Dr Lucia Boxelaar, Acting Executive Director Brotherhood of St Laurence:

This has been a year like none we've had before when this financial year started, the impacts of the pandemic were well and truly being felt by everyone in Australia, but none more so than people who are already experiencing disadvantage and hardship.

At the Brotherhood of St Laurence, we saw a very significant increase in demand for services from young people transitioning into adulthood, asylum seekers and temporary visa holders who found themselves excluded from federal government support. People experiencing homelessness and socially isolated Victorians.

Despite the difficulties posed by the restrictions and lockdown, the BSL team stepped up to meet these challenges head on. And this was very daunting, particularly in the beginning, and also because many of our own staff and volunteers were also grappling with personal challenges as a result of the pandemic.

But we persisted and adapted throughout the year. Through the state governments working for Victoria program, we were able to recruit over 100 staff for a period of six months to help us make the surge in demand for our services.

This program was established to help people who had found themselves without a job during the pandemic and helped them contribute to areas of greatest need in the community. As part of that, we established the Community Strengthening initiative that employed 36 staff, most of whom had had lived experience of disadvantage.

That included people who'd been long term unemployed refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom this was their first job in Australia. We supported families under stress from lockdown and restrictions, helping them access financial assistance and providing many other supports, such as translations of important information and sourcing computers and laptops for students that needed them.

We help participants in our programs and services. They found themselves in lockdown in the Melbourne housing towers. We ensure that people using our aged care services stay safe, stay connected and we're able to access the supports that they needed throughout the pandemic.

We advanced our long term advocacy agenda for a fairer Social Security system, one that doesn't trap people into poverty, but instead enables them to navigate a pathway out of which we amplify the voices of the people we serve through our COVID 19 Insight series and our COVID 19 Voices from the Frontline report highlighted the very uneven impacts of COVID on people who experience disadvantage. Many of the issues that we were facing before the pandemic loom large in our growing inequalities, fraying Social Security system, changing nature of work, the impacts of climate change. These issues are complex and systemic, and we know that single policy or program responses will not be effective.

The pandemic has shown us that we can make different policy choices. We can choose to end poverty throughout. We've been inspired by people who have come together to create change and to support one another. We know that lasting change is possible when collective action takes place throughout this last year, as supporters of volunteers and staff and donors have maintained their commitment and a focus for our work. As you will see from this annual report, I feel privileged to be part of the BSL community and would like to extend a very heartfelt thanks to everyone who on this journey with us to end poverty in Australia.