesday 6 May 2009. As a performance audit, it examines whether grants allocated to NGOs are well administered.

The audit asks how grants are defined, where grants went and what recipients think of the grant system. It will be followed by a second report that examines specific grant programs. Over a hundred NGOs (including NCOSS and many others from our sector) and sixty five councils responded to the Audit Office survey in 2008.

The report makes 5 key recommendations in relation to ‘grant –making agencies’, such as DoCS, NSW Health and DADHC, these include improving transparency and reducing red tape.

The report also identifies three central coordinating actions for the Department of Premier and Cabinet, including o a review of its Guide to Grants Administration o encouraging agencies to regularly evaluate programs and publish the results of encouraging agencies to use of web- technology to make it easier to apply for grants and to streamline the grants process.

Full report: www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/reports/performance/2009/grants/grants-contents.htm

The second report from this review, that considers the performance of specific programs and agencies, is anticipated in June 2009.

For further information contact:

Catherine Mahony
Deputy Director, Sector Development/Corporate Services
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

The benefits of such a scheme include:

• an increase in the recycling rate of containers;
• the creation of jobs in manufacturing and maintaining/administering collection depots;
• money for voluntary groups and charities (by collecting and returning containers);
• savings to local government that can be used to enhance services; and
• a reduction of litter in our streets and water ways.

For these reasons NCOSS supports a container deposit scheme.

Consumers will face an electricity price shock from 1 July 2009 with electricity prices to rise around 20%. This means the 'average customer' will face a rise of between $180 to $200 per year. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), which approved the price rise in an announcement on 20 May 2009, indicated that the rise was a result of increased network changes, wholesale energy charges and the decision in 2007 to make electricity prices 'cost reflective'.

To its credit IPART recognised that these increases would have a substantial impact on low income households. Hence, IPART has recommended bringing forward a package of measures to assist low income households with their energy bills. These measures include:

• increasing pensioner rebates from $112 to $130 per annum, indexed thereafter;
• extending energy rebates to include recipients of Carer Allowances (child under 16), Sickness Allowances and Special Benefits;
• introducing a "Customer Assistance Policy" for small domestic customers; and
• increasing the level of funding under the current Energy Accounts Payment Assistance scheme.

These worth some $272 million over five years, were first proposed in 2008 as part of the (now failed) electricity privatisation and were confirmed as part of the revised 'energy reform' measures.

The NSW Government has responded by announcing that it will bring forward these measures to commence on 1 July 2009 rather than wait until the sale of the retail arms of the government owned energy companies. NCOSS welcomes this announcement but awaits details of the customer assistance policy for small domestic customers.

IPART also recommended that the NSW Government consider indexing the rebate to energy prices rather than the Consumer Price Index. As electricity prices are rising faster than other prices, indexing the rebate to electricity prices will reflect changes in electricity bills. NCOSS welcomes this recommendation.

IPART suggested that the NSW Government examine expanding the eligibility criteria for the pensioner rebates to holders of Commonwealth Health Care Cards. NCOSS has long been an advocate of extending energy rebates to all Commonwealth Health Care Card holders and calls on the NSW Government to adopt this measure immediately.

The NSW Government has also announced that the Low Income Household Refit Program has moved from the pilot phase and commenced a rollout in western Sydney. This program assists low income households to reduce their energy bills by around $100 per year by providing free advice and energy saving devices such as compact fluorescent light globes.

The combination of the Low Income Household Refit Program and the assistance measures will significantly reduce the impact of the price rises announced by IPART. NCOSS remains concerned that some low income households remain ineligible for both electricity rebates and the refit program.

Information

• Dev Mukherjee, NCOSS Senior Policy Officer
  phone: 9211 2599, ext 116
  email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

NCOSS is a member of the Charles Sturt University Institute of Land, Water and Society (ILWS) Advisory Board and attended a meeting on the 12 May.

The purpose of the ILWS is to be an internationally recognised provider of integrated research that is contributing to enhanced social, economic and environmental sustainability in rural and regional areas.

Key issues discussed at the meeting included future and existing research and indigenous related research.

Further information about the ILWS:

www.csu.edu.au/research/ilws

NCOSS and the Australian Human Rights Commission today co-hosted a workshop on human rights and the community sector. There is a common misconception that only those that know about law can talk about human rights. This workshop recognised the important role of the community sector in supporting and advocating for people’s human rights.

The outcome of the workshop was to assist the community sector in writing submissions to the National Human Rights Consultation.

More info:

website: www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au

The Hon Paul Lynch, Minister for Ageing and Disability Services visited the NSW Aged Care Alliance meeting held at NCOSS on 16 April 2009. Accompanied by his adviser Tim O’Halloran, the Minister discussed a range of topics of mutual interest ranging from COAG negotiations, to accessible transport and escalating utilities costs for pensioners, grandparenting, older carers of people with disability as well as Seniors week and International Day of Older People.

Ms Sigrid Patterson, Director of the NSW Office for Ageing also met with the NSW Aged Care Alliance in April. Ms Patterson engaged with members around outcomes of the Towards 2030 Report, consultation processes, leadership roles and the Alliance connections with the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Ageing.

The Report of the NSW Oral Health Alliance was launched today at NSW Parliament House.

Prepared on behalf of the NSW Oral Health Alliance, the data presented throughout the Report points to a public dental system under stress - just under half of those people who had attended a public dental service in the last ten years received emergency treatment; one in four survey respondents indicated they had been on NSW public dental waiting lists for longer than two years, with three in five currently waiting longer than six months; while over 70 per cent of survey respondents felt their oral health had deteriorated during the time they had been on a public dental waiting list.

Based on survey responses from 750 respondents, the Report points to three significant barriers to maintaining adequate oral health for low income and disadvantaged groups in the community: waiting times, cost and difficulty accessing dental services. Speakers included:

• The Hon. John Della Bosca MLC, Minister for Health
• Jillian Skinner MP, Shadow Minister for Health
• Lee Rhiannon, Greens MLC
• Richard Torbay, Independant member for Northern Tablelands, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly
• Dr Tony Burges, President ADA NSW,
• Alison Peters, NCOSS Director, and
• James, who spoke about his experiences with NSW’s dental system.

The report is available for download from the NCOSS website - click here .

NCOSS is looking for feedback about the potential effects of a rise in taxi fares. We are particularly interested in the effects on low-income people, young people, people with disabilities and rural people. Any feedback about the wheelchair accessible taxi fares is also important.

EDIT: Please note this enquiry is now finished. We'll publish more info on this issue as it becomes available.