2016

The Darwin Sun's has published a short article on this year's recipient of the AASW's Mary Moylan Northern Territory Social Worker of the Year Award.

AASW member, Martin Butler, is quoted in this article about The Ripple Effect, a research and awareness program looking at suicide in rural communities.

South Australia's new Child Protection Department officials have confirmed that the department is operating with about 300 fewer workers than it should be as it struggles to recruit new employees, reports Lauren Novak, in The Advertiser.

AASW Vice President, Christine Craik, is also Chair of Project Respect, an organisation that supports and works with women who are trafficked or who are working in the sex industry. She has been interviewed by Pro Bono's Evolving Chair.

In this Gold Coast Bulletin and Advertiser report on the safety of children in state care, AASW SA Branch President, Mary Hood, says an adult suspected of sexual abuse should not be able to return to work with children until evidence has cleared them on wrongdoing.

During National Adoption Awareness Week, the AASW told SBS radio that governments need to better understand the complexities of adoption.

AASW President, Karen Healy AM, is an expert witness in this Channel 10 News report on changes to child protection procedures in NSW.

AASW President Karen Healy AM was interviewed by SBS radio news on 9 October in the lead up to World Mental Health Day on 10 October.

President, Professor Karen Healy AM, was called on by Triple R radio, Melbourne, to comment on the legislation that would see unemployed people aged under-25 wait four weeks before being eligible for welfare. The evidence shows this will further entrench poverty.

According to a World Today report on 7  September, a new coalition of family violence experts is warning that while police training is improving, more than half of the support workers for victims of violence have no formal training.

AASW Board Director, Anita Phillips, was recently interviewed for an ABC News story in which she talks about the child protection system in the ACT and her previous role as Public Advocate:

AASW President, Karen Healy, expresses disappointment at Gary Linnell's outdated view of parenting in a letter published by the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 August 2016.

A royal commission into the mistreatment of children within the Northern Territory juvenile justice system is a good first step says AASW National President, Karen Healy AM, in her opinion piece. 'The Prime Minister is to be applauded for announcing it so quickly. However, the Commission will simply be another word-fest that raises expectations then dashes hopes unless it addresses the deep racism towards Indigenous people which has allowed this ongoing abuse to occur.'

The AASW's comments on the High Court Challenge to the Border Force Act has joined that of doctors in an article published on 27 June by Pro Bono Australia

AASW President Karen Healy's response to the ABC Four Corners report on the Don Dale juvenile detention centre was printed in the letters section of the NT News on 27 July 2016.

In an opinion piece in the Courier-Mail on 12 June 2016, AASW National President Karen Healy AM wrote about Queensland's under investment in family support services in the context of the death of toddler Mason Jet Lee. She called on the Queensland Government, which spends far less than most other states and territories on family support services, to continue to move forward in improving its investment in family support services to reach the most vulnerable children and their families.

Jennie Charlton, Vice President of AASW SA Branch, spoke with ABC Radio Adelaide on 21 June 2016 about the interim recommendations from the Royal Commission into South Australian Child Protection Systems.

Our political leaders’ relentless posturing in the run-up to the election is about being good economic managers but that is never an end in itself. If society as a whole benefits from good economic management then we are being well-served.

The AASW's Vice-President, Christine Craik, prepared a response to Italian president, Matteo Renzi's comments in the Guardian about the need for social workers as well as soldiers to fight terrorism.

National President, Professor Karen Healy AM, comments that the Labor Party's policy announcement to tackle inequality, Growing Together, is a step in the right direction but in recommending another inquiry, Labor’s agenda is too tentative and, by not fully appreciating the implications of the low rates of the Youth, Austudy and Abstudy allowances, it fails to link all the important social policy dots.

AASW President, Professor Karen Healy AM, is quoted in this story by ABC News' Claire Moodie that expresses concerns for the safety of two young Aboriginal children who have become serial runaways from a WA residential care facility.

A national registration system for social workers is being urged by the South Australian Government in the wake of damning coronial findings after the tragic death of Adelaide girl Chloe Valentine.

AASW South Australian Branch President, Dr Mary Hood, is interviewed in this ABC Adelaide news bulletin on 13 March 2016 that responds to the state government's push for national registration of social workers.

This article in The Age by Cosima Marriner quotes the AASW's submission to the surrogacy parliamentary inquiry and reports that some couples liken surrogacy to babysitting, while others disagree, saying it is similar to donor conception and adoption in that a biological connection is severed.

On 25 February, AASW National Vice-President, Christine Craik, spoke with ABC Radio's Eleanor Hall about children's welfare within the Family Court system.

On Saturday 13 February, National President, Professor Karen Healy AM, was interviewed by video journalist Claire Moodie on the ABC News 24 program, Australia Wide, about the issue of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care.

In the wake of this tragedy, the Coroner has called for consideration of Baby Safe Haven laws in order to help desperate families to safely abandon their children.  Yet it is not clear that Baby Safe Havens would have saved Baby Lily. 

Almost every day we hear media reports of abuse in Australian institutions that are meant to keep children safe. Yet our government legislates to allow children to be put into an offshore detention institution that we know is inherently unsafe. The irony is staggering.

AASW President, Karen Healy, responds to comments from Child Protection Minister, Helen Morton in this article by Claire Moodie of ABC News

This week marks eight years since former prime minister Kevin Rudd said sorry to the Stolen Generations, but for two Martu women from Western Australia's Pilbara region, the national apology has offered little comfort.