PIAC, the Council of Social Services of NSW (NCOSS) and the University of Technology, Sydney, under an Australian Research Council Industry Partnership Grant researched the impact on community advocacy activities of government contracting arrangements.

One of the key areas of investigation was how community service providers can maintain their ability to advocate for public policy changes while satisfying the requirements of government funding.

The research has identified many instances in which government departments have attempted to control or limit the advocacy of non-government organisations.

PIAC and NCOSS assisted the researchers to select a range of NSW and Queensland community organisations to be interviewed for case studies as part of the project. The case studies examined different approaches to advocacy and relationships with government, and measured awareness of the NSW Government and Community Sector compact Working Together for NSW. The full report is here.