About Anti-Poverty Week

Anti-Poverty Week is a week where all Australians are encouraged to organise or take part in an activity aiming to highlight or overcome issues of poverty and hardship here in Australia or overseas. It was established in Australia as an expansion of the UN's annual International Anti-Poverty Day on October 17.  In 2017 Anti Poverty Week will be held from the 15th to the 21st of October.

Some activities are organised by welfare and health organisations, religious groups, community organisations, schools and youth groups. Many other types of organisation also arrange activities, including government departments, local councils, business organisations, universities and sporting and cultural groups. You can read a summary of Anti Poverty Week in 2016 here.

Facilitating Group

Anti-Poverty Week is overseen by Facilitating Groups at the national and state/territory level. They include representatives from major organisations and social welfare services which are actively involved in efforts to reduce poverty and hardship in Australia and overseas. The current Co-Chairs of the Facilitating Groups are shown below. The National Coordinator is Jill Lang and the National Liaison Officer is Shaun Buckton.

National and State Chairs

The national and state co-chairs are:

National	Australian Capital Territory	New South Wales
Julian Disney  (Chair) Director, Social Justice Project	Camilla Rowland (Co-Chair) CEO, Marymead	Jack De Groot (Co-Chair) CEO, St Vincent De Paul Society NSW
	Frances Crimmins (Co-Chair) ED, YWCA Canberra	Tony Davies (Co-Chair) CEO, Social Futures
Northern Territory	Queensland	South Australia
Jayne Lloyd (Co-Chair) Director, Catholic Care Northern Territory	Ian Roberts  (Co-Chair) CEO, Anglicare North Queensland	Rosalie Pace (Co-Chair) State Manager Commuity Services, Red Cross
Jill Smith (Co-Chair) CEO, Council for Aboriginal Alocohol Program Services	Karyn Walsh (Co-Chair) CEO, Micah Project	Ian Cox (Co-Chair) CEO, Hutt Street Centre
Victoria	Tasmania	Western Australia
Dimity Fifer (Co-Chair) CEO, Good Shepherd	Danny Sutton (Co-Chair) CEO, Colony 47	Debra Zanella (Co-Chair) CEO, RUAH Community Services
Sue Cattermole (Co-Chair) CEO, St Vincent de Paul Society, Victoria	Donna Lashmar (Co-Chair)  Acting CEO, Uniting Care Tasmania	Ashley Reid (Co-Chair) CEO, Cancer Council WA

Our Sponsors

The Principal National Sponsors for 2017 are:

Brotherhood of St Laurence
Our mission is to research, develop and deliver innovative and high quality services, practices and policies to drive change that benefits all Australians. We work with others to create an Australia free of poverty for this and future generations: a fair and compassionate and just society where all can fully particpate in social and economic life, create and share prosperity and treat each other with dignity and respect.
The Scully Fund
St Vincent de Paul
The St Vincent de Paul Society is a lay Catholic organisation that aspires to live the gospel message by serving Christ in the poor with love, respect, justice, hope and joy, and by working to shape a more just and compassionate society.
University of New South Wales
Anti-Poverty Week was founded by the Social Justice Project in the Law Faculty of the University of New South Wales and the National Office has been based there since 2004. The Law Faculty generously provides a work space and use of office equipment.

The following organisations also sponsor Anti-Poverty Week:

Key National Sponsors
Anglicare Australia Australian Education Union Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Caritas Australia Catholic Health Australia	Catholic Social Services  United Voice Wesley Mission Queensland