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I would like to thank CPA Australia for the opportunity to speak at today’s conference, which will explore a range of tools and skills required by the not-for-profit sector to remain sustainable, competitive and to provide high quality services.

I acknowledge the Traditional owners of the land on which we meet - the Yuggera People – and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

I welcome the chance to share with you some of our thinking and planning in the government’s Social Inclusion Agenda.

It could not be a better time to be having a conversation with you and the wider not-for-profit sector to explore how we can best work in partnership on the nation’s social inclusion journey. It gives me a chance to explain how the sector will be required to adapt and respond in some new and exciting ways to our ambitious policy framework.

Last year’s Federal election reflected the country’s desire for a national response and leadership on a range of pressing social and environmental challenges – including a response to the growing gap between those who have much and those who have little.

Labor put forward a policy agenda that would provide opportunities for all Australians to access education, employment, social opportunities and to maximise their participation in all aspects of Australian life through social inclusion. This is not a reiteration of the previous government’s welfare to work reform process. It’s not just about participating in work (although this is important) but about how people can access a wide range of opportunities; and it’s about acknowledging that individual circumstances can prevent participation.

We are now formulating our new policy frameworks that will help us to deliver on our social inclusion priorities. Action on disadvantage, poverty and exclusion cannot happen soon enough. As we know from Professor Tony Vinson’s publication, ‘Dropping off the Edge’, despite unprecedented economic growth, some communities remain trapped in a cycle of disadvantage, with some 1.7% of postcodes accounting for more than 7 times their share of the major factors that cause poverty and disadvantage.

We are very interested in building on Professor Vinson’s research using other data that is available to Government and to map more effectively where there are black holes in service delivery and where the greatest needs exist.

We also know from research that every night 100,000 Australians are homeless – this is unacceptable. That almost a quarter of these people are under the age of 25 is truly an indictment on our society. That almost a quarter of those sleeping rough are families raises enormous concerns for us as a society, after 17 years of such strong economic growth in the country..

The research and data of this magnitude represent a lost opportunity to the nation, both in social and economic terms.

If we are to break down the barriers that prevent people from finding and retaining meaningful employment, access services, connect with friends, family and local community – we have to develop very new approaches and partnerships.

What is critical is that the solutions we develop must put people at the centre of programs.

This requires us to ask why exclusion exists, and who is doing the excluding. It is no longer good enough to rely on one-size-fits-all policies. Places matter. What works in one place might not work in another and we have to be flexible in our approach.

In many cases addressing some of these issues is not about resources, it’s about directing funds to the best solutions. We also recognise that competitive tendering and the ‘new’ public sector management model has impacted on the not-for-profit sector’s capacity to innovate, share information and ideas and respond to emerging issues.

It cannot be just about reporting, outputs or even though-puts – but must be about evidence-based outcomes to ensure that resources are being directed to the most effective solutions.

This requires a systemic change in the way that the Government, business and not-for-profit sectors deliver services and develop policy through new partnerships – the reforms being delivered through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and Cabinet are important first steps.

Through COAG we are putting in place the partnerships, policies and structures that will deliver real reforms. Specific Purpose Payments to the States and Territories are being realigned and redefined as part of the National Reform Agenda. We want to give incentives for the State and Territory governments that help us achieve social inclusion imperatives and focus on programs that deliver real outcomes.

For the first time ever we have a real opportunity to end the blame game between levels of Government and reform the way that payments are delivered to target policy priorities.

The Government has also announced a Social Inclusion Committee of Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, to support its agenda. This will drive a whole-of-government approach which is truly a first at the Federal level.

The Committee is being supported by an inter-departmental working group of Secretaries. A Social Inclusion Unit has also been set up in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to drive coordination. Achieving real ‘joined-up’ service delivery is not easy but we are serious about putting in place the mechanisms to enable coordination and joined-up service delivery. Social inclusion cannot and does not belong to any one department or agency – rather it requires an overarching framework to guide the whole Government and the whole Ministry.

As you may know, the first meeting of the new Social Inclusion Board was held yesterday in Broadmeadows in the city of Hume, Victoria. Broadmeadows is in a part of Melbourne that has had a long history of working people dealing with impacts of change. It is also home to some inspirational ideas. The Board is one of the new governance structures we have put in place to provide strategic advice to Government on how the agenda can be taken forward, and what partnerships will work to benefit the inclusion of all.

It was a very successful first meeting of minds of a diverse group of people with an array of skills and expertise, with the Board agreeing to continue the work of identifying communities which experience inter-generational disadvantage and to build the evidence base around social exclusion. Innovation, early intervention and active strategies were all discussed as key ways to deliver evidence-based outcomes. The Board members were united in their view that they are not interested in waffle – they want to deliver real actions that will benefit communities. They are also serious about consulting widely with consumer groups and communities as the work of the Board goes forward.

The Australian Government believes that the not-for-profit sector must not only act as a partner in the delivery of good quality services, but must also be a partner in ideas and innovative thinking.

The sector is broad, diverse and adaptable. Through changes of government and economic circumstances, the sector has always been there to deliver services to some of Australia’s most disadvantaged people. The sector’s core business is to empower individuals, change lives and build communities from within. The sector also gives a voice to the voiceless; even in times when governments may not have wanted to listen to those voices.

I recognise there is a range of challenges that the sector faces that sometimes restrict the capacity of organisations to focus on your core mission – challenges like regulatory burdens, taxation, consistent treatment across Government, reporting requirements and red tape.

We also don’t fully understand the contribution the sector makes to our economy and society – the best national data we have is from 2001 and many things have changed since then. Many of you will have been invited to participate in the ABS Survey of the not for profit sector that will inform its work on the Satellite Account project. We await this information with great interest.

So, an important part of the Social Inclusion Agenda is the Australian Government’s commitment to build (and rebuild) a new partnership with the sector based on mutual respect and trust. This is an important part of the national reform agenda.

To achieve our social inclusion imperatives, the not-for-profit sector must be strong and vibrant. It must also find its own representative voice.

One of the first actions of the new Australian Government was to restore the right and opportunity for the not-for-profit sector to advocate on behalf of the groups they represent. It is essential that we get the best advice from the consumers of services and programs.

I have led a cross-portfolio review of all Commonwealth contracts with not-for-profit sector organisations to ensure they do not contain anti-advocacy clauses which were inserted into contracts by the previous government to actively deter organisations from advocating.

But that was just the first step. At the ACOSS Conference in April I announced the Government’s commitment to develop a National Compact with the not-for-profit sector.

Consultations will take place in coming months on the form and content of such a Compact. Its purpose must be to strengthen our relationship, foster consistent treatment of organisations across government agencies and promote a better understanding between sectors of the constraints, practices and operations of the other.

Some of the basic elements the Compact could provide include:

It must also focus on achieving our shared values and outcomes. This must not represent less accountability – but rather the right kind of accountability that captures the way that services and programs are working to better meet social inclusion priorities.

The mission of the many organisations that make up the not-for-profit sector and the priorities of Government need not be mutually exclusive.

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a visit to Parliament by Dr Phillip Mangano, Executive Director of the US President’s Inter-Agency on Homelessness. Dr Mangano is the keynote speaker at the Homelessness Conference being held in Adelaide today.

It was inspiring to hear of the work the agency is doing to coordinate a national response to homelessness , working across government and with the private sector to focus efforts on early intervention and prevention.

Perhaps most pertinently, the agency’s focus is on outcomes built around homeless individuals,. Dr Mangano pointed out that an entire services industry has been developed in the United States for homeless people – but there has been limited success in actually breaking the cycle of homelessness.

There are significant costs to society if we just perpetually fund services that do not achieve long-term, socially inclusive outcomes.

This is significant for all of us and for your sector. We will not fund services for the sake of it; if something is not working we will try something else. We are serious about finding the best solutions that deliver evidence-based outcomes.

We also recognise that we must develop better ways to measure the substantial impact and contribution of the not-for-profit sector to Australia. This is of mutual benefit to the sector and Government. This is why we are in the process of developing Terms of Reference for the Productivity Commission to develop a new tool to measure this contribution.

The success of the Compact will depend on your involvement. Compacts which have been developed with success in other countries demonstrate that it’s vital to preserve and encourage an independent sector.

I also recognise that the Compact must reflect the broad and diverse nature of the not-for-profit sector. In light of this, I am interested in exploring a two-stage process to address some of the specific issues being faced by the community sector that deliver key social services - and to develop principles through this that can be applied to ensure the consistent treatment of all not-for-profit organisations.

It is essential that the sector as a whole finds and develops a representative voice and works with us to develop a picture of the sector and its contribution. I am currently talking with the Not-for-Profit Roundtable about this issue.

And finally, success will also depend on all parties recognising that the process is just as important as the final outcome – and that a Compact should not be about reaching an end point, but its main focus must be a commitment to a continuous process of refinement to truly strengthen our relationship.

Consultations will begin shortly and I expect to report back to the Government early next year on the content and form of such a Compact.

So while we recognise that the Government and the not-for-profit sector have complementary roles in the development and delivery of services and social inclusion, we also recognise that the Government must take national leadership in ensuring opportunity for all.

The Prime Minister has today released the Green Paper which will provide a basis for discussion and consultation on what ideas and policies can inform the White Paper on Homelessness. Due to be released later this year the White Paper will set-out a ten year strategy to address the plight of homeless Australians.

Crucial to achieving social inclusion priorities will be our broader priorities to lift and enhance educational opportunity.

Following last week’s Budget, the Government is focused on honouring its election commitments.

In the 2008/09 Federal Budget, we have made significant investments in areas such as early childhood education, school retention, homelessness, literacy and numeracy, and Indigenous health, education and employment.

Among these investments:

We have also allocated $11 billion for a new Education Investment Fund for higher education and vocational education and training institutions over the next decade. Investing in education, training and skills is fundamental to building our productive capacity for our economic sustainability, optimising our human capital and creating opportunities for all.

We also have work underway to develop a National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy. This will provide us with direction on how we can get more people with disability, and those living with mental illness, into lasting employment.

We will help the most disadvantaged Australians to move into sustainable work through a simpler, more effective and better targeted employment services system.

We have reviewed the way we provide employment services by consulting with our stakeholders on the best way forward. A discussion paper on the new employment services model has now been released, and public consultations commenced on 19 May.

The new system will be rolled out from July 2009. It will emphasise work readiness and provide greater skills development, training, work experience and tailored case management, with a much greater focus on services for the most disadvantaged as well as increased engagement with employers.

By working more closely with employers we will ensure job seekers are developing the skills in greatest demand.

A $41 million Innovation Fund will be established to develop innovative responses that help significantly disadvantaged job seekers. The reforms will reduce administrative red tape for employment service providers, allowing them to spend more time delivering outcomes for job seekers.

The Budget also included measures to assist voluntary organisations to continue their vital work. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the not-for-profit sector. Without them, many organisations and many services simply would not be able to exist.

Where exclusion and disadvantage divides communities, volunteers unite them. As I said at the start – social inclusion is everybody’s responsibility. Volunteers demonstrate everyday that we can all make a contribution in our communities.

The Budget included a commitment to help community organisations to do just that, by providing funds that will help reimburse volunteers’ costs, including petrol costs.

We think that this will help around 6,000 community organisations and their volunteers, particularly those volunteers who use their cars to deliver food or visit older people in their homes, transport others to activities, or give other assistance requiring private transport. The Volunteer Grants Program will also help community organisations with funding to purchase equipment and facilities such as tools, computers, microwaves, kettles, sporting equipment and uniforms.

In addition, we have allocated $16.7 million to Volunteer Resource Centres to train and manage volunteers over the next four years. This funding will support volunteers and the not-for-profit sector itself under the Volunteer Management Program.

I am very keen to explore what opportunities there are to expand volunteerism – it must be part of the framework to build participation and opportunity.

Both the Government and the not-for-profit sector are focused on making a difference in the lives of the people we must include and lift up. It is no longer acceptable to ignore the excluded, blame the disadvantaged or deny particular groups the opportunities of a fulfilled life.

I don’t believe that is the Australian way.

I look forward to working with you all in developing the Compact that will strengthen the relationship between the Government and the sector. Let’s work together to address issues of capacity and put in place some useful frameworks for you to make a valuable contribution to policy development.

I am confident that we can work together to improve our relationship for mutual advantage and community gain.

It is an extremely exciting time to be working in social policy and programs – we are all involved in a significant and long-term agenda – and the journey to social inclusion will not be easy.

But I am confident that national leadership combined with the zeal, commitment and talent of the not-for-profit sector we can achieve real and substantial outcomes for those who not enjoy opportunity and inclusion.

I wish you all the very best for your conference, and thank you for inviting me to speak here today.