Get Involved
Open Opportunities
Surveys, Consultations and Representative roles – your voice makes a difference!
By speaking up about your experiences, you can inform decision making and service design, and create positive change for you, other carers and the whole community.
Carers ACT and our mental health peak body MHCV invite you to have your say in the following open opportunities. If you wish to raise a specific issue, you can email the Advocacy team below.
Raise an Issue| Status | Topic | Details | Requested by | Closing |
| Open | Paid research / interview opportunity | Canberra Health Services (CHS) are seeking carers in the ACT and surrounding region to preview draft creative concepts and share their thoughts through a 1-on-1 interview.
The individual interviews will be conducted over video conference (Zoom) and will be up to 45 mins. You will be paid $80 each for your time and effort. The interview slots will be between between Monday 29 May to Friday 23 June 2023, conducted by CHS’s research agency Bastion Insights. To register your interest or get more information, please contact Paula.Lang@act.gov.au by Monday 12 June 2023. |
Canberra Health Services | 12 June 2023 |
| Open | Improving child, youth and family services – tell us what support you need. | Are you a young Canberran who needs some extra support? Maybe you have used services such as youth drop-in centres, mentoring, counselling or family therapy?
Or are you a parent or carer of a young person in need of support? Or a frontline worker providing family or youth support? Tell us about your experience of services and programs in the ACT in a short survey. |
Your Say, ACT Government | 5 July 2023 |
| Open | Home care in Australia | Australian research company Catalyst recently conducted a large-scale consumer study on home care. Over 5,000 Australians gave their views, including 200 carers. However Catalyst is seeking more carers to be involved in its annual home care, retirement living and aged care surveys. If you’re interested in being part of this data collection, you can register to receive the surveys. | Catalyst | Ongoing |
| Open | ACT Multicultural Advisory Council |
Ministerial Advisory Council for Multiculturalism are now open, closing at midnight on 29 May 2023. The Council will advise the ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs on the aspirations, needs and concerns and linguistically diverse backgrounds. People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds with a deep and active connection to community are encouraged to nominate. |
ACT Government | 29 May 2023 |
| Open | Share your thoughts with ReachOut in our Parents’ Issues Survey – ReachOut Parents | ReachOut are conducting an online research survey for parents/carers in Australia to tell us (confidentially) about the key issues you are concerned about, how they might impact the health and wellbeing of your child/ren, and how you might like to be supported to tackle these issues. | ReachOut | Not Specified |
| Open | Investment in Parents with Disabilities Project Survey | ADACAS and Advocacy for Inclusion have started a project to find the best ways to support parents with disabilities. The project will also look at the things that make it harder to be a parent with a disability. | ADACAS Advocacy | Not Specified |
| Open | Review of laws to protect vulnerable Canberrans | YourSay ACT | In 2021 the ACT Government introduced three new laws to make it an offence to:
To ensure these new laws are effective, the ACT Government is consulting with the Canberra community and key stakeholders on the three offences against vulnerable people to see if the offences are effective and if they can be improved. |
Your Say, ACT Government | 24 May 2023 |
| Open | Volunteers in Aged Care Survey | Volunteers are an important part of the aged care system freely giving their time, companionship, care, and support. | Department of Health | 26 May 2023 |
| Closed | Carer Wellbeing Survey | Each year, the Carer Wellbeing Survey calls on current and past carers across Australia to tell us about their experiences of being a carer. | Carers Australia | 31 March 2023 |
| Closed | Voluntary Assisted Dying | The ACT Government believes all Canberrans should have end of life choices that align with their rights, preferences and values.
Consultation is now open to inform the development of a voluntary assisted dying model for the ACT. |
ACT Government | 6 April 2023 |
| Closed | Mental Health Act – Consultation | Are you interested in changing the Mental Health Act 2015 (ACT)?
Join our consultation forum on April 13th, 2023 from 10:30am-12:30pm in meeting room 2 at 80 Beaurepaire Crescent Holt ACT or online via Teams. A discussion paper with proposed amendments to the Act will also be available. These changes include Mental Health Act Order contraventions, transportation assistance for assessments, initial assessments after detention, and conditional release orders by ACAT. Contact mhcarers@carersact.org.au for a copy. |
Mental Health Carers Voice (Carers ACT) | 13 April 2023 |
| Closed | Multicultural Advisory Council – Terms or reference | The Multiculturalism Act 2023 was recently established to support the Territory’s continuous growth and improvement as an inclusive city, celebrating our multiculturalism and diversity. Part of the Act enshrines a new Ministerial Advisory Council for Multiculturalism in law. Terms of Reference are now being developed. | ACT Government | 10 April 2023 |
Systemic advocacy aims to make positive, long-lasting change for a whole group of people or a community.
Carers ACT undertakes systemic advocacy in all areas that impact a carers life. We work with government, committees, industry groups to make changes across a whole system.
Some examples of our recent advocacy work include;
- Successfully lobbied for and receiving funding for the ACT Carers Strategy
- Working with Access Canberra to make services more accessible to carers and the people they care for
- Worked actively with government and working groups to ensure carers were considered during the Covid-19 response and recovery effort, and advocate for clear advice, support and vaccines for carers
- Developed a mental health respite policy using carer feedback which is now being used to scope a pilot respite service
- Conducted a workshop highlighting the impact of caring and the needs of carers with the policy officers in Health and Community Services Directorates who are involved in commissioning processes. In this way we have been able to have input into the 16 sub-sectors being commissioned to ensure that carers needs are considered in all.
- Actively supporting the participation of carers in the formation of the ACT Disability Strategy.
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Raise An Issue |
Caring for a person with a mental illness can vary from day to day and from person to person. People living with a mental illness can experience periods of wellness and periods of illness, so the caring role can vary greatly.
This can make caring for someone with a mental illness more difficult because it is hard to predict and plan.
As the peak body for mental health carers in the ACT, Mental Health Carers Voice work closely with carers to help make positive changes to the mental health service system ensuring that the perspectives, concerns and ideas voiced by mental health carers and their families are heard by decision-makers.
We support mental health carers to participate in creating positive change in mental health and facilitate their involvement in consultations, media engagement and other advocacy efforts.
Visit MHCV
Caring for someone with a disability is a unique challenge. Carers ACT works with you to make this challenge easier through systemic and individual advocacy, service and supports for you as a carer, and services for the person you care for.
Representing Your Voice – Individual Advocacy
Through our Carers Advocacy program, we can help you negotiate complex bureaucracy, provide links into financial or legal service supports and access services such as the Human Rights Commission and Ombudsman.
Even if you are unsure whether you need advocacy support or if you would just like some advice to tackle a situation for yourself please feel free to contact the service on (02) 6296 9900.
Changing disability systems for the better – Systemic Advocacy
We work with government, the community and health sectors and induvial to make sure your voice as a disability carer is heard and contributes to change.
To get involved in systemic advocacy and have your say, see our open opportunities or contact us carer.advocacy@carersact.org.au.
Have your SayOur Foster and Kinship Carer advocacy team provide free and independent advocacy support to foster and kinship carers experiencing difficulty, and empower carers to navigate systems and resolve issues related to their caring role.
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