AASW - Australian Association of Social Workers

Nominations have now closed for positions on the National Board and on Branches' Committees of Management.

Click here to find out more about the upcoming elections and candidates. 

Members will have received an email from the AASW returning officer with a link to vote in the current elections for the AASW national board.

More information on candidates can be found here. Members will receive a special edition of the National Bulletin with more information on the candidates next week to assist them in making their decision on who to vote for.

Due to an error at our webhost agency with the original email, members have received two emails inviting them to vote today. As the system does not allow members to vote more than once only one of these emails can be used to access the voting pages.

To be eligible to vote, members must have paid their renewal fee for 2010-11. Please contact the membership team for further information.

The AASW is holding elections for 3 positions on its National Board. A forum for members to ask the candidates questions is now open.

Click here to access the forum and please insert your usename (membership number) and password when asked.

Find out more about the national and branch candidates here.

Due to unforeseen problems with the AASW email, the returning officer has approved an extension to the deadline for nominations for national Board and Branch positions. Please note that nominations must now be received by 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time, Tuesday August 10.

For the national election, nominations are called for:
• National Vice President
• National Board member (3)

For each of the AASW's 10 branch elections, nominations are called for:
• Branch President
• Branch Committee member (5)

Find out more and download a nomination form for any of the positions.
 

The AASW is about to set up a new server for email. As a result of this you will not be able to send emails to the AASW from 3pm on Friday until first thing on Monday morning.

Please re-send any emails that you may have sent during the down time.

The AASW is a member of Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA). Recent media release on announcements on the Health Reform Agenda can be viewed here.

The AASW is disappointed that the announcement by Prime Minister Gillard on mental health has failed to address the removal of social workers from the Better Access (Medicare) program.

Read more.

The Code of Ethics is arguably our cornerstone document. It articulates the core values and principles of the social work profession and provides a guide to ethical social work practice. Read more...

 The Australian Services Union (ASU) has organized a National Equal Pay Day of Action for 10 June 2010 “Pay Up - No More Lip Service to Equal Pay”, with rallies organized in most capital cities. The ASU is the union of Community Sector Workers.

The AASW strongly supports and is actively participating in the ASU’s fair wages test case using the new Equal Remuneration Laws embedded in the Fair Work Act. The outcome of the case will affect about 200,000 community workers.

The ASU believes that:
Community Sector workers are undervalued and underpaid and not properly respected. Their work has traditionally been seen as "women's work" and their wages have been restricted as a result.

The AASW believes that:
Australia needs a plan to attract and retain high quality professionals, including social workers, to work in the community sector. An improvement to wages, along with accreditation of the community sector workforce, would be great steps forward in achieving that. We strongly encourage all members who are able to attend the Day of Action on June 10 to do so as proud AASW members.

The Community Sector is largely reliant on Government funding to run its essential services and to pay the wages of the workers. Winning the case is only half the battle, as workers need the Government to fund the outcome of the case to make Equal Pay a reality. ASU members will push for the funding and are seeking wider support for the campaign. Click here for more information