The Dorothy Pearce Address is an annual TasCOSS event which started in 2003 in honour of Dorothy Pearce, who is a founding member of TasCOSS and for many years its Honorary Secretary. She devoted enormous amounts of time, energy and commitment to TasCOSS at a time when it was struggling for resources and for recognition. In December 1961, it was Dorothy who, as President of the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers, joined with the Director of the then Department for Social Welfare, Mr G.C. Smith, in convening the inaugural meeting of the Tasmanian Council of Social Service in the Hobart Town Hall. It was not until 1975, fourteen years later, that TasCOSS was in a position to employ its first Project Officer, Ann Hughes who, along with Dorothy, Cecily Gilson and Rev. Dr Bob Raynor, is an Honorary Life Member of TasCOSS.
2010 - Passion, entrepreneurship and the rebirth of local economies by Dr Ernesto Sirolli. Click here to download an mp3 audio recording of the address. NOTE: Dr Sirolli's address begins 7:35 minutes into the recording. The introductory speakers are prior to that. The audio file lasts 1hr 25 minutes. It is 22.6 MB.
2009 - Rediscovering the value of equity for economic prosperity by Dr Marilyn Waring
Dr Waring provided a social justice perspective on the current global financial crisis and looking at what opportunities exist for a small state and economy such as Tasmania’s to respond in ways that reinforce equity and contribute to prosperity.
2008 - Fairer Futures: Consumers first, not organisations by Gayle Kennedy,
For consumers what do we mean when we talk about fairer futures, particularly when many consumers have been caught in the health and human service system and not always been fairly treated and respected? Exploring what fairer futures could mean for consumers, this presentation focused on issues of accessibility, consumer rights, and consumer participation in decision making, and the implications of these for government and non-government organisations that want to work differently in the future.
Gayle Kennedy has had a varied career as a researcher, writer, performer and educator. She was born in Ivanhoe NSW, a member of the Wongaiibon Clan of the Ngiyaampaa speaking Nation of South West NSW but has lived and worked in Sydney since 1973. Gayle has had stories published in newspapers and magazines and broadcast on radio, and was the Indigenous issues writer and researcher for Streetwize Comics from 1995-1998.
Gayle worked as a research officer for the National Aboriginal & Islander Legal Services Secretariat’s overview of the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Inquiry, conducting the bulk of Indigenous research in Wilcannia. She was Executive Officer of the Ivanhoe Local Aboriginal Land Council and Ivanhoe Housing Company and currently works as Policy Research and Project Officer with the NSW Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council.
In June 2004 Gayle chaired and spoke in a session on culturally appropriate rehabilitation practices in Oslo, Norway and she has presented and published papers in regional and metropolitan Australia and internationally on this and other disability issues.
Gayle is a published writer of short stories and poetry and winner of the 2006 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, David
Unaipon Award for the manuscript of her novel Me, Antman & Fleabag which was published in 2007 by the University of Queensland Press. She is in demand at literary events and workshops and is on the board of the NSW Writers Centre.
2007 - Social Innovation: Light on the Hill to Tackle Disadvantage or Just Another Fad? by Professor David Adams. Click here for slides of Professor Adams' presentation
2006 - Making Human Rights Matter: How can Rights Frameworks Help us create a Better Community? by Larissa Behrendt - Click here to download
2005 - Poverty in Tasmania: an Economist's Perspective by Saul Eslake - Click here to download
2004 - Poverty in Australia: Whose Problem? Are there Solutions? Whose Responsibility? by Andrew McCallum - Click here to download
2003 - Inaugural Dorothy Pearce Address by Robert Fitzgerald AM - Click here to download