Oceania

Who we are

RIPESS Oceania for the moment being is a loose and informal network of people and organisations involved in the social economy in Australia and represented on the RIPESS Intercontinental Board by David Thompson AM, CEO of Jobs Australia – an Australian national umbrella body for almost 200 not for profit providers of employment and related services for disadvantaged unemployed people, many of which operate social enterprises to provide employment for very disadvantaged unemployed people. Jobs Australia was represented on the former Australian Social Innovation Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Alliance (SIEE) which published a manifesto in 2013 and which continues to operate informally through a network of social economy intermediary organisations.

Jobs Australia has a strong association with a small global network, the Common Wealth Network for People-Centred Development which has members in Australia, India, Nepal, the UK and Malaysia – a number of which have been involved in the Asian Solidarity Economy Council (ASEC – RIPESS Asia) and provides administrative support for RIPESS Intercontinental.

Jobs Australia is seeking to engage with Australian organisations such as the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, the Australian Earth Laws Alliance and members of the former SIEE Alliance, as well as social economy organisations and networks in New Zealand and in other parts of Oceania in the development of a broadly representative and active network of social solidarity economy organisations which can contribute to and benefit from more active engagement and involvement with other RIPESS continental networks and with RIPESS Intercontinental itself.

In particular RIPESS Oceania started to contribute to the New Economy Network Australia (NENA) emerging network, created at the 2016 ‘Building the New Economy’ conference held in Sydney. NENA is being created to support the fantastic work being done by individuals and organizations around Australia, who want to build a new economic system that’s ecologically healthy and socially just. Possibly, their actions will merge and allow the possibility to reinforce a continental approach.