Dear colleagues,
Some advocacy moments are highly visible. They put our sector in front of decision-makers and create opportunities to influence what happens next. But those moments rarely arrive suddenly. They are the result of months, sometimes years, of careful work.
Our Small Sector, Big Impact showcase at Parliament House this month was one of those moments.
For three sitting days, financial counselling took over Queen’s Hall. Agencies and practitioners brought the work of our sector directly into Parliament. They shared the experiences of clients, explained the pressures facing services, and showed what financial counselling achieves across Victoria.
The showcase gave financial counsellors direct access to parliamentarians in the lead-up to the state election. It brought together generalist services and specialist programs working across family violence, disaster recovery, gambling harm, small business, prisons, and rural communities.
It was deliberately big and visible. That was the point.
But what people saw in Queen’s Hall was only the final stage. Before it came months of planning, relationship-building, detailed logistics, agency coordination, case study development, parliamentary approvals, and many conversations about how to represent the sector well.
Amanda Chan and David Tennant led an enormous amount of this work. They brought together agencies, practitioners, displays, case studies, meetings, and the launch itself. They dealt with the many practical issues that accompany an event in a working parliament. Their care and persistence turned an ambitious idea into something real.
Thank you also to every agency and practitioner who took part. The event depended on people giving their time and trusting us with their experiences. It worked because the sector showed up.
This is often how change happens. There is a great deal of patient work that few people see. Then an opportunity opens, and we have to be ready to use it. The public moment matters, but it only has substance because of the evidence, relationships, and careful preparation behind it.
Next, we are preparing for the FCVic Conference, developing numerous submissions, continuing our advocacy in the lead-up to the state election, and working through the practical implications of sector-wide changes. These things require research, drafting, administration, revision, and follow-up. They are rarely glamorous.
This month, Kellie Davis, FCVic’s Disaster Recovery Lead, and I appeared before the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services as part of its inquiry into small business insurance.
Our appearance was another visible moment, but it rested on work that Kellie Davis and others have pursued over a long period. FCVic has been gathering evidence, working with disaster-affected communities, contributing to insurance reform, and pressing for better recognition of the financial consequences of disasters. At the hearing, we were able to put that experience directly before a national parliamentary inquiry.
This is how advocacy works. Sometimes it is a busy Queen’s Hall and conversations with parliamentarians. More often, it is another draft, another meeting, another round of feedback. The visible moments matter because the less visible work gives them substance.
August has also been a month of transition for FCVic as we farewell Georgina Molloy.
Georgina Molloy has been a trusted and highly capable member of the FCVic team. She has managed some of our most substantial projects, including the Rank the Energy Retailer report, the Workforce Development Project, the Digital Transformation Roadmap, and our Governance Review. She has also provided a steady source of support within our disaster projects during a demanding period.
Georgina Molloy is moving to Westjustice as Legal Director, Economic and Housing Rights. While we are very sorry to lose her, this is an excellent opportunity and a fitting next step. I know she will continue to make an important contribution to economic justice in Victoria.
After an August with some very visible achievements, there is more careful work ahead. And that is where the next big moment begins.
The work continues.