Benarrawa Community Development Association

18/06/2026

Sandiellen and Paula H are on the front page of the Brisbane Times this morning, talking about funding for neighbourhood disaster resilience and preparedness for the next flood.

Jessica Tovey of the Oxley Creek Flood Action Group, Dr Margaret Cook, and Natasha Odgers from Neighbourhood Centres Queensland help us build the case for long-term funding for workers on the 🏠neighbourhood level🏡 of disaster resilience.

Grassroots workers are prepping high-risk Brisbane suburbs for the next deluge, but warn a lack of funding leaves vulnerable communities exposed.

16/06/2026

Good Shepherd's Queensland Financial Resilience Program (QFRP) is a free, non-judgmental and confidential service that can help you:

🔵 Understand your finances
🔵 Better manage money
🔵 Be more financially secure
🔵 Have financial freedom

Contact a member of the QFRP Team:
1300 006 616
[email protected]

11/06/2026

Was lovely connecting and celebrating at the Brisfest listening party alongside Jungaji. What a joyful opportunity to share stories, songwriting and singing with amazing humans. The connection of arts and communitybuilding - community creating through arts is something that is very important and crucial for supporting us all to flourish and grow.
Thanks to Brisfest, Jungaji and all the participants across many neighbourhood centres across Brisbane for helping making this happen. Seriously good food for the soul! :)

09/06/2026

Research is highlighting something many sole mothers have been saying for years…. the child support system can be deliberately manipulated to reduce or avoid payments.

One of the key issues is what researchers call “strategic employment and financial shaping.” This is where some parents structure their work and income in ways that lower their child support assessment, even when they have the capacity to earn more.

This can include things like:

🚩Retiring early, or threatening early retirement, to reduce assessed income

🚩Regularly changing jobs or moving in and out of employment so income is harder to track

🚩Structuring finances in ways that make income appear lower than it actually is, despite real earning capacity

While these tactics may look like “individual financial choices” on paper, the literature shows they can have very real impacts on children and the primary carer who are left filling the financial gap.

Over time, this can create ongoing instability, where child support becomes inconsistent or significantly reduced, not because circumstances genuinely require it, but because of how income is presented or arranged within the system.

The result is often the same: mothers carrying the day-to-day costs of raising children, while child support becomes unpredictable, reduced, or withheld altogether.

👉 And this doesn’t happen in isolation.

In Australia, 1 in 4 women have experienced violence by an intimate partner*, and up to 90% of women seeking support for domestic and family violence have also experienced financial abuse.

At the same time, 83% of single-parent families are headed by mothers*, while $1.9 billion in child support remains unpaid across the country.

It’s an important reminder that child support is about how financial systems are experienced in real life, and who ultimately carries the burden when they don’t work as intended.

📖Learn more:

Read the WLSA Child Support Literature Review: https://wlsa.org.au/.../Womens-Legal-Services-Australia...

Read the full Ombudsman report here – ‘Weaponising Child Support: when the system fails families’: https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/.../Weaponising-Child...

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic and family violence, support is available:

🚨In immediate danger? Call 000
📱DVConnect (24/7): 1800 811 811
📱1800RESPECT (24/7): 1800 737 732
📱13YARN (24/7): 13 92 76 (for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)
⚖️Free DFV legal help – WLSQ’s Statewide Helpline: 1800 957 957 (Mon–Fri 9 AM–4:30 PM)

09/06/2026

This is a risky post for many reasons, but here it goes!

This is for non-Aboriginal people who want to do better, but aren’t sure how to speak without centring themselves, getting defensive, or disappearing into guilt.

Let’s be clear first:

We are not asking you to take personal responsibility for the actions of your ancestors.
But we are asking you not to deny, minimise, justify, or defend what happened.

History doesn’t require your shame, it requires your honesty.

The harm done to Aboriginal people is a fact. It can exist as a fact without you needing to punish yourself for it. It can also exist without you needing to argue with it.

You don’t need to explain it away.

You don’t need to say “that was a long time ago.”

You don’t need to follow it with “but my family were poor too.”

You can simply sit in the truth and acknowledge it.

That can sound like:

“I acknowledge the events that happened and the people who were involved.”

or

“I acknowledge that my ancestors caused harm to Aboriginal people, and that this harm has affected families and communities who are still here today.”

And if you want to go one step further, into action rather than defence, it can sound like:

“I acknowledge that harm was caused, and I commit to being an ally and advocate for Aboriginal people today.”

Notice what’s not happening here:

- No accepting responsibility for your ancestors
- No centring of white feelings
- No debate about whether it was ‘really that bad’
- No demand for forgiveness

Acknowledgement is not an accusation.
It is not a personal attack.
It is a recognition of reality.

When you acknowledge truth without defensiveness, you make space for respect.

When you stop defending the past, you help stop repeating it.

That’s all that’s being asked.

Sit in the truth.
Acknowledge it.
Then choose what kind of ancestor you want to be.

- Shared from Dhiiyaan Nhanya via Sovereign Union page.

09/06/2026

09/06/2026