Latest News & Advocacy

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) is reviewing the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Industry Award 2010 to address gender-based undervaluation. TasCOSS is working with the COSS Network to support a coordinated industry response and invites organisations to have their say in the next round of consultation.

The TasCOSS offices, located at Level 3/86 Murray Street, Hobart, 7000 will close to the public for the holidays at 3pm, Wednesday 24 December 2025 and reopen at 9am, Monday 12 January 2026.

TasCOSS CEO, Adrienne Picone, has informed the TasCOSS Board that she will not be renewing her contract when it concludes in June 2026. Adrienne has led TasCOSS for close to six years with commitment and integrity, and we thank her for her significant contribution to the organisation and to the broader community services industry in Tasmania.

TasCOSS, in collaboration with Tenants’ Union of Tasmania, has released new rental reform indicators on the Tasmania’s State of Housing Dashboard, which underscores the uphill plight facing Tasmanian renters who, despite growing in numbers, continue to be let down by inadequate government protections and regulations.

2025 has been a year marked by change and uncertainty — a snap state election, a federal election, two state budgets and two Treasurers later, here we are.

On Thursday 6 November 2025, Treasurer, the Hon Eric Abetz MP, handed down the interim Budget. Read TasCOSS’s and the Tasmanian Coalition of Community Service Peaks’ interim Budget responses.

This interim Budget was at its core simply a vehicle for the Government to bide time — a repeat of what we saw in May — but this time with a thinly veiled warning of the need to find savings and efficiencies.

Tasmanians and our economy continue to miss out on the social and economic benefits of using digital technologies effectively, because they can’t access, can’t afford or don’t have the necessary skills to navigate the online world.