The Family and Community Services portfolio is responsible for a broad range of social policy issues affecting Australian society and the living standards of Australian families, communities and individuals.
The portfolio is responsible for income support, housing policy, community support, disability services, child care services and family issues, including family payments, child support and family relationships.
The portfolio spends around $55 billion a year on providing its programs and services-about one third of Commonwealth budget spending.
The portfolio consists of:
- the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) which incorporates the Child Support Agency, CRS Australia and the Social Security Appeals Tribunal
- Centrelink, which delivers income support payments and services on behalf of FaCS
- the Australian Institute of Family Studies
Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. It is easy to see why Monash leads the field in IT. We were the first university to recognise the importance of information technology to all areas of social and economic endeavour.
Seven years before the Wallis Inquiry highlighted the emergence of information technology as the critical source of competitive advantage in business, we gave information technology a strategic focus by forming an information technology faculty. We were the first university in the country to do so.
Today we are the largest information technology faculty in Australia and one of the largest in the world.
We have more academic and research staff than any other computing and information technology faculty in the country and almost 80 per cent are research qualified to Masters or PhD level.
Support has been provided by the Enterprise Information Research Group EIRG) in the School of Information Management and Systems, and the Centre for Distributed Systems and Software Engineering(DSSE) in the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering
Multimedia Victoria works with other government bodies to implement the Government's Connecting Victoria policy, which aims to bring the benefits of technology to all Victorians.
Part of the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Multimedia Victoria also works closely with the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry, community groups, education and training providers and the wider business community to deliver the Government's Connecting Victoria policy.
Part of the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Multimedia Victoria also works closely with the Information Communications Technology (ICT) industry, community groups, education and training providers and the wider business community to deliver the Government's Connecting Victoria policy.
Multimedia Victoria's core responsibilities include:
- Growing the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in Victoria;
- Working with government bodies to deliver services online;
- Attracting new ICT investments to Victoria;
- Working with education and training providers and industry to build the state's ICT skills base;
- Increasing community uptake of the Internet;
- Promoting the uptake of e-commerce by Victorian companies;
- Establishing a regulatory framework that provides certainty and confidence for the use of new technologies; and
- Negotiating whole-of-government purchasing for telecommunications services
Infoxchange Australia has been an initiator in developing online information systems for the human services sector since 1989.
From its beginning as a housing information service in inner-urban Melbourne, Infoxchange Australia has grown to be a provider of a complete range of information technology services to community agencies, individuals and corporate clients across Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia.
Among the achievements are the establishment of the first online accommodation vacancy system; the first fully searchable community support services database in Australia and the concept of weekly Infocasts of material relevant to health and welfare workers across Australia.
Our mission is to use information technology for social justice.
- We work towards a society where all those who wish to use the new technologies have access to them.
- We encourage the provision of quality community information exchange
The National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE)has the mandate as the focal point for Commonwealth government coordination of information economy issues. NOIE's role is to strengthen Australia's participation in the information economy, for the benefit of all Australians. Successful participation in the information economy is vital if Australia is to remain competitive in and to benefit from the global 'new' economy.
The challenge for NOIE is to better understand and build upon the synergies surrounding developments in e-commerce and e-government, national and internationally. NOIE's objective is to also provide leadership and focus debate within the wider community on priority issues.
Ourcommunity.com.au is a marriage of business and community goals that offers the vital ingredients necessary for the sound growth and development of the community and non-profit sector in Australia.
Imagine a place where the hundreds of thousands of community and non- profit organisations that make up the social infrastructure of Australia all become strong, sustainable and influential. A place where community and non-profit organisations are able to achieve their greatest potential and their most creative dreams. The non-profit sector nourishes Australia's families, our children, our communities, our cultural and sporting identity, our environment and our spiritual needs.
Funded by the Office of Employment, Training and Tertiary Education (ETTE), TAFE frontiers aims to bring strategic change to the provision of vocational education and training (VET) in Victoria.
To achieve this, we engage in a number of key activities, including:
- promoting and implementing the State Government's Flexible Learning Strategy;
- development of learning resources, both targetted and provider-led, through innovative funding initiatives;
- professional development/skills development;
- identifying, facilitating and funding niche projects;
- fostering networks and learning communities; research; and
- marketing/communication of flexible learning issues
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Some of these activities are targetted at specific groups, such as leaders, teachers, support staff, and developers), while others have general application across the sector.
The Telstra Consumer Consultative Council has been meeting for over 11 years and provides an ongoing opportunity for consumer and Telstra representatives to engage on communications issues, and to do something about them.
The TCCC represents by far the largest commitment to community consultation by Australian business. Telstra's people, working closely with community group leaders, deal with a very wide range of issues, from concerns of specific customer groups to questions of industry-wide policy.
Membership on the Council is structured to represent the complexity and depth of the Australian community, covering national interest groups and social and population sectors.
Telstra provides a full range of home and business Internet access solutions to all Australians through its BigPond services.
VICNET is Victoria's community network, delivering Internet services to people all around Victoria. VICNET aims to encourage all Victorians to make the most of the Internet. You can join in Victoria's community network by visiting a public library, a Skills.net centre, by signing up for one of VICNET's Internet services, or just by visiting our web site.
VICNET began in 1994 and has grown to become a well regarded member of the Internet industry. We are a business owned by the State Library of Victoria, and function as a unit of the State Library. VICNET has worked hard to ensure that the public library network in Victoria is able to provide Internet access to the public.
VICNET provides Internet access, training and support for thousands of Victorians and is providing a leading example for community networks in Australia and around the world.
