Andrew Leigh

ANDREW LEIGH MP

SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER

SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMPETITION AND PRODUCTIVITY

SHADOW MINISTER FOR CHARITIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFITS

SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRADE IN SERVICES

MEMBER FOR FENNER

FIONA PHILLIPS

LABOR CANDIDATE FOR GILMORE
 
NOWRA RECONNECTED FORUM A SUCCESS

Today, we held a successful ‘Reconnected’ forum with South Coast charities and not-for-profits, exchanging ideas on how to reverse the decline in community engagement and social capital across Australia.

Australians are less likely to join community organisations or play organised sports than they were several decades ago and it’s this trend that Labor is trying to reverse.

Today‘s was the sixteenth Reconnected forum, following on from successful forums in places such as Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Newcastle, Hobart, and Darwin.

Across these forums, we have had the chance to meet with representatives of more than 1500 Australian charities and learn what they’re doing to foster community and build social capital at a local level.

The local groups who joined today‘s conversation included:

• Community Life Batemans Bay Inc
• Nowra Men’s Shed
• Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre Inc
• Southern Cross Housing
• Shoalhaven Defence Families Association

Labor wants to give battlers a leg up by giving charities and community organisations the helping hand they need.

Labor has been working with the Hands off Our Charities Alliance to push back against Coalition measures that would stifle the voices of charities and not-for –profits. Since 2013, Andrew Leigh has had shadow ministerial responsibility for the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. During those five years, the Abbott-Turnbull Government has cycled through five ministers with responsibility for the charities commission, and are about to move on to their sixth minister. Australia’s charity sector deserves better than a revolving door from the Coalition.

We thank the organisations who participated in today‘s vital conversation for their energy and ideas, and sharing the knowledge that a life spent with others is simply a better life.

THURSDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER  2018

Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra.