Costs of Living Forum for frontline workers in the South West Metro region to understand supports available for people in our community and how to access them.
Today’s Cost-of-Living Forum, hosted by the Imagined Futures Community Connector Community of Practice, clearly struck a chord — with over 70 attendees, representing over 30 local organisations including government, not-for-profit and private practice.
Educators, chaplains, church leaders, public servants, and community sector professionals came together with a shared purpose: to better understand the local impacts of the cost-of-living crisis and how we can collectively support those doing it tough.
One powerful insight came from Malachy O’Donnell of the Financial Wellbeing Collective, who shared that 8% of their clients now earn over $100,000 — a stark reminder that financial stress is reaching further than ever before.
This forum is a shining example of how our Community of Practice responds swiftly and practically to emerging challenges — building the capacity of both paid and unpaid workers to make a difference. It follows previous forums on family and domestic violence, burnout and boundaries, and service navigation.
Huge thanks to Sue Nickisson, Chair of the Community of Practice, for MCing, and to all the incredible service providers who presented:
- Financial Wellbeing Collective
- Anglicare WA
- Communicare
- City of Cockburn
- City of Fremantle
- Services Australia
- St Patrick’s Community Support Centre
- Uniting WA
- Foodbank WA
And, last but not least, thank you to all of the community of practice members, and especially to Karen Silverthorne for so ably providing the backbone support.
From this forum, resources have been created to help understand the Cost of Living supports available in Cockburn Fremantle and Melville and those provided by the WA Government in 2025-26.
To view and download resources: Cost of Living Supports Archives – Where Is The Door?
