With a federal election looming following years of fire, flood and a global pandemic, The Salvation Army has delved into the very heart of individual Australian communities to discover which social justice issues are of prominent concern right now and what can ultimately be done to address them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an Australian first, more than 15,000 people from all demographics across every state and territory contributed to The Salvation Army\u2019s National Social Justice Stocktake Report (NSJSR) via a survey asking which concerns are weighing on individuals, their families, loved ones and local communities \u2013 and how these issues will impact their personal decisions during the federal election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The results of the NSJSR have been collated into a national overview; state and territories synopsis; and 151 electorate and eight state individual jurisdiction reports. All the reports are housed on a purpose-built website – www.salvationarmy.org.au\/socialjusticestocktake – which the reader can negotiate by clicking through to areas of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Stocktake has several goals, but first and foremost it is designed to help people reflect on social justice and take action on the injustice and hardship they can see,\u201d says The Salvation Army\u2019s Secretary for Mission, Captain Stuart Glover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are releasing this report to coincide with the election of the 47th parliament of Australia to help empower candidates and voters to have a conversation about social justice. The third main objective of this project is to inform how The Salvation Army focuses its social justice, social policy and advocacy work to ensure we are being led by the communities we serve and focused on the needs at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nationally, the top six concerns as revealed in the NSJSR are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Mental health (53.9 per cent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Housing affordability (52.4 per cent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Alcohol and drug misuse (42.6 per cent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Family violence (35.4 per cent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Homelessness (35.1 per cent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Poverty and financial hardship (25.9 per cent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other issues which feature include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Unemployment and underemployment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Climate change<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Social isolation and loneliness<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Racism and discrimination<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Older Australian discrimination and hardship<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Gambling<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Youth employment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Gender inequality and inequity<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Disability discrimination and hardship<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Opportunities for children<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Treatment of refuges and asylum seekers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feedback from participants of the NSJSR found that Australians care deeply about social injustice \u2013but don\u2019t always know what to do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is a vocal element in the community that despairs there is not enough being done about the issues and injustices going on around them in their everyday lives,\u201d Captain Glover adds. \u201cThey want to be more active in initiating change but feel powerless. So, instead of just providing findings, we\u2019ve tried to help alleviate that sense of hopelessness by also outlining practical solutions. We firmly believe that every social justice issue can be both addressed and actioned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Salvation Army\u2019s annual Red Shield Appeal raises funds that are used to help address social issues within local communities. To support, visit: www.salvationarmy.org.au.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The www.salvationarmy.org.au\/socialjusticestocktake website contains additional information on each of the Stocktake\u2019s issues; quotes from Salvation Army experts in social mission delivery; and the specifics of the survey research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With a federal election looming following years of fire, flood and a global pandemic, The Salvation Army has delved into the very heart of individual Australian communities to discover which social justice issues are of prominent concern right now and what can ultimately be done to address them. In an Australian first, more than 15,000 … Continue reading “SALVOS EXCLUSIVE: THE SOCIAL JUSTICE CONCERNS OF AUSTRALIANS, BY NATION, STATE\/TERRITORIES, AND INDIVIDUAL ELECTORATES: Access your electorate\u2019s specialised report to see what communities want changed \u2013 and how.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15951,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15950\/revisions\/15951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}