This article is sponsored by Uniting, the Board of the NSW and ACT Synod of the Uniting Church responsible for the work of community services, chaplaincy and social justice advocacy. www.uniting.org
The world is moving very quickly around all of us. For Uniting to be able to continue to support the people who rely on us, we need to be able to respond quickly too.
Covid-19 has been particularly challenging with our Ageing operations, whose difficult industry climate has been heightened by the cost pressures imposed by our virus responses. The very viability of our Early Learning services is at stake from the dramatic change in attendance and restrictions on availability of the government’s JobKeeper package. Our Medically Supervised Injecting Centre sees homeless people every day who can’t self-isolate and are increasingly unable to find a bed in a shelter or a free meal.
Working with industry bodies, Uniting Care Australia, and directly with state and federal government, the Advocacy team is making sure Uniting NSW.ACT has a strong, evidence-based voice, supporting prompt and effective responses to the current crisis and ensuring we emerge from it in a position to continue our mission.
The Advocacy team is also exploring ways its campaigns can engage people online while isolating, enhance people’s activism skills, and continue to pressure decision makers to support change consistent with our campaign goals and the common good.
We’re finding new ways for events to proceed – for example Palm Sunday on April 5 took place online. People made signs and joined the live event. The Climate Strike and the Climate and Pastoral Care Conference will also happen online. And we’ve taken a major role in building support for inclusion of temporary migrants in the government’s safety nets.
We’re working with our partners in the Sydney Alliance on campaigns for Covid-related social justice priorities. This includes advocacy for some of the most vulnerable in our society – including those who rent their homes and may face eviction through hardship, or who face disconnection by energy providers.
Our campaigns have already borne fruit, with the federal government responding to a flood of public support and, on March 29, calling on state and territory governments to impose a moratorium on evictions due to “financial distress”. We’re now urging the NSW and ACT governments to impose this moratorium widely, as Tasmania has done. See our Social Justice Facebook page for details and updates.
Uniting is also active with the Sydney Alliance in partnerships to seek relief from power disconnections, and to strengthen the backbone of local communities to ensure that social connection can continue to build in the face of necessary physical distancing. Drawn together by the Alliance, Local Backbone teams are forming across Sydney to bring civil society organisations together to pool resources and respond to local needs. “Like” our Social Justice Facebook page to keep informed about how you can get involved.
Our Fair Treatment campaign for drug reform has also shifted tack, with its poignant documentary Half a Million Steps now available in full on YouTube to avoid the necessity of physical presence at screenings. Why not set aside a night to watch the documentary online? Better still get your friends to watch online from their homes at the same time and have a discussion afterwards.
Uniting is also working to extend awareness of pharmaceutical treatments available to people using drugs who need these treatments.
And our Advocacy Team is working to integrate new features into our Facebook pages including campaign updates and online training to allow staff, members of congregations, independent living residents and others to get up to speed on our advocacy priorities and how they can get involved.
So, as we physically isolate, let’s all work together to maintain our social connections and our passion to make a better world. We look forward to connecting with you in person in the spring. Until then, see you online.
For more information about any of our campaigns, you can contact Uniting Advocacy team at advocacy@uniting.org.
