[Pil-pc-oceania] [Fwd: National Update]
Kerry Dawborn
kj.dawborn at bigpond.com
Fri Feb 29 09:00:29 EST 2008
Hi All,
I just received this update/newsletter from the Center for Civil
Society, and it contains some interesting thinking and possibly
opportunities to get involved. Potentially for those involved
permaculture and other good work, there could be opportunities to have
our voices heard, and increase our positive impact. I leave you to have
a look at it....
cheers,
Kerry Dawborn
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: National Update
Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:23:41 +1100
From: Centre for Civil Society <libbykrepp at optusnet.com.au>
To: Colleagues <hotham at sub.net.au>
If you are unable to read this National Update, click here
<National_Update0208.htm> for the website version.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/Consumer Family and Citizen Empowerment/*
*Centre for Civil Society** *
*A public policy and social innovation think/ /tank for empowerment*
* National Update:*
/ Editorial <#Editorial>/: The Rudd Summit ....Is there a Third Way?
_Announcing <#Announcing:>: The Third Way Forum <#Announcing:> _
A Union for Volunteers <#A_Union_for_Volunteer>
_National Conference of Parents, Families and Carers
<#National_Federation_of_Parents,_Families_and_Carers>_:
<#National_Federation_of_Parents,_Families_and_Carers> Program now available
Social Entrepreneurs and the Sub-prime Crisi
<#Social_Entrepreneurs_and_the_Sub-prime_Crisis>s
_Call for Papers <#Call_for_Papers:>_: /Funding Communities: New
Vision, New Agenda _
_ /Consumer control through direct funding
<#Consumer_control_through_direct_funding>
Now available <#Now_available:>: /Building Stronger Communities/
_Barry Pond <#Barry_Pond:>_: Reclaiming Control of our Credit Unions
Local Initiatives: <#Local_Initiatives:> Organising by Federal
Electorate
Events <#Events>
*Editorial: The Rudd Summit ... Is there a Third Way?*
The 1,000 brains invited to the /Australia 2020 /Summit at
Parliament House
on 19 and 20 April by Kevin Rudd will achieve at least one positive
thing.
They will remind us that houses of parliament were once intended to be
places of discussion amongst the people's representatives. Of
course, the
modern party system prevents parliamentarians from voicing ideas or
debating them, but Kevin Rudd has been clever enough to by-pass this
little
structural hiccup and import some thinkers from outside. So far so
good.
Summit participants, we are assured, will be invited in their own
right rather
than as institutional representatives from particular organisations.
This too is
a good thing, the goal being to get individual opinions rather than
official
stances from sectional interests. Of course one could ask why Mr Rudd's
party only permits citizens to become MPs if they are representatives of
particular unions and factions and agree to advance these sectional
interests
in parliament. But perhaps it would be churlish to dwell on that.
For now let's
rejoice in this temporary suspension of the closed shop model of
parliamentary representation in the hope of witnessing a thousand
flowers
bloom, if only for two days, before Canberra's familiar grey
routines re-assert
themselves.
Mark Latham left politics in 2005. He remains the only Canberra
politician in
the last two decades who managed to grasp the concept of civil
society. He
readily concedes that he couldn't get any of his colleagues to pick
it up.
Every politician can grasp the concepts of state and market, they
just don't
get the concept of social relationships and how they fit into the
policy
equation.
"On my side of politics", wrote Latham in 1999, "we draw our talent and
thinking from the old institutions of the Left: trade unions,
political families
and machine politics. There is not a radical among them. The innovative
ideas of social democracy are emerging in other forums, in the
networks of
creative small business and social entrepreneurs."
"This is why the arteries of policy entrepreneurialism in Australian
politics
have run dry. With its limited interests and intelligence networks,
modern
politics has become insoluble."
Which is why his successor, Mr Rudd, is holding an /Australia 2020/
Summit
in April. Mark Latham eventually caved in to his party bosses, but he
understood the structure of our political culture all too well:
/The Left and Right have been as bad as each other. The Left has
allowed
its distrust of markets and endless faith in government to obscure the
importance of civil society. The Right has been so focused on replacing
the state with markets that it has forgotten how to cultivate a
trusting
society. //Each side blames the other for destroying community
bonds when
in truth, both are culpable. This narrow debate points to the need
for a
Third Way - one which produces a stronger economy and stronger
government through the creation of a stronger, more trusting society. /
States and markets, of course, are here to stay. It is just that their
effectiveness is interdependent with social capital. The Third Way is
neither anti-state nor anti-market... It simply seeks to balance
them against
the virtues of mutual trust and shared obligation. It is, uniquely
in the
politics of our time, pro-market, pro-state and pro-civil society.
The Third Way is not, as its critics sometimes say, a neat compromise
between Left and Right. It is committed to issues beyond markets and
states. It introduces a third sector, the social sector, into
public policy. It
addresses the universal concern in society about the loss of social
capital
and social cohesion. Mutualism - A Third Way for Australia, 1999
<http://www.partnerships.org.au/Library/mutualism.htm>.
Amongst the 1,000 invitees to the Rudd Summit, will there be any who
grasp these insights? Will there be any who articulate them?
Will there be any voices who say in the Great Hall "What we are
missing in
Canberra is not expertise in specialist fields, nor even
longer-term time
frames for thinking about policy. What we are missing is a
recognition of
civil society, an understanding of social capital, and a means for
thinking
about the interaction between state, market and civil society".
The concept of a Third Way remains indispensable in getting this debate
going in Australia. Without it, we become tethered to state and
market as
two goals at opposite ends of a netball court. In truth, the field
we are
playing on is a triangle: its three sides are state, market and
civil society.
The domination of our political culture by the bi-polar advocates
of state and
market is so strong, so nearly-all-pervasive, that every small
voice for
recognition of civil society in our country, against the odds, is a
voice to be celebrated. Each voice is also, knowingly or not, a
voice for a
Third Way.
* Contact us <mailto:info at civilsociety.org.au>* to give us your
thoughts.
* Announcing: The Third Way Forum*
With this issue we announce the beginnings of our /Third Way Forum/.
It will be an online forum linking and growing a Third Way community of
doers, thinkers, writers and policy makers. Sign up
<ThirdWayRegistration.htm> to participate.
The Forum will commence on 1 March with a discussion
of Mark Latham's Mutualism - A Third Way for Australia.
<http://www.partnerships.org.au/Library/mutualism.htm>
We will follow up with additional texts and papers, and
then on 1 April we will consider the 10 themes up for
discussion at the /Australia 2020 /Summit, which are:
* Future directions for the Australian economy ? including
education, skills, training, science and innovation as part of the
nation's productivity agenda
* Economic infrastructure, the digital economy and the future of our
cities
* Population, sustainability, climate change and water
* Future directions for rural industries and rural communities
* A long-term national health strategy ? including the challenges of
preventative health, workforce planning and the ageing population
* Strengthening communities, supporting families and social inclusion
* Options for the future of Indigenous Australia
* Towards a creative Australia ? the future of the arts, film and
design
* The future of Australian governance ? renewed democracy, a more
open government (including the role of the media), the structure
of the Federation and the rights and responsibilities of citizens
* Australia's future security and prosperity in a rapidly changing
region and world.
On Friday 18 April, prior to the /Australia 2020/ bash on the
following two
days, we will release our Third Way perspectives on these 10
themes. This
will take the form of succinct directional statements about how we
should
proceed in these areas if we actually take civil society, social
relationships and social capital formation seriously.
These perspectives will be released in Canberra on 18 April at a
special
event preceding the Rudd Summit.
There is no cost to participate in the Forum. It will be a moderated
discussion forum and information sharing tool which we hope will
have an
ongoing life in shaping public debate.
*Click here <ThirdWay.htm>* for further details. *Click here
<ThirdWayRegistration.htm>* to sign up.
* *
* A Union for Volunteers *
"I feel very passionate about the lack of unified support and
disjointed
representation and easily assessable info and support for
volunteers in our
City of Melbourne and State of Victoria.
Specific specialty groups i.e. volunteers in palliative care and
aged care
within their own niche do have volunteers training, support
seminars etc, but
the need for *one* ?Volunteer Supporting? organization that can
deal with the
issues and needs that volunteers are confronted with as volunteers
and as
people volunteering their time and energy into very complex areas
and with
difficult clients ?does not exist.
V.V. and V.A. have evolved into professional organizations as have
Volunteer Resource Centres. But are they ?volunteer user friendly?? Are
volunteer support organizations there for the benefit and support of
organizations that utilize volunteers or are they there for the
support of the
volunteers themselves? ", /'Lucy', Manager Volunteer Services,
Hospital and
Aged Care provider, Melbourne./
Volunteers are the glue that holds our community together - in schools,
sporting clubs, neighbourhood groups, service clubs, environmental
and arts
groups, and in a myriad of community organisations.
Yet there is no national association or union of volunteers in
Australia. There
are plenty of funded councils on volunteering, but these represent
organisations who use volunteers, not volunteers themselves.
* Call for Expressions of Interest*
Expressions of interest are invited from
Australians from all walks of life who see the
need for an association or union of
volunteers. Its role would be to enable
volunteers to speak for themselves about
their contributions to society, their
information and support needs, and their
hopes for making as big an impact as
possible with their available time.
Membership would be free and open to
voluntary contributors to society in all fields of
activity.
* Click here <VolunteersEOI.htm>* to express your interest. Tell us
what you think. Offer your
suggestions on priorities, activities and roles of a volunteers
union in
Australia.
* National Conference of Parents, Families and Carers: *Program now
available
The program for the inaugural /National Conference of Parents,
Families and
Carers/ has been released. This is the first time parents, families
and carers
will gather together from a broad range of sectors to develop a common
agenda for being heard by policy makers.
Registrations for this event are being now being taken.
* Click here <PFCRegistration.htm>* to register.
The gathering is the first event of the newly formed /National
Federation of
Parents, Families and Carers/.
* Click here <NFPFC_membership.htm>* to join the Federation (there
is no cost).
* Click here <PFCNationalConference.htm>* for further information.
* Social Entrepreneurs and the Sub-prime Crisis*
?Fixing the sub-prime crisis requires social enterprises,? says
Carlos Gasca
Yanez. Why a business model instead of community action in response to
the tragedy of home loss through bank foreclosures?
"The solution I'm working on in Scotland and Norway - part funded
by the
Norwegian Government - involves a variation on the US Community Land
Trust which we call a "Community Land Partnership", says Chris Cook.
"The outcome is that property can be financed - or in the case of
foreclosures, refinanced - at a fraction of the cost of conventional
mechanisms.
The deal is this. The Banks doing the foreclosing do not sell the
properties
but transfer them into the hands of a "Custodian" eg a "Not for
Profit".
The Custodian is a member of a limited liability company the other
members of which are:
(a) a "Club" of "Occupiers" (formerly owners);
(b) a "Manager";
(c) an "Investor" ie initially, the consortium or club of
participating Banks.
An affordable Rental is set in respect of each property and this is
linked to
an agreed measure of inflation. Part of this Rental goes to the
Manager and
a proportion is set to one side as a provision and held by the
Custodian as a
Maintenance Pool/ Sinking Fund.The balance goes to the Investor as a
return on Capital."
* Click here
<http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/responsibility/subprime-crisis-calling-for-social-entrepreneurs>*
to read more and join the discussion on these possibilities.
* Click here <mailto:info at civilsociety.org.au>* if you're interested
in options such as these as a response to
the crisis in housing affordability in Australia.
* Call for Papers: Funding Communities: New Vision, New Agenda*
Proposals for papers and presentations are invited for the /Community
Building National Network/ conference on a new vision for funding
communities. The conference will run over two days in Melbourne on
26/27
March 2008 and will develop an agenda for reform of the way governments
allocate resources for building and strengthening communities.
Proposals are invited on the following themes:
- case studies of innovative new funding models for communities;
- current or proposed forms of pooled funds from various programs and
jurisdictions;
- current or proposed forms of public, private, mutual and/or
philanthropic
funding mixes;
- evaluation of current methods, practices and paradigms, and their
social
outcomes;
- proposals for system re-design, and new funding models;
- institutional impediments to reform, political processes and
strategies for
change;
- comparative examination of indigenous and non-indigenous
approaches in
funding communities.
Abstracts of papers and proposals should be forwarded by *Friday 14
March 2008 *by email or hard copy (not exceeding 300 words) to:
Vern Hughes
Conference Convenor
vern at civilsociety.org.au <mailto:vern at civilsociety.org.au>
Tel: 0425 722 890
*Click here <CommunityBuildingNationalConference.htm>*for further
information.
*Click here <CommunityBuilding.htm>* to participate in the
/Community Building National Network/.
There is no cost.
*Consumer control through direct funding*
New South Wales remains behind most other states in moving towards
consumer empowerment through direct funding models. But even here, the
trend is unmistakeable. The /Attendant Care Direct Funding Pilot/,
the only
one undertaken by the NSW Government in the past two years, has now
been evaluated, and as expected, the response from participants has
been
overwhelmingly positive.
*Click here
<http://www.sprc.unsw.edu.au/reports/Attendant_care_interim_report...pdf>*
to see the Evaluation Report on the Project
* Now available: /Building Stronger Communities/*
Former Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe
launched /Building Stronger Communities/,
published by the University of NSW Press,
at the Community Building National
Symposium on Tuesday 19 June. Philip
Hughes and Alan Black authored this
primer for communities on strategies for
building stronger community relationships.
To purchase a copy of the book contact
Audra Kunciunas tel 03 9878 3477, fax 03
9878 2677, email admin at cra.org.au <mailto:admin at cra.org.au>
* *
* Barry Pond: Reclaiming Control of our Credit Unions*
Barry Pond is a Telstra systems planner In the 1970s many workplaces
with strong worker organisation established credit unions to pool
the savings
of members and provide cheap loans to each other. Barry's was called the
/Telecom Credit Union.
/
That spirit of self-help and mutual endeavour has almost been
extinguished
in Australia's credit unions, once a strong social movement across the
country. Almost extinguished, but not quite.
Barry is leading a fight back in the credit unions, the last
significant group of
mutual institutions in Australia. He wants to hear from credit union
members
around the country willing to contest the next round of credit union
board
elections in a concerted way. Managements usually prevail in board
elections, having the benefits of incumbency, access to member
databases,
and insider networks. Outsiders have a tough job getting up, but it
can be
done. Barry was successfully elected to the board of /Telecom Credit
Union/'s
successor /Australian National Credit Union/.
The /Centre for Civil Society/ will conduct a forum on reclaiming
control
of our credit unions on Saturday 12 April at 2pm in Melbourne. It
will be for
those who want to draw a line in the sand and put themselves forward
to turn
the tide.
Express your interest by *contacting Barry
<mailto:info at civilsociety.org.au>*.
*Local Initiatives: Organising by Federal Electorate*
The core unit of our work in advancing a wide-ranging empowerment
agenda
is the *Federal Electorate Assembly (FEA)*. In each federal
electorate (150
around Australia) we will appoint a Convenor to bring together
people to take
local initiatives to influence policy and opinion.
This may take the form of local forums on important issues ignored
by the
Establishment parties and commentators, or campaigns on particular
themes, or promotions to assert the voices of hidden, invisible
groups of
Australians.
*Click here* <Membership.htm>to register in your electorate (there
is no cost).
* Events *
March 17/18 2008: National Conference/: Parents, Families and Carers
- Our
Place in the Human Services, Our Agenda for Change./
*Click here* <PFCNationalConference.htm>for further details on this
event.
May 26/27: National Conference: /Funding Communities - New Vision, New
Agenda./
*Click here <CommunityBuildingNationalConference.htm>* for further
details on this event.
This message notifies you of news, events, publications and opinions
from the Centre for Civil Society, a not-for-profit non-party political
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Centre for Civil Society
http:www.civilsociety.org.au <http://www.civilsociety.org.au>
PO Box 159 Yarraville Vic 3013
*THE CENTRE for CIVIL SOCIETY
*
We are committed to strengthening civil society and empowering people in
families, communities, associations and small enterprises. We are the
only think tank in Australia committed to a wide-ranging agenda of
empowerment of ordinary people.
Visit our Website <http://www.civilsociety.org.au>
*REGISTER NOW*
T*he First Ever National Gathering of Parents, Families and Carers, and
their supporters, across the Human Services, to Make Change Happen*
*MARCH 17/18 2008
Register Here <PFCRegistration.htm>*
*FEDERAL ELECTORATE ASSEMBLY*
The Centre for Civil Society brings together people in each federal
electorate (150 electorates around Australia) to work locally in
influencing policy and opinion, with a special focus on disability,
mental health and family carer issues.
CLICK HERE <Membership.htm> to participate and to express an interest in
Convening an FEA in your electorate.
*SURVEYS*
If you are the proprietor of a small business, please send us your
thoughts on how we can support small businesses through our *SMALL
BUSINESS SURVEY <SmallBusinessSurvey.htm>
*
If you are caring for an ill or disabled family member at home, please
click here to participate in our *Family CarERS SURVEY
<FamilyCarerSurvey.htm>. *
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