The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has given us all greater insight into just how deeply social injustice is embedded in Australia.

In late 2021, the Salvation Army did a nationwide Social Justice Stocktake to get to the heart of what people were seeing in their local communities. From there, they built a map of social justice priorities across Australia.

The researchers heard that many people feel overwhelmed, even hopeless, when asked how Australia can address the issues they see in their local communities. Some felt they needed government to act before they could do anything individually. Some despaired that governments (of any level and any political persuasion) don’t seem to care enough about the issues and injustices going on around them every day.

Instead of just providing the findings, this report tries to help alleviate that sense of hopelessness by also outlining some practical solutions.