Website, privacy and legal
About vcoss.org.au
vcoss.org.au was originally designed and built by the good folk at Melbourne creative studio Gozer.
This site is compliant to the WCAG 2.0 accessibility standard.
Some icons and buttons have been made by Freepik and sourced from www.flaticon.com.
Particular thanks must go to graphic artists Pixel Buddha, DinosoftLabs, Dimitry Miroliubov and Maxim Basinski.
This website uses a lot of original photos, as well as images provided by VCOSS member organisations. But we’re also huge fans of Unsplash, Pexels and Pixabay.
When we use an open source image (with any licence more restrictive than CC0) we give required credit in the main body of the article where the image appears, or in the main body of the article for which the image serves as a thumbnail, icon or pointer.
Please direct all website queries here.
Full sitemap
Pages
- About VCOSS
- Allyship with First Peoples on the path to Treaty
- Articles and analysis
- Contact Us
- Electrification
- Events
- Growing Social Housing
- Joining VCOSS
- Media Hub
- My Account
- Oh no
- Policy and research
- Projects and campaigns
- Communities of Practice Project
- Community Services Industry Plan
- Consumer Led Good Practice Project
- Disaster resilience
- Empowered Lives
- Fair sector funding and regulation
- Good health in the time of COVID-19
- Human Services and Health Partnership Implementation Committee
- Listening Tour
- Making sense of the Victorian Budget
- Partnering with the Department of Education
- Quality placements
- VCOSS Comms Alliance
- Wellbeing approaches
- Reconciliation
- Search
- The Fair Work Commission review
- VCOSS subscriptions
- Victorian Budget Hub
- Victorian Council of Social Service
- Victorian election platforms
- Website, privacy and legal
Posts by category
- Category: Aboriginal
- Category: Budget
- VCOSS initial State Budget response
- Victoria delivers a modest and steady budget.
- Challenging road ahead after “mixed bag” Victorian budget
- We need to get Victoria off gas
- Affordable living
- A healthy climate supporting resilient communities
- Valuing the community sector
- Fair and equal justice
- A Victorian where people can thrive and live free from violence
- Stronger early childhood education, schools and skills
- Victorians in work
- A healthy Victoria
- A wellbeing state – wellbeing approaches
- A safe place to call home
- Lean, lean, lean
- Fair and equal justice
- A wellbeing state
- Inclusive communities
- An equitable response to climate change
- Women living safe and respected
- Victorians in work
- Significant mental health investment key in ‘a budget for the times’
- Back into poverty
- ‘Inequality crushing’ budget sets Victoria on a fairer course
- Giant strides towards a better Victoria
- VCOSS welcomes ‘budget with a heart’
- Targeted investments needed to combat growing inequality
- Victorians slide further into poverty
- Category: Children Young People and Families
- Partnering with the Department of Education
- ‘Joining the dots’ between food insecurity and student learning and wellbeing.
- Foster care kids are struggling to get proof-of-life documents
- Feedback to the School Community Safety Order Ministerial Guidelines Issues Paper
- How it feels when your dad’s in prison
- Early childhood package to deliver “triple whammy of benefits”
- Keeping an eye on the kids
- The cost of a ‘free’ education
- ‘Rattling down the edge of a roller coaster’
- ‘Not just five days’
- Supporting young children and their families early to reach their full potential
- We’re behind YOUth
- The right standards for change
- ‘You have to be your own cheerleader’: staying positive in COVID
- Early Childhood Engagement of CALD Communities
- Lessons from Remote and Flexible Learning
- Safeguard kids from the justice system
- Review on Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility
- VCOSS Submission to the Public Engagement Framework Consultation Draft
- Five things men say to justify violence against women
- Category: Climate change / environment
- Embracing an electric future will benefit all Victorians
- Putting equity at the heart of Victoria’s climate response
- Joint Submission to the Victorian Default Offer Review 2025-26 Draft Decision
- Victorian Energy Upgrades legislation
- Powering homes beyond fossil gas
- Building for the future
- Energy Efficiency Minimum Standards for Rentals
- Climate Resilience in the Built Environment
- A strong community sector for a safe climate
- Giving Victorians a voice on climate change
- The link between disadvantage and extreme heat in Melbourne
- Poverty and the urban heat effect
- Melbourne’s hot divide: the link between disadvantage and urban heat
- Insurers “combative” after Vic floods, Committee told
- Flooded with demand
- Feeling the Heat
- Adapting to the scorching summers ahead
- Targeting fairness: Victoria’s emissions reduction target
- Input to Sustainability Victoria’s 2021 – 2030 organisational strategy.
- Victorian renters deserve solar equality
- Melbourne needs a treechange
- An equitable decade of climate change action
- Feeling the Heat
- Breathing easy, living well
- Perspectives from the frontline
- New Activities Consultation
- Submission to the Inquiry into Environmental Infrastructure for Growing Populations
- Submission to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements
- Submission to the Victorian Energy Upgrades Targets Consultation
- Category: Community Sector
- The Community and Social Services Graduate Program
- What the social sector really needs
- VCOSS welcomes community sector jobs initiatives
- Funding indexation breakthrough
- Now’s the time to gather momentum
- COVID-19 Digital Forum #5 (August)
- Submission to the inquiry into the Skills for Victoria’s Growing Economy
- COVID-19 Digital Forum #4 (July)
- VCOSS submission to Portable Long Service Scheme draft regulations
- COVID-19 Digital Forum #3
- COVID-19 vaccine information and resources
- Social services fearful of job cuts and service reductions amid funding uncertainty
- The little House that could.. meet Morwell’s social heart
- Feedback on the ACNC 2017 Annual Information Statement
- More Than Charity
- Data Availability and Use
- Category: Cost of Living
- Powering homes beyond fossil gas
- VCOSS Submission to the Victorian Default Offer Review 2025-26
- Stop power companies slugging low-income customers for marketing costs
- VCOSS Submission to Ministerial Guidelines Relating to Payment of Rates and Charges
- Interactive maps reveal poverty in Victoria remains stubbornly high
- Mapping poverty in Victoria
- The real frontline against the ‘cost of living’
- “I’m over it” – Victorians share their 2022 feelings
- Care factor
- Out-of-work Victorians brace for the end of COVID Disaster Payments
- Broke, stressed, worried, defeated, anxious, and physically sick
- Victoria braces for a brutal few months as COVID supports are wound back
- ‘Name has been changed’: on JobSeeker, personal stories and structural change
- Power companies resume heartless pre-pandemic disconnections
- Energy package to save money, boost health and cut emissions
- Did we just end poverty, and then let it return?
- “It feels really sort of paralysing”: young in the time of COVID
- Locked down and locked out: the struggle to survive with no support
- ‘I’m going to have to make some tough choices’: Struggling for the basics
- ‘Pretty crap at the moment to be honest’: life on disability pension
- Submission to the ESC’s Victorian Default Offer 2021 consultation paper
- Supporting energy customers through the coronavirus pandemic
- Submission to the Australian Energy Regulator on the EDPR
- Getting through COVID-19 with the lights and heater on
- A little relief will go a long way for thousands struggling due to COVID-19
- Proposed framework for setting maximum prices in embedded networks
- Energy upgrade targets – putting low-income households first
- A ‘perfect storm’ is driving financial counsellors to burnout
- Ensuring energy contracts are clear and fair
- Unfair Centrelink clawback must stop
- Category: COVID-19
- Category: COVID-19 Issues Alerts
- COVID mantra of ‘personal responsibility’ is fine – in theory
- A short guide to protecting everybody from COVID this winter
- Doing ‘hard lockdowns’ better
- Caring for Victoria’s carers in the COVID crisis
- Loneliness in the time of COVID
- Emergency relief in the Coronavirus crisis
- Smartphone tracing is happening. So let’s do it right.
- Six things to consider in confronting family violence during lockdown
- What household lockdown might mean for different kinds of households
- Six things to think about as we (rightly) ban evictions
- Eight things to consider as we shut schools
- Category: Culturally and linguistically diverse
- Category: Disability Ageing and Carers
- Building Effective General Foundational Supports
- Government responses to the Disability Royal Commission
- “Be ready”: Community organisations urged to get behind the disability sector
- Delivering a more equitable NDIS
- Next stop: Stronger Standards
- Left behind
- Building a stronger foundation
- “We are all the experts in our own lives.”
- A fairer, equal and more inclusive Victoria
- Dear Minister Reynolds…
- NDIS access, eligibility and independent assessments
- Independent Assessments: Look what you’ve created
- Aged Care Royal Commission – a summary of recommendations
- Planning policy for personalised budgets and plan flexibility
- NDIS access, eligibility and independent assessments
- A State of Inclusion
- Regulatory Impact Statement for Worker Screening Regulations 2020
- VCOSS response to the Second Review of the Premises Standards 2020
- Locked down for the long haul
- TAFE: Accessible for all
- Advancing an accessible and inclusive Australia
- Forced to embrace technology
- Staying close to nature, staying well
- Building choice, control and confidence
- Changing attitudes and realising rights
- Keep Going for Gold
- Equitable and inclusive emergency planning and responses
- Growing a skilled, valued and supported disability workforce
- Seven ways not to sideline people with disability in our pandemic response
- Safety, dignity and choice
- Supporting a strong, safe and sustainable sector
- In-home aged care should be a support, not a burden
- Category: Education and Training
- Ensuring education excellence and equity in equal measure
- VCOSS response to the Review to Inform a better and Fairer Education System
- Strengthening coordination and collaboration
- Senior Secondary Reform
- Don’t take it as read
- An aspirational Vocational and Applied Learning System
- Soaring back-to-school costs highlight education funding shortfalls
- Category: Emergency Management
- Category: Employment
- Category: Environment and climate change
- Creating thriving communities for future generations
- Statement: Reviving the SEC
- Fair and fast action for a safer climate
- Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap consultation
- Adapting the community sector
- Every risk needs addressing
- Urgent action required to protect most vulnerable from polluted air
- Response to the Issues Paper Embedded Networks Review
- We can’t let the tech revolution turbocharge inequality.
- Category: Essential Services
- Submission to the Energy Retail Code of Practice review
- Stronger rules for electricity and gas retailers
- Renters’ Rights: Three years on
- Getting the VDO right
- Protect Victorians from energy upgrade telemarketers
- The Missing 14%
- Energy regulator urged to scale back price hikes
- Draft Victorian Default Offer tariffs for 2023-24
- Power bill hike will hurt struggling Victorians
- Protecting consumers of distributed energy resources consultation paper
- Comfortable, safe and saving money
- Victorian Default Offer Determination 2022-23 – our feedback
- ESC’s draft decision on Victorian Default Offer price for 2022
- Category: Family Violence
- Category: Gender and Sexuality
- Category: Health and Wellbeing
- Health and Energy Hardship
- Voices of Victoria 2.0
- The magnitude of our wellbeing moment
- Voices of Victoria
- Listening to what matters
- Vax facts. What we’re learning from diverse Victorian communities.
- Keeping Victorians Active
- A quick overview of Victoria’s Mental Health Royal Commission final report
- Bold mental health report sets roadmap for real change
- Loneliness and loss to cast a long shadow this Christmas
- My ‘Deaf family’ during COVID-19
- Iso Drift
- Statement on public housing lockdowns
- Beyond the economy: why social progress should be measured
- Category: Housing and Homelessness
- Supply of Homes in Regional Victoria
- GROWING SOCIAL HOUSING
- It’s grim: Victorian renters face big struggles three years on
- Renting in Victoria
- A plan to end homelessness
- Everything we know (so far) about Victoria’s Housing Statement
- Challenging suspected invalid rent increases
- The five big ways to fix Victoria’s housing system
- How to fix Victoria’s rental system
- Games’ legacy secured
- Strategies for staving off evictions in Victoria
- Shaping a fairer Melbourne
- Inquiry into Land Transfer Duty Fees
- Renters’ rights have never been more important
- Going the distance on Victorian rooming houses standards
- Updated minimum standards for rooming houses in Victoria
- Why Victoria should put Housing First
- Leaving a Games legacy for good
- We need to talk about the rent affordability crisis
- Victoria’s new rental rules, one year on
- A contemporary social housing regulatory framework for Victoria
- Changing the game on homelessness
- Build on the Big Housing Build
- What you need to know about Victoria’s new rental rules
- VCOSS analysis – Final Report of the Inquiry into Homelessness in Victoria
- Draft 30-Year Infrastructure Strategy
- Colossal social housing investment to change countless lives
- VCOSS response to the Review of Real Estate Education Regulations
- Is COVID causing a housing crisis?
- REIV must retract callous and dangerous landlord COVID directive
- If not now, then when? Victoria’s ‘magic moment’ to end homelessness.
- Victorians back significant social housing push
- Submission to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Australia
- Social housing, not home buyers grants, is the best stimulus
- More social housing would avoid a COVID homelessness spike and rebuild the economy.
- Make Social Housing Work
- Social housing must be a priority for Victorian COVID building taskforce
- Home: the foundation for a good life
- VCOSS applauds new measures to avoid renters’ corona catastrophe.
- Make Social Housing Work
- Category: Justice and Human Rights
- Category: Mental Health
- Category: projects
- Category: Regional Victoria
- Category: Transport
- Category: Uncategorized
- Vale Kim Sykes
- Supporting the community services sector post COVID-19
- Draft Recommendations of the Embedded Networks Review
- VCOSS launches open-access vaccination ad
- Quality Initial Teacher Education Review
- Social Housing Regulation Review – Background and Scoping Paper
- Victorian Government inflicts post-COVID funding cut on charities
- Victorian Early Childhood Workforce Strategy
- The wheels are not going round and round
- Stories into Evidence
- ‘Getting to Fair’ draft consumer vulnerability strategy
- More support needed for storm residents without power
- ESC’s Victorian Default Offer 2022 approach consultation paper
- Stronger early childhood education and schools
- More than a band-aid
- SkillsIQ Draft Community Services Training Package
- Affordable living
- National Children’s Education and Care Workforce Strategy (2021-30)
- Value the community sector
- A safe place to call home
- Women and children thriving, free from violence
- VET Disability Education Delivery
- VCOSS submission to the National Preventive Health Strategy Consultation
- ABC Melbourne crosses the language barrier to connect communities through COVID
- Category: VCOSS Organisation
- Submission on Consumer Affairs Victoria’s Financial Counselling Services Review
- VCOSS Pride at Midsumma 2024
- VCOSS appoints new permanent Chief Executive Officer
- VCOSS congratulates Dan Andrews on an extraordinary nine years of service
- Juanita Pope appointed as VCOSS Interim CEO
- VCOSS CEO Emma King announces departure
- Statement on Ministerial departures
- Category: Workforce
Grid Posts
Event Speakers
Topic Types
Topics
Disclaimer
The content of the Victorian Council of Social Service’s web site (vcoss.org.au) is provided for information purposes only.
No claim is made as to the accuracy or authenticity of the content of the website.
The Victorian Council of Social Service does not accept any liability to any person for the information or advice (or the use of such information or advice) which is provided on this web site or incorporated into it by reference.
The information on the Victorian Council of Social Service website is provided on the basis that all persons accessing the site undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content.
No responsibility is taken for any information or services which may appear on any linked websites.
The information in this website and the links provided are for general information only and should not be taken as constituting professional governance or financial advice from the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS).
VCOSS is not a governance or financial adviser. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs, and where appropriate, seek professional advice from a governance or financial adviser.
VCOSS is not liable for any result or action arising from the use of, or reliance on, the provided directly or indirectly, by use of this website.
VCOSS is not responsible for the content of any site owned by a third party that may be linked to this website, whether such a link is provided by us or by a third party. We have carefully selected these links for your convenience. However we do not endorse any products or services offered by the organisation owning or sponsoring the linked website.
When following links to other websites, we encourage you to examine the copyright, privacy and disclaimer notices on those websites.
These links are provided as a courtesy service and no judgement or warranty is made by us concerning the suitability, accuracy or timeliness of the content of any site that may be linked from the VCOSS website.
Your privacy
VCOSS collects your personal information where necessary to conduct our activities or deliver services.
We will explain the purpose at the time we collect the information or as soon as practicable afterwards.
Reasons for collection include to:
- Verify your identity
- Process your VCOSS membership application
- Register your attendance at an event/workshop or for reimbursement. This could include your contact details and financial information such as credit card or bank account details
- Send you information regarding the VCOSS advocacy and related activities. We may also send you information regarding upcoming events, forums or training activities
- Perform assessment against eligibility criteria for grant and/or scholarship applications
- Improve our services, for instance via the collection of information about how members respond to our emails and how many take action through our website.
Personal information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent, unless VCOSS is required by law to disclose that information.
VCOSS complies with all relevant privacy legislation. Only authorised VCOSS personnel are provided with access to personal information. VCOSS will take all reasonable steps to protect against the loss, misuse and/or alternation of the information under its control including through appropriate physical and electronic security strategies.
If you believe the information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please contact us.
Privacy concerns
If you wish to make an enquiry or complaint about your personal information held by VCOSS please email vcoss@vcoss.org.au.
Every effort will be made to resolve the issue quickly and effectively.

VCOSS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country, and we pay respect to Elders and Ancestors. Our business is conducted on sovereign, unceded Aboriginal land. The VCOSS offices are located on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land in central Naarm.