Annual report 2023 | TAS | Mission Australia

WELCOME

On behalf of the individuals, families and communities we serve, I thank our dedicated Tasmanian staff and volunteers for their continued compassion and perseverance over the past year.

Our strong relationships and partnerships with government and non-government funders, local communities and donors enabled us to deliver quality services to vulnerable Tasmanians.

Mission Australia impacted 19,834 Tasmanians on their journey towards independence including over:

7,616 people through our children and families services;
516 people to engage in employment, education or training; and
4,218 Tasmanians through our NDIS services.

In Tasmania, we successfully tendered for our first residential service, the Under 16 Lighthouse Therapeutic Residential Models of Care, that will provide medium to longer-term accommodation for up to 5 eligible children and young people. Our NDIS teams worked with the NDIA to implement and test the new PACE IT system and participant processes.

The stories in this Annual Report demonstrate the unwavering resilience and dedication of our teams to serve people in need and strive towards an Australia where all of us have a safe home and can thrive.

Warm regards,

State director profile Mychelle Curran with copy

Together, we supported 19,834 Australians in TAS on their journey towards independence last year.

Homelessness

4,729 people assisted
through 1 service

Housing

2,738 people assisted
through 2 services

Children & families

7,616 people assisted
through 14 services

Community development

17 people assisted
through 3 services

Employment, education & training

516 people assisted
through 8 services

NDIS

4,218 people assisted
through 4 services

An Australia where all of us can have a safe home and thrive

In 2020, we launched Mission Australia’s 20-25 Strategy with a vision for an Australia where all of us have a safe home and can thrive. In the past year, we are proud of our progress in our four strategic focus areas. From the opening of two new Alcohol and Other Drugs facilities to our continued commitment to create strong, resilient and thriving communities, read more about our progress in FY23.

See our progress

Our work in action

Partnering to strengthen communities

Alongside the Clarendon Vale Neighbourhood Centre and Community Shed, our team launched ‘The Tool Library’ in October, providing community members across Hobart and Clarence Plains with access to a range of power and hand tools for loan. Working in conjunction with workshops provided by Mission Australia Housing, the library supports people without additional funds for home repairs or tools. Since its launch in October, the initiative has helped foster community spirit and build skills and capacity to enable people to attend to their homes and gardens, also providing an opportunity for neighbours to help each other.

Thank you for making our work possible this year

Driving excellence

Our award-winning Impact Measurement Program helps us understand how our services improve the lives of our clients and the communities we serve. We measure our impact by asking the people we help questions about their wellbeing when they start a service and when they exit.

Funded by the Tasmanian Government, our six Family Support Services in Tasmania focus on the safety and wellbeing of children and their families through early intervention. Our impact measurement data shows that when people left the service, they were more satisfied with their personal wellbeing.

Bar chart of Reconnect average satisfaction with life as a whole showing there is an increase when they exit compared with starting

*Matched data collected from July 2022 to June 2023 (n=76) compared to Australian population normative range

¹Deakin University and Australian Unity Limited. (2021). Australian Unity Wellbeing Index - Appendices 38. Subjective wellbeing in Australia during the second year of the pandemic. Geelong: Australian Centre on Quality of Life, School of Psychology, Deakin University

Policy & Advocacy

Mission Australia continued our research, policy and advocacy work to support people in need to thrive. We boldy advocated to the Federal and State/Territory Governments on issues of importance to Mission Australia and the people we serve.

We made policy submissions on a range of topics including homelessness, social and affordable housing, and youth. Across the state and nationally, we met with Ministers and senior government representatives on policy priorities for people in need and furthered our community collaborations to advocate together on key issues.

We continue to advocate strongly for further investment in social and affordable housing, actions to end homelessness, adequate income support and other policy priorities to support people in need to thrive.

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