Member & Community Calendar

Rotary Tasmania is now accepting applications for the 2021-22 Rotary Peace Fellowship program.

Candidates will have until Sunday 31 May 2020 to submit applications to their district. Districts must submit endorsed applications to The Rotary Foundation by Wednesday 1 July.

Find out more and apply.

Working It Out is currently recruiting for two new LGBTIQ+ Community Workers — one to be based in Burnie (co-located with Youth, Family & Community Connections) and one in Launceston.

Part-time roles (13 hours per week) located in Burnie and Launceston. A person may apply for both roles, but travel to and from their place of work (i.e. Launceston and Burnie) would be their own responsibility. All work related travel is otherwise covered.

Find out more and apply.

Working in the North and/or North-West of Tasmania you will:

1. Facilitate peer support groups for those negotiating their gender, sexuality and or intersex status and for their friends and family.
2. Create relationships with the broader LGBTIQ+ community members and organisations and work collaboratively with these to add value to WIO’s work.
3. Provide information and support to LGBTIQ+ individuals and their families/support networks.
4. Provide resources, advocacy and referral to appropriate service providers and support networks where possible.

Applications close 11pm, Sunday 31 May 2020.

Applications are now open for the Local Emergency Food Relief — COVID-19 Grants Program.

Grants of up to $10,000 are available to organisations to deliver emergency food relief to Tasmanians in need in their local community.

Grants are available in two categories: Category 1 for organisations which provide low cost ready-to-eat meals following current restrictions; and Category 2 for organisations which have new or changed food hamper services as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

Read the grant guidelines and apply.

Applications close Sunday 31 May 2020.

For further information, please contact Communities Tasmania by email csrgrants@communities.tas.gov.au or phone 1800 204 224.

Do you love telling stories? Submit a story using any medium — video, creative writing, audio, music, photography, art… it's up to you! Lots of prizes to be won.

Open to anyone aged 6 - 18 years from a refugee background living in Tasmania.

Entries close 31 May 2020. Register now!

For more information and to register email communitydevelopment@mrctas.org.au or call (03) 6221 0999.

Winning entries will be announced and showcased on the MRC Tasmania website and Facebook page during Refugee Week 2020.

The AER received Commonwealth Government funding for a two-year redevelopment project to enhance the Energy Made Easy (EME) website (www.energymadeeasy.gov.au).

These enhancements are now live on the website, and their purpose is to help consumers and small businesses continue to make informed energy choices through EME.

The new features on EME include:

• two additional pathways when searching for an energy plan for more personalised results (consumers and small businesses can now search by asking us to collect their metering data from AEMO or by uploading a PDF bill).
• a dynamic translation function so users can now translate the entire website into 33 different languages,
• retailer solar feed-in credits are now included in estimated plan costs if users have solar panels and provide their solar generation data when searching for a plan,
• a revised, more helpful search experience, including suburb and postcode look-up; and
• some enhancements to the website’s design, accessibility and general operation.

Do you have photographs that depict the community’s or your personal experience of the pandemic? Have you seen a sign, object, or online content that you think should be captured for the future? Maybe you have a poem, blog, or other pieces of writing to share?

The COVID-19 Stories Project is reaching out across Tasmania to collect and preserve memories of this unprecedented period of disruption, social distancing and self-isolation. It seeks to capture the impact of this historic event on the lives and livelihoods of everyday Tasmanians to create a collective memory for the future.

Libraries Tasmania is partnering with Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) on this long-term collecting project to document the Tasmanian community’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As cultural institutions, both Libraries Tasmania and TMAG are aware of how crucial it is to collect this material now, so that future generations can comprehend how Tasmanians lived through the pandemic.  It is hoped that a wide range of items will be submitted, from personal digital photography to hardcopy items such as personal written accounts, artist diaries, posters and other material such as the contents of care packages used by Tasmanians in quarantine.

A range of stories and experiences will be selected by the project team to be preserved from the many submissions that will help document this pivotal moment in history, and bring it to life for future generations.

Both organisations envisage sharing the COVID-19 collections with the public at an appropriate time to enable Tasmanians to reflect on this experience from both a local and global perspective.

More information about the COVID-19 Stories Project and the process for submitting material can be found on the websites of Libraries Tasmania and TMAG. Alternatively, email covid19stories@education.tas.gov.au.

Baptcare is very excited to officially launch Baptcare Mental Health TasConnect.

Baptcare Mental Health TasConnect is a free phone line supporting Tasmanians with mental health concerns to identify which psychosocial service is best suited and provide them with accurate information on how that service can be accessed. Where appropriate we can place the referral for the caller or provide them with the information and documentation they need to access the service.

We’re not a crisis or counselling service, we are here to connect people with an appropriate psychosocial service.

Anyone can call this service — the person experiencing mental health concerns, their support people including family members, friends, carers, services and health professionals

Find out more about Baptcare Mental Health TasConnect.

We will continue working with organisations and getting information on services, referral pathways, wait lists, eligibility etc.

If you believe your service should be in our psychosocial service directory please get in contact with us via 1800 290 666.

Our phone line is staffed from 9am-5pm (Monday to Friday excluding Public Holidays). Please feel free to call us on 1800 290 666 of you have any questions, would like to chat about what this service offers or would like information on what psychosocial program would best suit people you are supporting.

How often have you told your story, even to sympathetic ears, but felt it had no real impact?

Disability Voices Tasmania is reaching out to Tasmanians with disability to join us in building a collective voice. If you ever have been denied access, felt your views and hopes have not been respected, been excluded from education or employment opportunities or found it hard to exercise your rights, please speak with us.

One of the stories people with disability regularly tell is that things are done for us and not by us. Our new organisation, Disability Voices Tasmania, has been created and is managed by people with disabilities.

We exist because there continues to be many systemic barriers to access and inclusion that are common to us all. We intend to give voice to the solutions to these barriers.

By identifying these common barriers, and harnessing the power of our voices, we can inspire and effect meaningful change.

We will work with organisations across all communities. We will collaborate, support and empower. We will not duplicate or replicate.

Last year, the pilot project Disability Voices Tasmania conducted workshops such as ‘using your story to influence decision-makers’ and ‘developing your pitch.’ Aside from the practical influencing skills these workshops offered, what was most interesting was the commonality of issues and experiences raised, regardless of specific disability.

People with disability are no less animated, excited, thoughtful, strategic or determined to work together than any other community group. But like any group of people, our power to effect change lies in a united, collective voice. A voice that will add value to the whole community.

Disability Voices Tasmania will be holding workshops over the next few months via Zoom. If you have a story to tell, or an issue to raise please join us in these workshops. We will connect with and learn from each other to make our voices more powerful. Your voice is our strength; our voice is your strength.

Workshops will be free. Please register your interest by contacting Disability Voices Tasmania’s Project Coordinator, Fiona, on 0428 612 299 or email projects@disabilityvoicestas.org.au.

This tool is for organisations that provide home care services as part of their core business.

The purpose of tool is to identify risks and develop mitigation strategies for home visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the guidelines.

The objectives are to:

• ensure clients continue to receive the in-home care and support they need without increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19,
• ensure healthcare and disability workers and other support workers are not exposed to COVID-19 during home visits,
• provide clarity to stakeholders about COVID-19 risk assessment and mitigation strategies, including appropriate infection prevention and control guidelines for this setting; and
• support identification and implementation of alternative service provision models during the COVID-19 pandemic to maximise safety without loss of service level or quality.

In 2015, Our Watch launched Change the Story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia, produced in partnership with VicHealth and ANROWS. The first framework of its kind, Change the Story aims to drive and guide a consistent and integrated national approach to preventing violence against women.

Five years on, Our Watch is preparing the second edition of Change the Story, to be launched in 2021. We have appointed Keleher Consulting to work closely with us to deliver this. One of the early tasks is a comprehensive assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Change the Story after five years of application, to inform revisions to the framework, if warranted.

This short online survey aims to capture your feedback on Change the Story. We're interested in how you use it, what you see as its strengths, and any gaps or areas for improvement that you wish to suggest. 

Please take the time to complete this anonymous, easy-to-complete online survey by following this link. It will take about five minutes.

Thank you in advance for your time — we really value your feedback as we work to develop the second edition of this important publication.

By becoming a NILS Delivery Partner it means that we can train some of your staff or your volunteers to assist our clients to complete our online loan application.

Depending on the person, a loan interview can take 20-minutes or up to an hour. But on average it’s about 40-minutes and is a fairly simple and straightforward process. The loan application itself can assist people have a better sense of their fortnightly budget. In fact, 38% of clients report using a regular budget after going through our process.

Your organisation would be listed on the information clients get when they enquire online along with other Delivery Partners. We have currently 66 Delivery Partners where people can access support across 93 sites in Tasmania.

If you’re interested please ask your staff to get in touch and we can send the MOU we ask Delivery Partners to sign, which ensures that our key need of privacy and confidentiality would be met.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Melissa Reid, Training and Communications Officer, via melissa@nilstastmania.org.au. We can and are organising Zoom training for any new partners staff/volunteers and will coordinate this quite quickly.

To help Australians respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, nbn™ is providing up to $50 million to assist phone and internet providers to support low income family households with school-aged children who do not currently have an active nbn™ connection at home. This funding will help phone and internet providers create more affordable offers to connect eligible families during Term 2. 

More than 20 phone and internet providers have agreed to participate in this program. 

• View the phone and internet providers that are currently ready to connect customers.
• View the full details.

TasWater are expanding our Customer Support Program and increasing the ways we can help more of our customers.

We recognise that it may be especially difficult right now to meet financial obligations and household expenses, especially when it comes to paying your bills.

We can offer bill payment support to all residential customers including if you own investment properties or vacant land. We can also help businesses, not-for-profit organisations and eligible sporting clubs to extend payment terms based on individual needs for up to three years, with some business customers now able to defer trade waste payments for six months.

If you are facing financial difficulties, or if you have trouble paying your bill at any time, please call us. 

We have a dedicated Customer Support Team to help you and we will work with you to create a flexible solution that meets your individual needs. Whether you need help in the short or long-term, our team is available to support you.

If this sounds like you, please contact our team via the links below or 13 6992 to discuss your account. We are in this together and we will continue to monitor and assess our support as the situation develops and keep you updated on any changes.

For more information view the fact sheet.

For more information_

• Fact Sheet for COVID-19 Financial Relief
• TasWater's Hardship Policy
• TasWater's Customer Support Program
• Contact TasWater

Volunteering Tasmania have prepared a guide to volunteering safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID pandemic has had a considerable impact on volunteering across the state, and this impact and the appropriate response of volunteer-involving organisations is evolving as the crisis unfolds.

As volunteers and volunteer organisations it is vital that we do everything we can to limit the spread of the COVID-19 in our communities. To help us make decisions about when, where and how we volunteer, and who volunteers, we need to have access to the best information available at the time.

Read the guide.

Working It Out is very excited to announce the launch of our COVID-19 response initiative — Working It Out Together.

As LGBTIQ+ folks, we're finding it tough in this new world where many of our avenues of validation, affirmation and celebration, as well as our ways of accessing support, are no longer available to us. That's where Working It Out Together comes in!

Working It Out Together connects LGBTIQ+ folks across Tasmania — those who would like a hand, and those who have a hand to give — and together we'll Stay Healthy and Stay Connected.

For more info and to register simply head to our website.

COTA Australia, National Seniors Australia, Older Persons Advocacy Network and Dementia Australia have banded together, supported by the Commonwealth Government, to create the National COVID-19 Older Persons Information Line.

The hotline will help older Australians get the critical information they need to stay healthy and safe during the pandemic, providing an accessible one-stop source for personal support, questions and up to date guidelines.

Older people and carers are encouraged to call 1800 171 866 to speak to friendly, specially trained staff from a senior’s advocacy organisation.

This Statement of Concern is made by internationally recognised independent experts in the area of human rights, bioethics and disability who have come together to emphasise key human rights principles and standards that need to underpin ethical decision-making in the context of disability and the COVID-19 pandemic.

People with disability are at much greater risk than the general population from the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular, older people with disability, First Peoples with disability, people with intellectual disability, people with psychosocial disability and those with chronic health conditions, co-morbidities, dependence on ventilators and compromised immunity.

Read the Statement of Concern.

Lifeline Tasmania has set up a new service for Tasmanians, specifically to deal with unprecedented demand for information, advice and support because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The State Government is backing the new service with $875,000 in funding for the next 12 months.

It has also given substantial in-kind support by providing space in a State Government building where there was a fully fitted out area for the call centre, and IT expertise.

The University of Tasmania has assisted in the recruitment of social work, psychology and counselling students to staff the call centre, creating new jobs for over 25 Tasmanians. The new staff will be professionally trained and will deliver the same quality of support that Lifeline Tasmania is respected for.

Lifeline’s 13 11 14 crisis line continues to be available for those with significant and ongoing mental health issues, including those having suicidal thoughts.

The new line will deal with the many issues around what is called psychological stress.

The Mental Health Council of Tasmania stresses that psychological distress is not a mental illness. It is a normal human response to a situation that is frightening, confusing or upsetting.

Research studies indicate that most people will experience some level of psychological distress during a pandemic. For most people this will ease over time and does not lead to mental illness.

Being in ‘psychological distress’ means that a person feels unhappy, anxious, worried, angry, sad, scared or grief-stricken.

For many Tasmanians 1800 98 44 34 — A Tasmanian lifeline is a service they might never have contemplated having to access in normal times.

These are not normal times. Many Tasmanians experiencing stress, anxiety, worry, fear and a sense of helplessness because of the pandemic are strongly encouraged to seek assistance by calling this new Lifeline Tasmania service.

The new Lifeline Tasmania service will provide information on the resources available to support those impacted by the unprecedented changes in the way Tasmanians go about their daily lives, including social isolation, loss of employment, the impact on mental health, the financial challenges and, in the case of health professionals, working in a high-risk environment.

The new phone line will offer three types of support:

• Call in: Tasmanians will receive psychosocial support from a trained support worker to discuss concerns and be redirected where appropriate to a referral service.
• Call out: Contact socially isolated older Tasmanians identified through existing services, family and friends who are concerned or by other health professionals.
• Reach out: Through partnership with those industries significantly impacted, such as tourism, hospitality, retail identify at-risk members and reach out for psychosocial support, counselling or employee assistance programs.

A Tasmanian Lifeline will be staffed from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.

For more information about A Tasmanian Lifeline email: taslifeline@lifelinetasmania.org.au

Due to popular demand, Child Wise are thrilled to announce new dates for Child Wise Virtual Classroom Training in June.

Delivered by highly qualified and experienced Child Wise trainers, our virtual classrooms are very interactive and limited to a small class of up to 20 participants to ensure a complete learning experience for you.

Go to childwise.org.au/events to see all upcoming sessions and to register.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies survey is for child, family and community welfare professionals and will help us understand their needs during COVID-19 as well as how we can best respond.

The survey takes roughly five minutes to complete and will be open until Wednesday 3 June 2020.

Find out more and complete the survey.

Grant applications are now open for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Sector COVID-19 Capacity-Building Package.

Eligible organisations can apply for a maximum of $25,000 and organisations who have already invested in modifications or initiatives after 10 March 2020 to ensure their alcohol, tobacco and other drug programs and services could continue, will be eligible to apply for funding retrospectively (and provide proof of expenses).

Alcohol, tobacco and other drug services are essential for the health of Tasmania, and we thank the Department of Health and Primary Health Tasmania for making these vital funds available.

Application close 5pm, Friday 5 June 2020.

View the grant guidelines and apply.

SASS is excited to offer a new, interactive online workshop, Being Trauma Informed Online.

Working online with groups and individuals is so relevant to how many of us have been operating in recent weeks. It's easy to feel disconnected when sitting in front of a screen, and when working online with others, it's so important to contine to work in a trauma-informed way.

This workshop is designed to offer simple and practical strategies, through experiential examples and activities, allowing you to engage with others in a virtual space and implement harm prevention techniques into your online work straight away.

Find out more and register.

Young people with disability are more likely to report personal concerns relating to mental health and are twice as likely to have experienced bullying in the past year and to feel sad about their life than their peers according to Mission Australia’s Young, Willing and Able — Youth Survey Disability Report 2019.

For the first time, Mission Australia has analysed their Youth Survey data with a focus on young people with disability and how their experiences differ to young people without disability. In response to the findings, Mission Australia is calling for greater consultation and collaboration with young people with disability and more action to address their concerns, improve their wellbeing, and remove the physical, structural and social barriers that impact their lives.

Read the report.

The City of Hobart is providing funding up to $1,000 to support the delivery of community and creative projects and programs that support the community to respond to and recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 virus.

Funding of up to $1,000 is available for activities that build capacity, strength and resilience in the Hobart community.

There is $22,000 available in this grant round until 30 June 2020, with a pool of $11,000 for community projects and $11,000 for creative projects.

Find out more and apply.

Mental Health Family and Friends Tasmania (MHFFTas) is calling for expressions of interest from families and friends to participate in a free, online training opportunity in June 2020 for family and friends of people living with mental ill health.

Register now to help support someone access supports through the NDIS with the potential to lead to paid support work.

Find out more and register.

The annual wage review that is undertaken by the Fair Work Commission has been delayed due to the COVID-19 situation. Job Australia are expecting that there will be a decision into the yearly July increases provided by the commission by the 30 June 2020. Once received Job Australia will be able to advise on what the new pay tables will look like.

We will provide further advice to our Jobs Australia members once we receive any further updates

View the latest Jobs Australia SCHCADS Industry Award 2010 pay tables.

Work45+ is a new website that has been developed in consultation with older job seekers, employers and job service providers.

It contains the information they believe will help more older job seekers be employed and valued.

Go to work45plus.org.au to find out more.

Our Watch is launching its existing campaign No Excuse for Abuse in response to the COVID-19 crisis to help raise awareness of non-physical abuse towards women.

The Australian Government recently launched Help is Here, a new national campaign to promote services available to Australians affected by family violence during the COVID-19 outbreak. The campaign targets people impacted by violence directly, signposting them to support services. 

The Our Watch No Excuse for Abuse campaign complements this approach, by also educating the broader community about what different types of abuse look like and that there is never an excuse for abuse. The updated No Excuse for Abuse website is now live where you can find more information of the different types of abuse.

The Unpacking Violence page on the Our Watch website complements the campaign, prevention practitioners can use this resource to help build awareness of the different forms of non-physical abuse, their dynamics and impacts, and how they illustrate the gendered drivers of violence against women.

Carers Tasmania is inviting family and friend carers to complete the 2020 National Carer Survey.

We are seeking your support to have carers participate in the 2020 National Carer Survey.

The survey is being conducted in conjunction with the carer associations in all states and territories and researchers from Macquarie, New South Wales, Queensland, Sydney, and Technology Sydney Universities.

The purpose of the research is to identify and highlight carers’ strengths and the challenges they face in caring for a family member or friend.

As Tasmania will not receive data from the 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Caring (SDAC), so having carers respond to this survey is very important to get more current data on carers in the state.

If carers choose to take part, they should know that:

• The survey is anonymous.
• They can choose not to answer some questions.
• The survey will take 15-20 minutes to complete.
• The survey closes 30 June 2020.

The survey asks questions about the following topics:

• The carer themselves (e.g. age, gender, cultural background, employment).
• The person for whom they care (e.g. relationship with the carer, level of care required).
• Their Access to services and support (e.g. what services is the carer using).
• The health and wellbeing of the carer (e.g. levels of stress).

Carers that choose to give their contact details:

• Will go into the draw for a 32GB wifi iPad (one iPad will be given in each state/territory).
• Be asked to complete the survey again in two-years time to establish longitudinal data.

To complete the survey:

• Go online or fill out a hard copy — ring (03) 6144 3700 to have a copy posted out.

Last year for International Overdose Awareness Day, we asked for your support to help us reach our goal of 1,000 folded origami folded cranes (aligned to the Senbazuru legend that if you folded 1,000 cranes you would get granted one wish – and ours was for a Tasmania free from overdose).

You helped us achieve an astonishing 4,239 origami cranes and showed how the meditative act of folding cranes was a powerful way to encourage people to talk about drug overdose.

Alcohol Tobacco and other Drugs Council (ATDC) Tasmania are again inviting you to help us fold cranes to create another memorial to those lost to overdose and help us create an opportunity for people in the community to discuss the risks and impact of overdose.

This year we will be doing it differently. To keep encouraging the community to social distance and show support from wherever they may be, we are asking people to fold the origami cranes and send us pictures. We will then use the individual pictures of the thousands of cranes to create a beautiful large digital artwork called a photographic mosaic which we will launch on International Overdose Awareness Day (Monday 31 August 2020). We will also be encouraging people to keep their cranes, and display them wherever they may be (hang them in the windows at home, in the office or in their car).

Also, this year we want to encourage people to share with us what International Overdose Awareness Day may mean to them, and we are inviting people to submit a tribute in remembrance to someone they know who may have been lost of harmed as a result of drug overdose.

Find out more on the ATDC website.

The committee is now inviting new submissions, including supplementary submissions from organisations and individuals who have already provided evidence to the inquiry, and requests that these are provided by Thursday 17 September 2020.

These new and supplementary submissions should address the existing terms of reference, however the committee is particularly interested in the following matters:

• the legal basis of the online compliance program;
• Services Australia's progress in implementing the changes announced in November 2019; and
• the impact that these changes have had on individuals, the community sector and Centrelink staff.

Find out more and make a submission.

The State Government has established the Residential Rent Relief Fund to provide rent relief payments of up to $2,000 (or four week's rent) to support Tasmanians experiencing rental hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The scheme is available until Wednesday 30 September 2020.

The Rent Relief payment is a one-off payment made directly to the landlord or their agents who have entered into an approved temporary rent reduction arrangement with their tenant to keep them securely housed in their principle place of residence. Tenants can apply for rent relief through the scheme from Housing Connect.

Find out more and apply.

• COVID-19 Rent Relief Fact Sheet (Tenants)
• COVID-19 Rent Relief Fact Sheet (Landlords)

Further Details:

• Assistance will be capped at four weeks rent, to a maximum of $2,000 (whichever is the less).
• Assistance will be made available to tenants experiencing COVID-19 related hardship and are in rental stress, that is, they are paying more than 30% of their income in rent.
• Assistance will be available to people with less than $5,000 in savings.
• As well as tenants covered by the Residential Tenancy Act 1997, those tenants who rent rooms, are part of a share-house or are sub-tenants are eligible for assistance.
• The fund will made available to migrants and temporary visa holders subject to them meeting all other eligibility criteria.
• There is a rent reduction agreement in place for a set period.

How to Apply:

1. Tenants experiencing hardship due to COVID-19 should speak with their landlord or agent to negotiate a rent reduction for a set period.
2. Together with their landlord or agent, tenants can complete an Application Form available at www.communities.tas.gov.au/housing/rental-services.
3. Once completed, submit the Application Form together with the required supporting documentation to Housing Connect.
4. Housing Connect will assess applications against the eligibility criteria and contact tenants if they need further information.
5. Housing Connect will send the assessed application to the Department of Justice who will notify the tenant and landlord of the outcome, within two business days.
6. Once approved, the reduced rental amount will apply for the agreed period and the rent relief grant payment will be made directly to the landlord or agent’s bank account.

More information about the Residential Rent Relief Grant can be found here or by contacting Housing Connect on 1800 800 588.

The Child Wise Child Safety Training Calendar for Tasmania is now available to download.

Choose from our signature evidence-based programs with real-life examples designed to suit every level delivered by highly qualified and experienced trainers across the country.

Save your spot early in any public training sessions you wish to attend this year, or contact us at 1300 244 539 or info@childwise.org.au if you are interested in in-house training for your organisation.

Download the training calendar or view online.