Major Church Providers Ask COAG to Discuss Impact of Financial Crisis on Social Services

Major Church providers say the impact of the global financial crisis on families and
communities must be added as an emergency item on this weekend's CoAG meeting
agenda.

Anglicare Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia, the Salvation Army and
UnitingCare Australia made the call following a meeting of leaders and decision
makers at Parliament House in Canberra this week, where they launched the Access
Economics paper, The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Social Services in
Australia.

Many Australians face a significant period of disadvantage if initiatives are not put in
place now to ensure the impact of the global financial crisis is minimised. We need to
ensure people who lose their jobs do not lose their homes and slide into welfare
dependency.

The group has called for an injection of $300 million a year for three years in addition
to existing money to provide relief for individuals and families facing hardship resulting
from the impact of the global financial crisis.

These are unique times which call for a one-off injection of funds to augment existing
services to meet the increasing demand.

The group has also called for a seat on the Infrastructure Australia Board and will take
a detailed plan to the Prime Minister in the weeks ahead.

Spokespeople from the four major church providers include:
Anglicare Australia Kasy Chambers, Executive Director
Catholic Social Services Australia Frank Quinlan, Executive Director
Salvation Army David Eldridge, Territorial Social Programme Secretary, Australia Southern Territory
UnitingCare Australia Lin Hatfield-Dodds, National Director

A copy of the paper is available at: www.catholicsocialservices.org.au

28 November 2008

Contact: Judith Tokley 0408 824 306 / 02 6285 1366

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