Welcome to the Autmn 2024 issue of our quarterly magazine The Record. 

The Autumn issue features columns by our National President and CEO outlining our advocacy work with Government, and coverage of our response to the revision of the Stage 3 tax cuts regime.

We look at two significant new reports, firstly the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare's annual review of specialist homelessness services. The results tally with disturbing data on visitors to St Vincent de Paul Society’s Matthew Talbot Hostel in Sydney that showed people seeking homelessness support are dying at the low average age of 55.9 years.

In late 2023, Parliament received the final report of the Select Committee on Workforce Australia Employment Services, titled Rebuilding Employment Services. The report contains 75 recommendations supported by almost 600 pages of detailed analysis. As our National President, Mark Gaetani said, the report lifted a veil on the practices of Workforce Australia and its preceding iterations, which even many of its own staff were deeply concerned about.

The issue also examines the fate of refugees moved from Manus Island, PNG and dumped in Port Moresby through a still-secret arrangement made by the former Australian Government. Without safe housing, medical care and money for daily needs, they are in desperate circumstances.