National data mirrors demand at Mission Australia's services

New national data released today showing an increase in demand for welfare services across Australia mirrors Mission Australia's own frontline experience.

Mission Australia CEO, Toby Hall, said the number of people seeking assistance at Mission Australia’s homeless services and other community assistance programs has continued to rise in recent years – highlighting the ongoing plight of Australians struggling with financial and personal hardship.

Data published by the Australian Council of Social Service today reported a 12 per cent increase in assistance provided by agencies for services ranging from homelessness to mental health to aged care.

The data also showed that despite providing services on 6,180,282 occasions in 2009-10 compared with 5,513,780 in 2008-09, more than half of the 783 organisations polled said they had been forced to turn people away as they were unable to meet demand.

“This is a clear indication of how serious the demand has become for more services to help people who are struggling in our community,” Mr Hall said.

“Everyday, staff at our services are contacted by individuals and families desperately in need of help: people struggling with long-term homelessness; parents who are unable to find work and can no longer afford to pay the rent; and children who are dropping out of school because of the challenges they face on the home front.

“These trends are particularly concerning, when you consider that high unemployment, large numbers of young people not engaged in education or training, and general disengagement from community are the seeds of the kind of activities we have seen in Britain this month.

“This is a strong reminder to Australia of how important it is to provide adequate support services to help disadvantaged members of our community turn their lives around.

“We don’t want to see Australia's level of disadvantage increase. And most of all, we don’t want to see people in need being turned away from crucial services because the demand is just too great.

“At Mission Australia we are committed to helping people turn their lives around – especially those people who have been turned away by every other service provider.

“We don’t want to see anybody left behind – and that’s why we will continue to work with all levels of government to identify new opportunities to support people who are at risk of homelessness or disadvantage," said Mr Hall.

Media Release: Government must change policy on unaccompanied refugee children

Mission Australia has called on the Australian Government to allow unaccompanied refugee children seeking asylum to stay in the country and is encouraging the leaders of the country’s churches and welfare agencies to raise their voices in public support.

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, said most fair-minded people would be uncomfortable with the prospect of deporting unaccompanied minors.

“Whatever their political beliefs, I believe the broader Australian population is not supportive of turning unaccompanied children away,” Mr Hall said.

“It’s morally wrong and the government needs to change its policy.

“Malaysia, Nauru or anywhere else, it doesn’t matter. Sending unaccompanied children away from our shores, to an uncertain future, is against our shared values. It’s not what Australia’s about.

“Gradually we’re seeing a range of voices speak up against the policy. Last week Western Australia’s Premier, Colin Barnett, registered his opposition. This morning, Father Frank Brennan did the same.

“We need more leading Australians – particularly from our churches and welfare agencies – to speak out in similar terms.”

Earlier this week, Mission Australia announced its support of Melbourne’s Crossway Baptist church’s offer to accommodate and care for unaccompanied refugee children – at no cost to taxpayers.

“Mission Australia is proud to back Crossway Baptist Church in its efforts. We’d be happy to work in similar ways with other reputable organisations.

“If the government were to agree to Crossway’s offer, Mission Australia would use its expertise as one of the country’s largest providers of homelessness and youth services to support the church with developing policies and procedures to ensure the care of these children is delivered at the highest standards and with cultural sensitivity.

“When the government was first elected in 2007 it promised a humane and even-handed approach to refugees. It promised community-led care of refugee children.

“We’re calling on them to stick to those principles,” said Mr Hall.

Media contact: Paul Andrews (02) 9219 2080

Thoughtful support from Qantas staff

A huge thank you to all the Qantas staff who collected and donated hundreds of packs of toiletry items – enough to fill two Missionbeat vans – for distribution through our homelessness services.

The toiletry packs, along with financial donations collected from Qantas offices around the country, were presented to Mission Australia’s Missionbeat at a homeless week event held at Qantas’ Mascot headquarters on Friday.

The lunchtime event featured a performance by the Sydney Street Choir and warm meals on sale to staff, with all money going to Mission Australia’s homeless services.

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, welcomed the generous contributions by Qantas’ staff and the organisation’s commitment to tackling homelessness.

“Homelessness remains one of Australia’s biggest social problems – around 105,000 people are homeless on any one night in this country,” said Mr Hall.

“We each have a role to play in tackling the problem – by making a donation to the homeless charity of your choice, by volunteering, or participating in a fundraising event.

“It’s terrific to see Qantas and its staff take that message to heart and really get behind an initiative that will make a difference in the lives of many homeless people around the country.

“It’s often overlooked, but essential toiletry items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, sanitary napkins, hair brushes, etc, play a crucial role in helping homeless people – particularly those sleeping rough – maintain their hygiene and self-confidence.

“Homelessness is an extremely isolating experience made even worse if you’re unable to clean your teeth or run a comb through your hair.”

Georgina Gaussen, CEO of Qantas Foundation said, “This Mission Australia appeal is a great initiative to get involved with and our people are very keen to throw their support behind the campaign.

“The simple act of donating toiletry items is a small effort that has big benefits for those who don’t necessarily have those day-to-day items that many of us take for granted. It is a stark reminder that we can all do our little bit to help Mission Australia make life for our homeless more bearable.”

Thanks again, Qantas, for your wonderful support!

Supporting Crossway’s offer to care for refugee children

Mission Australia has thrown its support behind a Melbourne church's offer to accommodate and care for unaccompanied refugee children to avoid them being deported to Malaysia.

Melbourne’s Crossway Baptist Church has called on the Australian Government to allow unaccompanied refugee children seeking asylum to stay in the country and has offered care and accommodation to the minors at no cost to taxpayers.

In support of Crossway, Mission Australia has committed itself to assisting the church in supplying best-practice and culturally appropriate care.

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, said “The plight of these vulnerable children is on the minds of most fair-minded people. Mission Australia is proud to back Crossway Baptist Church in its efforts.

“If the government were to agree to Crossway’s offer, Mission Australia would use its expertise to support the church with developing policies and procedures to ensure the care of these children is delivered at the highest standards and with cultural sensitivity.”

'Triple Care Farm: A Safe Place for Change' launched

Australia needs more residential drug and alcohol rehab services for young people and existing programs need to offer complementary mental health care to be more effective, according to a new Mission Australia report released today.

Launched by Australia’s pre-eminent youth mental health expert, Professor Patrick McGorry, at an event hosted by Pru Goward, the Minister for Family and Community Services, 'Triple Care Farm: A Safe Place for Change' explores the successful service model that supports young people experiencing problems with substance abuse and mental illness.

The report into Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm – a residential program in the NSW Southern Highlands for young people aged 16 to 24 years – says the service dramatically reduces alcohol and drug use, homelessness, and improves employment and training opportunities by addressing addiction and mental illness at the same time.

The former Australian of the Year and Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health told guests at the launch at NSW Parliament House “it was a national disgrace that so few of these services were available”, and added there was a need for new thinking and new systems for supporting young people with mental health and drug and alcohol problems.

“When you look at the facts contained in this report,” he said. “you see the power of the holistic approach.”

According to the report:

• Almost one-in-ten (88 per cent) used at least one drug chronically when starting at Triple Care Farm (TCF). Six months after leaving, almost half (45 per cent) were abstaining from drug use, while 52 per cent were abstaining from alcohol.
• Approx four-in-five (79 per cent) used cannabis at chronic levels when arriving at TCF. Six months after leaving, only 4 per cent reported chronic cannabis use.
• Of 160 former TCF clients surveyed, 91 per cent were unemployed when entering TCF. Six months after leaving, almost half (43 per cent) had some form of paid employment. More than one-third (36 per cent) were in training.
• 31 per cent of the 160 surveyed were homeless at time of TCF intake. Six months after leaving, only one person in this group reported being homeless.

At the launch Ms Goward said she had visited Triple Care Farm, which is in her electorate, several times:

“Going to a Triple Care Farm graduation is like going to a revival meeting – you leave with a great sense of belief.

“Often with teenagers we think it’s just a stage they’re going through, but we can forget they are so vulnerable… Seventy per cent of Triple Care Farm students had experienced family breakdown.”

She added that the sense of trust Triple Care Farm instils should be replicated in all other services for young people.

Transformation in action

A current Triple Care Farm student told guests at the launch, including representatives from the Macquarie Group Foundation, Sir David Martin Foundation, Friends in Giving and Key Foundation, how the program is transforming her life:

“Before I was admitted to Triple Care Farm, I was constantly putting myself into situations that were not safe for me – physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. I was so caught up in drug-taking and that lifestyle that there was no chance for me to take a breath and really think about what I was doing… I felt trapped and caught on a merry-go-round.

“I realised I needed help. I’ve been a Triple Care Farm since early June. I immediately felt comforted by the environment and the location. At my admission myself and my family were treated with respect, and no question was too silly to ask. I feel as though I can make the changes I need to make with no judgement or pressure. I’m starting to see there are other options for me and I’m excited to explore them at Triple Care Farm.”

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, said the reason for such success is simple: it supports the young people in its care with both their drug/alcohol problems and their mental health issues at the same time.

“Despite this, most services continue to offer young people with drug and alcohol problems help with either their addiction or their mental health, not both. What we provide at Triple Care Farm – and what this new report shows is a far more effective approach – is combining both drug/alcohol rehab and mental health services. For young people, addiction and mental illness are very often related. They need to be managed together, not separately.

“The fragmentation that occurs between some services offering drug/alcohol rehab while others focus on mental illness increases the chances of young people not getting the help they need,” Mr Hall added.

“Meanwhile, Triple Care Farm can only take 100 enrolments each year and yet receives more than 6,000 inquiries from around Australia. That level of demand clearly indicates a national shortage… There aren’t enough services for this vulnerable group and what exists often isn’t effective.”

Triple Care Farm will feature on ABC TV’s 7.30 program tonight. If you are unable to view the program tonight, you could try ABC’s website at a more convenient time.

Further reading:

• 'Joint drug and mental illness treatment showing signs of success' on ABC Radio’s AM
• 'Another doorway opens for at-risk youth'
• Download the 'Triple Care Farm: A Safe Place For Change' report.

Media Release: Sea change needed in Australia's approach to youth drug/alcohol rehabilitation - report

Australia needs more residential drug and alcohol rehab services for young people and existing programs need to offer complementary mental health care in order to be more effective, according to a new report launched today by the community service organisation, Mission Australia.

The report into Mission Australia's Triple Care Farm - a residential program in the NSW Southern Highlands for young people (16-24 years) with substance abuse issues - says the service dramatically reduces alcohol and drug use, homelessness, and improves employment and training opportunities by addressing addiction and mental illness at the same time.

According to Mission Australia's CEO, Toby Hall, one-in-four young people experience a mental health condition over any 12 month period. Among this group, approximately half suffer from a substance use disorder.

"Despite this, most services continue to offer young people with drug and alcohol problems help with either their addiction or their mental health, not both," said Mr Hall.

"What we provide at Triple Care Farm - and what this new report shows is a far more effective approach - is combining both drug/alcohol rehab and mental health services. For young people, addiction and mental illness are very often related. They need to be managed together, not separately.

"The fragmentation that occurs between some services offering drug/alcohol rehab while others focus on mental illness increases the chances of young people not getting the help they need.

"Meanwhile, Triple Care Farm can only take 100 enrolments each year and yet receives more than 6000 inquiries from around Australia. That level of demand clearly indicates a national shortage.

"In short, there aren't enough services for this vulnerable group and what exists often isn't effective."

According to Mr Hall, the report, Triple Care Farm: A Safe Place for Change - which will be launched by Australia's pre-eminent youth mental health expert, Professor Patrick McGorry, at NSW Parliament House today - provides a blueprint for the provision of drug/alcohol rehabilitation and mental health services to young people.

"The young people who arrive at Triple Care Farm are usually the most challenging cases. More than 90% are unemployed, 70% have mental health issues, close to 70% have criminal histories, almost 50% are homeless, 79% are chronic cannabis users, 46% are chronic alcohol users. They've usually been through program after program but with no effect.

"But at Triple Care Farm, because of our different approach, we've produced some remarkable results. They're even more astounding when you consider this group are wrestling with the biggest problems."

According to the Triple Care Farm report:

Almost one-in-ten (88 per cent) used at least one drug chronically when starting at TCF. Six months after leaving the service almost half (45 per cent) were abstaining from drug use, while more than half (52 per cent) were abstaining from alcohol.

Approx four-in-five (79 per cent) used cannabis at chronic levels when arriving at TCF. Six months after leaving, only 4 per cent reported chronic cannabis use.

Of 160 former TCF clients surveyed for the report, 91 per cent were unemployed when entering TCF. Six months after leaving, almost half (43 per cent) had some form of paid employment. More than one-third (36 per cent) were in training.

31 per cent of the 160 surveyed were homeless at time of TCF intake. Six months after leaving, only one person in this group reported being homeless.

The proportion of young people in independent housing increased from under one-in-ten (9 per cent) at intake to one quarter (25 per cent) six months after leaving TCF.

"The reason for Triple Care Farm's success is simple: it supports the young people in its care with both their drug/alcohol problems and their mental health issues at the same time.

"Triple Care Farm's program has three parts: residential (residents learn how to undertake straightforward domestic responsibilities including cooking, cleaning and doing laundry); therapeutic (residents are supported with the medical, psychological and behavioural issues associated with addiction and mental illness); and education and learning (residents are supported with skills to find a job).

"While the level of drug use among young Australians has stabilised in recent years, it clearly remains an issue for many thousands of young people and their parents. The number of calls Triple Care Farm receives each year attests to that.

"Illicit drug use is also occurring at a younger age: one in four 14-19 year olds has used an illicit drug in past year, one-in-20 in the past week. And there's a higher rate of suicide and accidental overdose among young users.

"There's no question we need more services like Triple Care Farm and existing youth rehab service providers really need to consider adopting its model because the results speak for themselves," said Mr Hall.

Launch of Triple Care Farm: A Safe Place for Change

• 2pm, Tuesday 12 July
• NSW Parliament Theatrette, Macquarie St
• Special guests: Professor Patrick McGorry, Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health
• The Hon Pru Goward, NSW Minister for Family and Community Services
• Media contact: Paul Andrews (02) 9219 2080 or 0409 665 495

Do you have The Ultimate Job?

Mission Australia is thrilled to once again be the charity partner for Drake International's ‘The Ultimate Job’ competition.

Launched for the first time last year, the competition is based on real, permanent jobs submitted by employers, with the winning job in each capital city determined by a panel of judges and votes from the public.

Paul Bird, Mission Australia's State Director for Victoria has been selected to be on the expert panel of judges to decide which jobs will be shortlisted in Melbourne.

“I’m looking forward to helping out on the judging panel. It’s a fantastic campaign and a great opportunity for both employers and for job seekers out there,” said Mr Bird.

Melbourne job and candidate entries close on Wednesday 20 July, with entries in other states closing later in the year.

Throughout the competition, Drake International will raise awareness and funds for Mission Australia. The recruiter will donate 30 per cent of job placement fees and 100 per cent of the proceeds from the Gala awards event to Mission Australia – to help services like Charcoal Lane, which give young people the training and skills they need to find a successful pathway to employment.

If you’re an employer with the ultimate job to offer or a job seeker looking for a new challenge, visit www.theultimatejob.com.au to find out more!

Employment Awards
Mission Australia is also running its inaugural Employer Awards, which are open to all local employers of participating Mission Australia Employment Solutions sites who have used our services within the past 12 months.

Employers will be judged based on their contribution to helping unemployed people find work. Local presentations of 2011 awards will take place in October 2011. Local winners will qualify for entry into the national awards and will be invited to a national awards dinner that will be held in November 2011.

Find out more at our Employment Solutions Employer Awards page.

Celebrating NAIDOC Week

With its origins reaching back to the 1920s, NAIDOC Week represents a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Aboriginal Australians in various fields.

NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Aboriginal communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. Wherever you live, you can take part in NAIDOC Week celebrations.

Mission Australia is passionate about creating a fairer Australia for all. So it’s not just during NAIDOC week that we speak up. We are focused on running programs and creating opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 52 weeks of every year.

This week we will see a range of activities take place across the nation and I encourage all of our supporters and partners to get behind this important week by participating in a local event.

Mission Australia continues to improve its services and programs to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are experiencing disadvantage – starting with our second Reconciliation Action Plan report recently receiving very positive feedback from Reconciliation Action Australia.

Cafe One in Brisbane is going strong, the new Aherlkeme Village in Alice Springs, our post-release programs, our Aboriginal driver education program, cultural revisitation programs, men’s cultural groups and our St George Employment Solutions team, recently recognised with a local Business of the Year Award for helping to break down barriers to employment for local Aboriginal people.

Importantly, communities across Australia are proactively engaged with Mission Australia through Steve Cochrane, our National Aboriginal Adviser.

We don’t pretend it’s going to be easy: it ‘s going to be a lot of hard work over long period of time to get things right, but at our heart is the passion to help people to look after themselves in the long-term, and we can help give them the capacity to do that.

Toby Hall
CEO Mission Australia

Further reading:

• New Aboriginal health clinic opens in Goulburn
• Taste of Reconciliation Dinner

Media Release: Concern at numbers of homeless people turned away

Mission Australia - one of the largest providers of homeless services in the country – has expressed its concern at new figures which show close to 60% of people who need help from government-funded homeless shelters are turned away each day.

The data, released this morning by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, show that of people needing new and immediate accommodation every day in 2009-10, 58% were unable to be placed.

The AIHW’s report also states the group most likely to be turned away were families with an average of 82% of couples with children, 69% of couples without children and 67% of individuals with children who requested new and immediate accommodation turned away each day, compared with 45% of individuals without children – similar results to those in 2008-09.

Mission Australia’s Chief Executive, Toby Hall, said the knowledge that the majority were family groups – who would have ended up sleeping rough, in cars, or in other dangerous situations – fitted with Mission Australia’s experience and was cause for significant alarm.

“These numbers – and the tragic individual stories behind them – are shameful. Any level of homelessness in Australia is unacceptable,” said Mr Hall.

“For our society not have the capacity to meet the demand of homeless families is an indictment on our values and priorities.

“These latest results match up pretty closely with Mission Australia’s own experiences. Our data suggests that single women with children and families are likely to have the most difficulty in accessing accommodation due to a lack of capacity.

“Anecdotally, many services in outer metro and regional areas are reporting escalating demand that they are unable to meet. What then follows is a ‘drift’ into the inner city which causes both a loss of personal and community networks for the individual and a severe bottleneck in terms of demand for services and access to housing in those areas.

“We also need to recognise that these figures only tell part of the story. For every person fronting up at one of these government-funded services for help there’d be hundreds of others who chose not to – the 'hidden homeless'. I’m thinking of young people couch-surfing temporarily with friends or extended family. Those people don’t get counted in this research.

“And let’s not forget that 30% of people turned away were Aboriginal, despite making up just 2% of the population.

“Both federal and state/territory governments have made a significant investment in tackling homelessness over the past few years – measures that are aimed not only at addressing accommodation capacity but also to cut the flow of people into homelessness and to try and get them on their feet more quickly once they’re there.

“Figures released last week show that funding starting to have an impact with the total number of people supported by government-funded homeless services rising by seven per cent in 2009-10 to 219,900.

“But with the turn away rates remaining at last year’s levels it’s obvious we haven’t succeeded in ‘turning the tap off’ in terms of people entering into homelessness.

“What these figures show us is that Australia’s homeless problem won’t be fixed overnight. It’s a reminder that we need to work harder, better and more effectively if we’re going to get on top of the problem,” said Mr Hall.

Media contact: Paul Andrews (02) 9219 2080 or 0409 665 495

Thank you - blanket drive for Missionbeat

Last Thursday our Missionbeat service manager, Dan Petsalis, put out a desperate plea for blankets via his Twitter network.

Within only a few hours Dan’s plea was re-Tweeted by organisations and individuals – reaching thousands of supporters and reported by channel 10 and channel 7 in Sydney reaching thousands more.

Our Missionbeat service has received hundreds blankets with hundreds more en-route to Missionbeat headquarters.

I want to express our deepest thanks to all the people who have collected blankets from their friends, their communities and their colleagues – from large organisations and small. Your contributions make an active and tangible difference to a human life.

These blankets will be distributed to the rough sleepers in the Sydney area whilst the Missionbeat vans are on patrol. We will also respond to the calls for assistance and calls for blankets directly from those clients that will be sleeping on the street, where accommodation wasn’t secured, and we follow-up again the next day.

In the Sydney city area there are about 400 people sleeping rough on any given night. Blankets don't last a person all winter due to issues around keeping them secure, clean and dry.

Cheers and God bless,

Toby Hall
CEO of Mission Australia

To donate a blanket, please contact Missionbeat directly on 1800 306 461 or drop off your blanket directly to the Missionbeat office located at Unit 1/1 Brompton Street, Marrickville NSW 2204.

Dan Petsalis thanked the public today in a short film. Use the player below to view or visit Mission Australia's Youtube channel.

Media Release: MA welcomes budget focus on disadvantaged areas

Mission Australia has welcomed the Gillard Government’s budget focus on addressing disadvantage in particular areas around the country and helping people in those locations find jobs and better participate in the community.

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, said the organisation also supported the budget’s aim of helping more long-term unemployed people back into work.

“We think it strikes the right balance between incentives and increased resources for jobseekers and Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients who have a reasonable capacity to work with measures that emphasise people’s reciprocal obligations – obligations we think are in line with community expectations,” said Mr Hall.

“There’s nothing in the government’s welfare-to-work changes that we think are particularly onerous. Our experience is that disadvantaged job seekers can respond positively to more rigorously applied compliance measures – if applied consistently and fairly. They provide a measure of order that may be lacking in their lives.

“In terms of DSP recipients who have a reasonable capacity to work, we think the budget changes are sensible and balanced.

“We have to get over the idea that reforming the DSP is an attack on disabled people – it’s not.

“There is no question that the majority of people in receipt of DSP are genuinely disabled and require significant levels of support.

“However, successive governments and a failing welfare system have allowed thousands of people without serious disabilities to move from the dole to receiving DSP where they are not engaged in looking for work. This is despite the fact they might have a capacity for employment and their issues could be overcome with intensive support.

“This group has genuine barriers to employment that they need support in overcoming. But they can be overcome – so let’s do it.

“One observation about the welfare package is that the government is placing a significant emphasis on Centrelink and its ability to help the sometimes vulnerable people the government is seeking to return to the workforce.

“We hope that buried in the detail is more funding to build Centrelink’s capacity to understand the often complex issues around these people.

“And while recognising the very substantial investment in mental health we think $201m over five years to help states/territories better coordinate and provide mental health services related to accommodation and admission/discharge from hospital isn’t enough. We also need more than just co-ordination – we need real housing.

“But overall a fair budget – a positive budget – for the people we help,” said Mr Hall.

Toby Hall is available for comment

Media inquiries: Paul Andrews 0409 665 495

Media coverage - The Newcastle Herald: System fails jobless on disability support

As we prepare for tonight’s Budget, Mission Australia’s CEO Toby Hall says it’s time to take the emotion out of the welfare reform debate and realise the need to offer disability support pension recipients who do have some capacity to work intensive assistance and incentives to encourage them back into the workforce. After all, he argues, a welfare system that continues to let people avoid participating in the community does them – and everyone in the community – a disservice.

Here’s what Toby has to say in today’s Newcastle Herald.

---

There’s no doubt welfare reform is an emotive issue.

Last week I made some comments partly about the need for any such reforms in the government’s upcoming budget to look at re-engaging the large number of people on the disability support pension who have some capacity to work.

It was interesting how some immediately and misguidedly interpreted my comments as “welfare-bashing”.

It’s a shame that such strong emotions have got in the way of us openly discussing how the system has allowed the number of disability pension recipients to balloon to about 800,000 and has failed abysmally to look for potential solutions to the problem.

So let’s take the emotion out of it and look at the problem with a fresh set of eyes.

There is no question that the majority of people in receipt of disability pensions are genuinely disabled and require significant levels of support. In fact, we believe there is a case for greater levels of assistance for this group.

However, over the years, successive governments and a failing welfare system have allowed thousands of people without serious disabilities to move from the dole to receiving disability pensions when they are not engaged in looking for work. This is despite the fact they might have a capacity for employment and their issues could be overcome with intensive support.

The numbers are staggering. In 1982, almost 217,000 people were receiving disability pensions. By 2001 it had reached 578,000 and is now close to 800,000.

In those 27 years, Australia’s population has risen by 44 per cent, and yet the numbers on the disability pension increased 250 per cent.

We do not seek to stigmatise these people or blame them for being moved on to disability pensions – it is the system’s fault for letting this happen.

Disability pension recipients with the capacity for work are not malingerers. They are not “rorters”. We recognise this group of people have genuine barriers to employment that they need support in overcoming.

But they can be overcome. So what’s stopping us from trying it?

There is no doubt that a fair Australia must have an adequate safety net that provides unemployed, sick, disabled and vulnerable people with the support they need.

But let's not pretend that too much time spent on welfare – particularly for people who are physically and intellectually able to work – will not have a dramatic impact on a person's health and wellbeing.

And a welfare system that continues to let people capable of social, economic and community participation avoid such contact does them – and all of us – a disservice.

To illustrate the dramatic health impacts involved, the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine released a report last year which showed that long-term joblessness significantly increases the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and suicide.

Further still, suicide among young men out of work for six months or more increases dramatically.

We need to better assist job seekers to stem the flow of people moving on to disability pensions.

In a recent Mission Australia survey, almost one-third of our job seekers had been incorrectly assessed by Centrelink.

Poor initial assessment of job seekers can easily lead to individuals being incorrectly moved on to disability support pensions and from there it’s a quick path to entrenched joblessness.

We need to offer disability support pension recipients - those who do have some capacity to work – intensive assistance and incentives to encourage them back into the workforce.

One of our recommendations is to create a new stream in the employment service system to offer the specialised help required.

Recent studies show that up to 85 per cent of people experiencing serious mental health issues can return to work or study with the right help.

If we get in early enough and provide the right help we’re talking about setting people up for long-term, sustainable careers.

An unproductive life destroys a person and can spread like a cancer through their family and community.

We only need to look at the destruction and decay that passive welfare has created in some Aboriginal communities and suburbs on our city fringes.

We all know this – governments know it, community agencies know it, the public senses it – and with any luck tonight’s budget will be the start of doing something practical about it.

Story originally published 10 May 2011 in the Newcastle Herald.

Media Release: Qualified support for government's trial proposal for teen mums

Mission Australia has offered its qualified support to the Federal Government’s trial proposal aimed at engaging teenage mothers in education and training and avoiding welfare dependency.

Mission Australia – one of the largest providers of community and employment services to disadvantaged individuals and families in the country – said it strongly supported the concept of providing young parents with skills and education for future employability but that its compulsory nature, including the impact of withdrawing parenting payment from those who refused to participate, would need to be closely monitored.

Mission Australia’s CEO, Toby Hall, said at first glance the government’s proposal for a pilot scheme in 10 disadvantaged areas around the country deserved to be supported.

“Getting in early and making sure teenage mums are kept in touch with education and training to avoid entrenched welfare dependency in later life should be warmly welcomed,” said Mr Hall.

“We know from our experience how difficult it is help sole parents – or anyone – into work when they have no skills and when they’ve been disengaged from the workforce for years.

“And it’s not just the ‘hard’ skills that are needed for particular industries. It’s the ‘soft’ skills – the ins and outs of participating in the workforce: turning up for work on time, being responsible for your actions, dressing appropriately – that you and I might take for granted and which the young people participating in the program will need help with.

“However, there’s no question that the best results are achieved from programs like this when people participate voluntarily. We run several similar initiatives to those proposed – and have done so for many years – and they’re successful because people want to be there.

“Compulsory participation, by its very nature, fails to promote personal responsibility among those taking part and that’s the crucial part of changing behaviour long-term.

“The support provided for teen mums engaged in the program will also need to be much more than just a Centrelink ‘participation plan’ as described in media reports.

“We don’t have a lot of faith in Centrelink’s ability to understand and appreciate the complex issues around the young people who might be in this situation. We’d expect there to be a range of other supports available – including parenting and living skills – if the trial is to be a success.

“We’re also waiting to see what the government is suggesting for those parents who do have their income suspended. We’d be alarmed if they – and particularly their children – were made more vulnerable or placed in any danger as a result of a withdrawal of income support.

“But on balance Mission Australia is inclined to support this proposal. Practical programs like this are what’s needed to break the back of welfare dependency,” said Mr Hall.

Toby Hall is available for comment

Media inquiries: Paul Andrews 0409 665 495 or (02) 9219 2080

Media coverage - The Drum: Shifting the focus of the mental health system

Much of the recent debate about Australia’s parlous mental health system has revolved around its lack of funding.

It’s been estimated that an extra $2.5 billion over four years – and $3.5 billion over five – is required to address the demand for mental health care across Australia.

But all the money in the world won’t make a difference if the system doesn’t work.

Don’t get me wrong, a significant injection of funds is absolutely essential if we’re going to get on top of the mental health crisis in this country. But it will be good money after bad if our overall approach to the problem doesn’t undergo a sea-change.

Put simply our mental health system must move from delivering pills to delivering practical support and care built around fundamental needs such as employment and housing.

The problem as it stands is that clinical intervention comes first and the support and care required to help mentally ill people participate fully in our community comes a distant second.

That’s because, at present, the medical profession sits at the heart of delivering mental health outcomes. This has to end.

Through my membership of the Mental Health Expert Working Group – set up by Mark Butler to advise the government on mental health – I have come to believe that of the numerous blueprints and strategies for change, past and present, all of them fall short because they are almost exclusively health-based responses.

Most give no consideration to employment, housing and social participation, opportunities most of us take for granted but which are a constant struggle for the majority of Australians dealing with mental illness, and when they do it’s as an under-researched afterthought.

The medical experts behind these proposals, while well-meaning, are trained to fix health issues not provide guidance on housing, skills training, accessing employment or enrolling in education.

The solution is to put care ahead of medical treatment.

This needs a radical shift of understanding by governments, and by our society as a whole, in terms of addressing mental illness.

It will also involve a massive re-direction of funding to organisations that can provide holistic support and care to those with mental health problems and intellectual disabilities and their families.

I’m aware the cynics will interpret this as Mission Australia’s CEO making a play for more funding. But I’d sign away any opportunity for my organisation to receive a red cent if it meant we were able to change our current approach.

How would it work? Well it happens in our services every day of the week.

Take Michael, a young man I met recently, as an example.

Beset by severe mental health problems Michael, now aged in his early 30s, spent much of his 20s homeless, including several periods sleeping rough.

This time in Michael’s life was characterised by a merry-go-round of hospital admissions and discharges, at great cost to the community, but with limited or no benefit in terms of quality of life.

But by giving Michael personalised, non-clinical care – providing him with the support he needed to maintain independent accommodation and navigate daily life – he now lives in his own unit and hasn’t been in hospital for five years.

Michael’s clinical treatment is almost identical to what he received previously, but his quality of life has vastly improved.

It costs government around $900 per night to keep a homeless person with a mental illness in a hospital bed. In fact, there are estimates it can cost NSW Health up to $60,000 a year to provide emergency medical care to a homeless person with a mental illness.

It costs organisations like us a fraction of that amount to give someone the support they need – and our approach is infinitely more successful.

It’s also holistic care. Employment, housing and treatment all rolled into the one package.

We see literally thousands of Michaels in our services every year.

Talk to them and their families and they quickly tell you that while adequate and reliable medical care is high on their list of needs, their greater desire is to be part of the community. They just need help to achieve it.

In short, they need a society that can care and support the whole person.

If Minister Butler is after a template for reform he need only look at his government’s approach to tackling homelessness.

This was driven by a three-person council who worked brilliantly to assist the government in developing a policy platform for a system that had been broken for decades.

While significant challenges remain it laid a successful foundation for the work ahead.

Unless he takes a similarly focussed approach, and takes the matter out of the hands of special interest groups and the medical establishment, he will not get far.

And until we adjust our thinking around mental health to be one of caring for people rather than treating them, the system will continue to fail.

Toby Hall is the Chief Executive Officer of Mission Australia.  Story originally published at ABC's The Drum.

Pretend welfare reform will do nothing for jobless

Welfare reform is back on the agenda in a big way – or so it seems.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard recently stared down colleagues who wanted her to water down tougher penalties for unemployed people who failed to meet their job-seeking obligations.

And yesterday Opposition Leader Tony Abbott raised a number of proposals including getting rid of unemployment benefits in areas where work is plentiful.

All interesting stuff – but is it real welfare reform? Not by a long shot.

What we’re seeing here is the pretence of welfare reform. Action at the margins aimed at addressing some of the challenges facing the country in terms of workforce participation but nothing that will make a serious and long-lasting difference.

Australia needs root-and-branch welfare reform – reform that tackles the complexity of the income support system including how it interacts with the tax system, that reconsiders and possibly reinvents the nation’s approach to supporting disabled people, that takes a balanced approach to assisting long-term unemployed people into the workforce and doesn’t fall into the trap of ‘‘all stick and no carrot’’.

The last attempt at wholesale reform – on the back of the McClure Report 11 years ago – was ultimately shelved by the Howard government.

The reforms recommended by Patrick McClure, which aimed to leave no income support recipient worse off, were rejected in favour of a piecemeal approach that favoured penalties over incentives.

Eleven years on, we’re still wrestling with the same old issues.

Too many jobless families, too many people on disability support, too many long-term unemployed people wasting away without fulfilling their potential.

If there’s one set of statistics that exposes the ongoing failure of Australia’s welfare system it’s the extraordinary growth in the numbers of people receiving the Disability Support Pension (DSP) in the past 20 years.

In 1991 there were a little more than 300,000 DSP recipients. Twenty years later that number is rapidly approaching 800,000.

During that time Australia’s population grew by more than 30 per cent while disability pension numbers rose by more than 130 per cent.

As a recent report by the Whitlam Institute makes clear: ‘‘Over 56 per cent of people moving on the DSP have moved to this benefit from another income support payment – over 35 per cent from an unemployment benefit. They have moved from a benefit where the search for work is expected to one where it is not.’’

The numbers of people on the DSP are growing without check. More of the same isn’t going to address this problem and nor are simplistic suggestions to withdraw income support in regions where jobs like fruit picking are available.

What nobody wants to admit is that real welfare reform is expensive – hideously so – but then even more financially debilitating is letting the current situation continue.

But if we’re not in a position to fund these changes now – when Australia’s economy leads the world and we stand on the cusp of an extraordinary commodities boom – then when?

Many DSP recipients want to work. The keys to reaching these hundreds of thousands of people are to make sure they receive the training they need to fill vacancies in industries starved of employees; that they’re not financially worse off as they make the move to employment; and that they get the support they need for non-vocational issues.

In other words, we need to provide DSP recipients who are capable of work with a pathway to employment.

Part of the solution could be found in the area of social procurement – governments and businesses providing a social outcome when they buy a good or service.

There is plenty of scope for government to show leadership and provide thousands of employment and work experience opportunities for people locked out of the labour market by procuring goods or staff that deliver a social dividend.

Then there is the vexing issue of effective marginal tax rates – the perversity of people on low incomes facing higher tax rates than wealthy individuals as they move into the workforce simply because of the way the tax and income support systems interact.

How can we expect people on benefits to pursue work when they are slugged financially for their efforts? Where’s the incentive?

It’s not my desire to be uncharitable. I’m glad that welfare reform is being discussed. It recognises at least that our leaders are aware that there is a problem.

Much of what the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader are talking about can be achieved through changes to the nation’s employment service system – that’s absolutely appropriate and sensible.

But let’s not pretend it’s real welfare reform.

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Toby Hall is the Chief Executive Officer of Mission Australia


This piece was published in the National Times on 1 April 2011

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QBE Big Dry brings in big funds for Triple Care Farm

QBE staff, customers and suppliers who came together as part of this year’s QBE Big Dry have raised more than $60,000 for Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm – our residential program for young people experiencing homelessness, substance abuse and mental health issues.

The QBE Big Dry, now in its nineteenth year, ended last week at an event held at the international insurance group’s Sydney headquarters.

Among the guests were QBE CEO Frank O’Halloran, Mission Australia CEO Toby Hall, NSW Waratahs team member and Mission Australia supporter Drew Mitchell, as well as Nicholle Sullivan, Supervising Psychologist at Triple Care Farm.

Former Triple Care Farm student Jason also took time out of his studies to attend. He eloquently reassured event guests that their efforts were all for a worthwhile cause. The 22-year-old was referred to the Southern Highlands program last year when he was struggling with alcohol dependence, depression and problem gambling.

Jason flourished during his three-month stay at Triple Care Farm and was awarded a scholarship at the 2010 graduation ceremony. Now studying a Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedics), he said he is eager to give back to the community.

“I really believe in that place – in the structure of it,” he said. “Without the staff there Triple Care Farm would just be a bunch of buildings in the bush. The combination of the place and the people there make it really worthwhile.

“I am happy to speak at any event about Triple Care Farm because they helped me so much,” he said. “I would do anything for them because they’ve done wonders for me – Triple Care Farm changed my life around.”

Mission Australia sincerely thanks QBE for its ongoing and very generous support as well as everyone who participated to raise funds for Triple Care Farm.

For every dollar donated to Mission Australia from The Big Dry, QBE also donated 50 cents to Create Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to empower children and young people placed in out-of-home care through direct service provision and systemic advocacy.

Find out more about Triple Care Farm here

Mission Australia welcomes rethink on rental scheme cuts

Mission Australia has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to reverse its planned cuts to the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).

The cuts were announced several weeks ago as part of the Federal Government’s response to the Queensland floods.

“Since the cuts were first announced Mission Australia has been very vocal in making its opposition known and we’re very pleased our voice – along with those of many other concerned citizens and housing and welfare organisations and industry – has been heard,” said Mission Australia’s CEO, Mr Toby Hall.

“Full credit to the government - it recognised this was a mistake and was mature enough to back down from its position.

“NRAS is a key plank in the nation’s fight against homelessness.

“One of the best things we can do to bring down the numbers of homeless people is to “turn off the tap” and stop people becoming homeless in the first place – NRAS plays a significant role in doing just that.”

NRAS boosts the supply of affordable rental housing by providing a financial incentive to community and private investors if they charge 20 per cent or more below market rental rate.

“While NRAS has only been in operation for three years its impact is already being felt – in Mission Australia’s case, particularly in areas like Western Sydney.

“This is a good result and once again we congratulate the Federal Government on its decision,” said Mr Hall.

Opinion: Private capital can be key to social change

There are plenty of social services we should pay for out of basic human decency, despite the cost.

It’s what Australians like to call ‘giving people a fair go’.

What most of us fail to realise, is that many social services can also show a significant return on investment over time.

And in a surprise turn, it’s the much maligned NSW Government that has lead the country by announcing the trial of Australia’s first Social Impact Bond (SIB); a financial instrument designed to provide capital to successful social programs which show a return to investors.

The SIB trial will be modelled on a similar program in the UK and will require the cooperation of government, investors and the community sector.

The principle is fairly simple.

Governments fund social programs which save them money – they’re just not good at quantifying it, particularly when the returns will come years down the track.

In the juvenile justice area for example, there are inexpensive and successful diversionary programs aimed at reducing rates of recidivism.

Reducing recidivism saves the cost of incarceration, which in NSW is around $150,000 to keep one young person locked up for a year.

Our own research shows that by reducing reoffending and time spent in jail, you also reduce adverse health and welfare outcomes and increase the rate of employment, which not only saves money but increases revenue through income tax and GST.

Unfortunately the money available from governments to scale this kind of program is more often than not tied up in the aftermath of ‘tough on crime’ sentencing and providing detention.

But by issuing a SIB, it opens opportunities for private investment.

For example, the government sells the bond – linked to a juvenile justice program - to private investors.

If the program achieves an agreed reduction in recidivism, then the government pays a return to the investor on top of their original debt obligations.

The NSW Government is estimating savings of between $4 and $17 for every $1 it invests which suggest there’s plenty of potential upside to cover the costs and then some.

It’s a wide range, but it’s a new area and there’s still lots of hard work to be done.

For one, investors and government will need to build their capacity to run the ruler over social programs the way they do with potential commercial investments.

Which funds manager will advise a retiree to invest in a social bond if they have no idea if the ‘business’ behind it is sound?

There’s also a question about who carries the risk – is this really a social bond or are you buying equity so that if the program fails you do your dough?

We also need to be wary of the fact that these are people’s lives we’re talking about – we’re not investing in widgets. Any development of SIBs needs to be based on a sophisticated understanding of the issues involved and their impact on individuals, families and communities.

But we shouldn’t allow the prospect of hard work and the need for deeper examination to dissuade us from pursuing SIBs; there are some very attractive features of creating this kind of tradable instrument.

Capital will naturally flow to the most successful programs.

It should encourage innovation, because investors can choose to put money into interesting projects politicians could struggle to get through Treasury or justify to voters…however strong the case.

Community service providers will be pushed to demonstrate tangible outcomes rather than outputs – something we shouldn’t be afraid to do.

And it provides another product for the burgeoning ethical investment market, which will in turn help increase the pool of private capital available to fund successful social programs.

Most importantly, it will allow larger-scale investment with long-lead returns which the three or four year government cycle makes nigh on impossible.

SIBs won’t solve every problem, but you’d be surprised how much money could be saved by investing upfront in solving social ills rather than perpetuating them.

Homelessness, early interventions for children with disabilities and treating people with a mental illness are all areas where investing now can show great returns in the long run.

We use bonds to fund rail and road – so why not social infrastructure?

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Toby Hall is the Chief Executive Officer of Mission Australia


This piece was published in the National Times on 14 January

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Opinion: Here's something Victoria can't boast about

Victorians are arguably Australia's most parochial lot.

Scratch any Victorian and they'll tell you their state leads the country in most pursuits. And Melbourne? Well Melbourne is the centre of the universe - both known and unknown.

Australia's sporting and business capital? Melbourne.

Best events, best entertainment, best food? Melbourne, Melbourne and Melbourne.

And in my line of work - providing support for disadvantaged Australians - Victorians pride themselves on being the most progressive and providing the most innovative social programs to assist people in need.

"Things are different down here," Victorians will tell you. "Don't try telling us how to do things," words more often than not aimed at people from NSW, "…we're already way beyond anything you can bring to the table."

Arrogant? A little.

True? You'll forgive me if, as a Victorian, I answer mostly in the affirmative.

But as I travel around the country - and as the head of a national community service organisation I need to travel quite a bit - I'm beginning to boast less and reach for excuses more.

Excuses for the fact Victoria has the highest youth unemployment rate in the country.

Excuses for the fact Melbourne is the least affordable capital city for housing.

Across a host of social indicators things are looking bleak in 'Bleak City' and we need to act quickly and work more smartly if we're to address them.

Not since the rust belt years of the early 90s has Victoria seen youth unemployment rates of the kind we're witnessing now.

In the Central Highlands -Wimmera youth unemployment has reached 50 per cent.

In north-west Melbourne it's 51.6 per cent.

Nearly 20 per cent of Victorians aged 18 to 24 are neither in full-time employment nor study.

These figures are scandalous and yet we seem inured to them and the squandering of youthful potential they suggest.

Victoria needs a youth employment strategy.

The new state government needs to recognise that assisting organisations like Mission Australia tackle youth unemployment isn't just a federal responsibility.

The state government is well-placed to support programs that are complementary to federal efforts at driving youth unemployment down.

For example, we know from our experience that there is a growing disconnect between labour supply and demand in many of Melbourne's disadvantaged communities. 

Businesses need job-ready applicants and many young jobseekers don't have the employability skills required.

Greater funding for locally-focussed, employer-first initiatives that identify job needs  and focus on assisting young people so they can fill available vacancies is what's needed.

The jobs are there; we need to make sure that young people have the capacity to take them.

At the same time, for those kids in danger of dropping out of school early and disengaging from training or employment, Victoria needs to offer more flexible learning, opportunities for casual work experience and pathways to traineeships and other employment.

The Coalition Victorian Government could and should take a lead on this. Their predecessors largely deferred to their federal colleagues in this area - that must change.

As for its affordable housing problem, Victoria needs to develop a detailed housing plan that incorporates where affordable housing can be built, how it can be financed and how individuals can afford to continue living with their families in the communities in which they were raised.

Part of this will require a review of planning laws to balance the needs of today with tomorrow.

On top of that a strategy to fix, replenish and manage Victoria's ageing public housing will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

There are currently 40,000 Victorians sitting on the public housing waiting list and there's no evidence that the previous government's efforts at generating affordable housing growth is having any impact.

Victoria can't continue to rest on its laurels in terms of its approach to social and employment challenges.

Look around: South Australia leads the country in terms of offering flexible schooling in non-traditional environments to keep young people from dropping out of school.

Perhaps more than any other state in recent years, NSW has thrown its resources - and better coordinated the assistance coming from the Australian Government - into the development of affordable housing…often at its political cost.

And again NSW has embarked upon a pilot of using social impact bonds - an innovative method of raising funds from non-government investors to pay for the provision of services - while Victoria stands idly by.

I'm sure Victoria's new Premier, Ted Baillieu, is receiving mountains of unsolicited advice at present, but if I might add to the pile:

"Mr Premier, in the area of social services and support for disadvantaged people, Victoria is in danger of falling behind the rest of the country. We need to act now to arrest the slide."

Let's hope he hears the message.

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Toby Hall is the Chief Executive Officer of Mission Australia.

This piece was published in the National Times today.  Read more of Toby's articles at this link

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Future looks bright despite body shape - MA CEO on national youth survey findings

There's no doubt young Australians get a bad rap today. Countless commentators - and some parents too I suspect - complain about their lack of values, their slavish devotion to the latest fad or gadget and their inability to commit.

Wrong. All wrong.

Mission Australia's latest national youth survey - at more than 50,000 participants, including many from the Hunter, the biggest annual stocktake of young people in the country - is evidence that our youth are well-adjusted, have a strong set of values and place enormous importance on family relationships.

And apart from shouldering a range of serious concerns - both personal and for the nation - young Australians are overwhelmingly positive about the future.

Our survey flies in the face of popular stereotypes of Generation Y as shallow and materialistic. But it's not all good news. This year's survey has also uncovered some serious issues we, as a community, need to address.

Once again, body image is the leading personal concern for young people - in the Hunter and around the country - while at the same time they're wrestling with stress and school/study worries at far greater levels than in recent years.

When asked to rank their personal concerns from 15 issues, body image was ranked most frequently in the top three by one-in-three respondents.

It was the leading issue of concern for groups aged 11 to 14, and 15 to 19, and for females. Almost half of those aged 20 to 24 considered it a major concern. And it's not just "a female thing"- for young males body image was the second highest concern behind alcohol.

Meanwhile, young people's concern about stress jumped close to 10 per cent from last year's survey - a worrying trend.

So while young Australians are well-balanced, there's a serious and rising vein of discomfort about themselves and some of the influences around them.

In terms of body image, the results tell us that despite governments, welfare groups and youth agencies moving to tackle the issue more earnestly, there's still a lot of work to do - particularly among young adults.

Recent developments such as the Voluntary Industry Code of Conduct on Body Image also seem to have failed to convince media and the fashion industry to be more responsible.

One thing we need to do is develop young people's "media literacy", so that when they look at a magazine and see models with unachievable body perfection, they know the image has been altered.

As for stress, the level of concern picked up in our survey suggests the merit in a broader discussion about the nature and sources of stress among young people and how we can alleviate it.

Many young people indicated they wanted to better manage their competing demands, noting the potential negative consequences of not doing so, including a range of mental health issues.

We need to better equip young people, including in early adolescence, with the practical strategies to help them deal with stress.

Because we know young people go to their friends, parents and other family members first when under pressure, we must invest in supports that assist these groups so they have the skills to help. This includes peer-to-peer education and programs targeted at family members.

One constant since beginning our survey in 2002 has been young people worrying about bullying. While other issues tend to jump around, bullying has remained steady with a quarter of young people considering it a leading concern.

Young people don't make a distinction between physical bullying or cyber-bullying via online or SMS - any bullying is an issue to them and their peers because they see the consequences of it in terms of self-harm, depression and poor mental health.

Anti-bullying strategies need to stay ahead of the game in terms of technological developments that can be used and adapted to intimidate and attack others.

They also need to target the bully and the bullied-both sides reflecting a need for support and guidance.

But let me end as I began, on a positive note. For the first time this year we asked participants how they felt about the future. The answer was resoundingly optimistic.

Two-thirds were either positive or very positive about the future; only about 9 per cent were negative.

Despite the challenges, our future is in good hands - in the Hunter and around the country.

Latest news about youth survey findings...

• Tory Maguire, The Punch: 'Which comes first, a problem or its definition' 
• MA VIC State Director Paul Bird, The Punch:
  'Fear of violence is killing Victorian culture'.
• Mia Freedman, MammaMia:
  'The #1 concern for young people is body image. And stress'. 
• ABC TV, News: View at this link. 
• ABC Radio, The World Today: 'Young Australians feeling more stressed'
• Mission Australia news: Read on at this link

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Toby Hall is the Chief Executive Officer of Mission Australia.

This piece was published in the Newcastle Herald on 19th November 2010

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