Getting the long-term jobless into mainstream employment is a major challenge for Australian governments, especially in areas of concentrated disadvantage. The Brotherhood’s approach, also used effectively overseas, is to use an 'intermediate labour market' (ILM) as a bridge between long-term unemployment and the mainstream labour market. This research report presents initial findings about the effectiveness...

Boroondara is one of Melbourne's wealthiest municipalities, yet some 12% of children are living in poverty. Due to wide affluence and great income inequality in Boroondara, child social exclusion has particular characteristics in comparison to other areas where poverty is concentrated, according to from the 2007 Australian Social Policy Conference. Government policy is increasingly using...

This second report from a Brotherhood of St Laurence study commissioned by Camcare, the Rotary Club of Hawthorn and Foundation Boroondara explores child poverty and related service needs in Boroondara, a generally affluent municipality in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, informed by local welfare agencies and some parents experiencing exclusion. The researchers found that in such a...