Salvos Christmas message
Whether it is connecting with your community, giving a hand to someone in need, making a donation or volunteering a few hours of your time, every contribution to The Salvation Army, however big or small, can significantly impact the lives of those in need at Christmas.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Christmas is the busiest time of the year for The Salvation Army, with more than 300,000 people seeking our assistance. We also distribute around 500,000 gifts and toys and serve more than 100,000 meals to those in need.
So please, help us give hope where it’s needed most this festive season. By donating $29 to the Salvos, you can help put food on the table and a present under the tree to support Aussies doing it tough this Christmas. To donate to The Salvation Army’s Christmas Appeal, please call 13 72 58 or visit salvos.org.au.
Lieut-Colonel Neil Venables
National Secretary for Communications
The Salvation Army
Alliance Backs COAG Call Out on Closing the Gap
The National Rural Health Alliance – the peak advocacy body representing the health needs of 7 million Australians – is joining the 13 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies that have written to Council of Australian Governments (COAG) First Ministers seeking a full partnership approach between Indigenous people and governments to refresh the Closing the Gap strategy.
The partnership and a call to refresh the Closing the Gap process, will be put to COAG for consideration in Adelaide on 12 December, but they are being proposed without the full engagement and endorsement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Bodies.
The letter to First Ministers, signed by 13 peak Indigenous bodies, seeks a meeting with COAG representatives to determine a framework for reaching agreement on a refreshed Closing the Gap strategy.
The letter calls on the First Ministers to use COAG to instead endorse a formal partnership mechanism be included in the Closing the Gap refreshed framework.
A fully inclusive Closing the Gap partnership is fundamental to the success of refreshing the Closing the Gap Strategy and needed to be agreed by all levels of government.
If there is one lesson that we must have learnt by now, it is that the best health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will only be achieved through the full involvement of Indigenous people in determining what action is required and how it should be implemented.
This is a crucial step. It is essential that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past – the peak bodies need to be involved otherwise the gap will not close.
COAG has made a commitment to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and a genuine partnership model is the only way to do it.
Mark Diamond
National Rural Health Alliance CEO
Facebook Feedback
The tributes for Mount Isa retiring vet Len Fulham keep coming
Kaye Trewin A truly amazing vet. Enjoy your retirement
Lyndsay Jameson Thank you, Len and Sandra, for the fantastic help you've given our family's two cats in the more than 30 years you've been our family vet. Your professional, courteous manner and many years of amazing veterinary care have left an indelible mark on this community. We wish you both all the best in your post-retirement life!
Becc Hunter It is so sad to see that you’re retiring Len,but it is wonderful news that Gillian is taking over. We wish you and Sandra many years of health and happiness in Redcliffe and just know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking such wonderful care of our other babies.