Your NDIS application was successful – What next?
Preparing for your planning meeting
“Learn to think beyond the money you think you’ll need, think yes I’ve got these impairments so I’ll need these supports to live out my dreams. Think about what are the most important things that I want to work on in my life right now” – Cath (she/her), Cath is blind.
Once you are approved to use the NDIS, you become what is called a participant.
- When you become an NDIS participant, you will be put on a plan. Usually a plan lasts for the next 12 months after it has been approved.
- What goes in your plan will be worked out between you and your plan manager during a planning meeting.
- The NDIS aims to help you meet your goals. What are the things you would like to achieve in the next 12 months, and what equipment and/or supports can help you to achieve them? These supports could be specific support to assist you in achieving your goals, or assistance with the tasks of daily living so that you can focus on what’s important to you.
“When I first accessed the NDIS I didn’t realise how many ways I could use that funding. I was just like, ‘I need a wheelchair’. Having my NDIS plan and learning how to use it has meant that I could find supports I didn’t even know I needed. – Robin (they/them), is a multiply disabled wheelchair user.
“My funding covers support I might need as a person who’s blind. This includes software on my computer that means I have access to the screen, it reads out to me in speech what’s on the screen. I also have a braille computer. If I need help learning new places, like moving to a new house, I do work with orientation and mobility instructors.” – Cath (she/her), Cath is blind.
“I have someone who helps around the house, with odd jobs, the dishes, but he also helps me with my uni work and computer stuff, goes shopping with me – all those things might not seem like a lot, but they’re foundational for me to go on and do other things.” – Debbie (she/her) lives with a psychosocial disability.
ACON @ City2Surf
Join Team ACON at the City2Surf and run for LGBTQ Health!
Be part of the world’s biggest fun run on Sunday 11 August and help raise funds for ACON to support LGBTQ health and wellbeing.
Registrations for City2Surf 2025 are now open! Sign up to join Team ACON and take part in our vibrant rainbow run. Whether you’re chasing a personal best, running with your crew, or just in it for the fun, every step you take makes a difference. Your efforts will help us continue our work to improve the health of LGBTQ communities.
ACON’s Deadly Trivia Night
By popular demand, it’s time to Q & SLAY again at ACON’s Deadly Trivia Night!
A sell-out success when it premiered last year, this night of laughs is a great opportunity to test your knowledge, win great prizes, connect with community and have camp effervescent fun.
Gather your friends, bring your colleagues, round up your crew on Tuesday 3 June at The Beresford in Surry Hills for a night of quiz-tastic, brain-teasing goodness.
Our range of questions and games will engage and challenge, and there are fabulous team and individual prizes to be won!
This event is open to everyone (18+): Mob, friends, allies and supporters all welcome!
This event is held to mark National Reconciliation Week 2025 and is a fundraiser to support ACON’s First Nations Health Project.
See you there! Single, double or group bookings are all very welcome.
ACON’S DEADLY TRIVIA NIGHT
Tuesday 3 June 2025 – Doors open 6pm
Upstairs at the Beresford, 354 Bourke Street, Surry Hills
General Tickets $20 / Mob Tix $15
Proceeds support ACON’s First Nations Health Project.
Please note: This event contains adult themes. It is strictly for those aged 18+. There are flashing lights and music throughout.
Australian LGBTQ+ Inclusion Awards | Friday 30 May | Sydney
The Australian LGBTQ+ Inclusion Awards is an event celebrating and awarding Australia’s top organisations for LGBTQ+ inclusion based on the results of the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI).
We will be hosting this unforgettable event once again at the stunning ICC Grand Ballroom, Sydney. The on-stage hosts will be the incomparable Ricardo Gonçalves and Madeleine Wedesweiler from SBS.
Australian World Music Star MITCH TAMBO, a proud Gamilaraay man who blends traditional Aboriginal sounds and language with contemporary beats and production will be performing at the event. Mitch will be joined by the captivating VOICE OF LELE! You can check out Mitch Tambo performing here.
The event includes the Awards Ceremony, a three-course lunch, drinks and time for networking and photos. The Awards are attended by CEOs, dignitaries, senior executives, HR and diversity practitioners, employee network leaders, and members of LGBTQ+ employee networks and allies, all which have made a significant impact to LGBTQ+ inclusion in their workplaces.
The Awards is regarded by many as a must-attend event on the LGBTQ+ calendar and is widely shared across corporate and personal social media platforms.
2025 AUSTRALIAN LGBTQ+ INCLUSION AWARDS
11am – 3.30pm AEST, Friday 30 May 2025
ICC Grand Ballroom, 14 Darling Dr, Sydney
Sydney Candlelight Memorial | Sunday 18 May 2025
The Sydney AIDS Candlelight Memorial is a time when members of the community can come together to reflect on and remember all those who have passed away from HIV/AIDS.
The event is held on International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day, which is on the 3rd Sunday of May each year. In Sydney, the Memorial is presented by ACON and Positive Life NSW.
SUNDAY 18 MAY
Service 3pm-4pm (doors open 2:30pm)
Refreshments 4-4:45pm
NEW VENUE FOR 2025:
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Music Workshop
1 Conservatorium Road, Sydney CBD 2000
PLEASE RSVP
RSVPs are essential for catering purposes
To RSVP and/or add names to the Remembrance list, contact Positive Life NSW:
contact@positivelife.org.au
(02) 8357 8316
1800 245 677
Names can be lodged on the Candlelight website:
www.candlelightmemorial.com.au
Silver Sessions
Silver Sessions invites older LGBTQ+ women to join us on a for a 1-hour walking tour and catered picnic provided by Koori Kulcha at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney!
Join us as we head over to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney for a private 1-hour Aboriginal Bush Tucker Tour. We’ll be exploring the Cadi Jam Ora Garden, where you will get the opportunity to learn about and taste some Indigenous bush tucker. Following the tour, we will settle in the gardens for a picnic catered by Koori Kulcha, serving up a range of Indigenous and non-Indigenous foods for us to enjoy.
Spots are limited, registration is essential!
Silver Sessions is a partnership between the City of Sydney and ACON, hosting events for LGBTQ+ women aged 55+.
DATE: 9 May 2025
TIME: 8:45am arrival for a 9:00am start
LOCATION: Garden Shop, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
Register here or email Sarah Asthana Badewitz (sbadewitz@acon.org.au) to register and secure your spot!
Sweat With Pride
💦 FIGHT DISCRIMINATION WITH PERSPIRATION 💦
Sweat for 21 minutes every day this Pride Month in June to raise funds for life-changing support for rainbow communities.
💦 HOW YOUR SWEAT WILL CHANGE LIVES 💦
Almost 3 million Australians identify as sexuality and gender diverse. Despite significant progress, our communities are far from equal. Our communities have the highest rates of suicidality compared with any other populations in Australia.
Things need to change.
ACON has partnered with Rainbow Giving Australia for Sweat With Pride, a new initiative challenging Aussies to tackle discrimination with perspiration this June.
Work up a sweat for at least 21 minutes every day during Pride Month and get your friends and family to sponsor you to support essential mental, physical and sexual health services for rainbow communities in Australia.
💦 IT ONLY TAKES A MINUTE TO SIGN UP! 💦
Choose your trainer, set your fundraising goal, and just like that, you’ll be ready to Sweat with Pride.
Run, walk, wheel, shimmy or skate – there’s no wrong way to get your sweat on. So what are you waiting for? On your marks, get sweaty, go!
SIGN UP TO SWEAT WITH PRIDE HERE
Every dollar you raise will directly support our rainbow communities, and every move you make will supercharge your own wellbeing.
Australian Pride in Sport Awards | Wednesday 16 April | Melbourne
Experience an unforgettable night with enjoy networking on a stunning terrace with spectacular views of the Melbourne skyline, three-course dinner, drinks, world-class entertainment by Stellar Perry and the highly anticipated Awards Ceremony hosted by ABC’s Patricia Karvelas!
The Australian Pride in Sport Awards acknowledges achievements around the inclusion of people with diverse genders and sexualities in Australian sport. Recognising smaller clubs, LGBTQ+ community sport initiatives, coaches, role models, media outlets, and allies for their contributions to this space.
This event includes a 3 course dinner, drinks, networking, as well as the much anticipated award ceremony. It is also a fundraising opportunity for Pride in Sport, enabling the program to continue our work supporting Australian sport to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ people.
2025 AUSTRALIAN PRIDE IN SPORT AWARDS
6pm – 10pm AEST, Wednesday 16 April 2025
CENTREPIECE at Melbourne Park Olympic Blvd, Melbourne
Peer Worker – Suicide Prevention (Northern Rivers)
Bundjalung/Lismore Part Time (3 days a week)
- Want to leap into a career that empowers you to use your lived and living experiences to support and promote the health and wellbeing of the regional LGBTQ+ community? If so – keep reading!
- You can play a vital role in the delivery of our Statewide Suicide Prevention and Aftercare Service that supports LGBTQ+ community following a suicidal crisis, an attempt or those experiencing suicide risk.
What’s ACON’s Regional Services you say?
Our regional teams engage with LGBTQ+ people, community members and people living with HIV (PLHIV) in providing care coordination, peer support, counselling services, delivering health promotion campaigns, undertaking community development and peer education initiatives, supporting community groups and events, providing training and support to mainstream services, and providing access to the needle and syringe program.
Ok, so what’s the role?
The Peer Worker (Suicide Prevention) is essentially utilising your lived experience of suicide and mental health challenges to support LGBTQ+ community members experiencing suicidal distress or following a recent attempt. This role is a part of a multidisciplinary team consisting of lived experience and non-lived experience roles responding to the needs of LGBTQ+ community members, however peer support may be delivered as a standalone support service depending on the support preferences of individual community members. You will:
- Provide strengths based, recovery orientated and trauma informed peer support, advocacy and mentoring to LGBTQ+ community members.
- Support and empower clients to strength their self-management skills.
- Work collaboratively with ACON staff, in particular Client Services and Regional Services staff to ensure adequate support is provided to clients in a timely manner.
- Regularly attend and actively participate in required team meetings to ensure consistent quality service delivery.
- Support the promotion of the service.
- Administer, support, train and evaluate volunteer workers, while ensuring they are properly onboarded and documented in accordance with relevant ACON policy & procedures.
Who are we looking for?
- Someone with significant lived experience of suicide, mental health distress and recovery who is eager to use this experience to support LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV.
- A person who is compassionate and passionate about human rights and social justice.
- Someone who understands the broad range of social factors that impact experiences of suicidality for LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV.
- A person with solid written and verbal communication skills including empathy, conflict resolution, productive feedback, active listening and case notes.
- Someone with a strong commitment and understanding of ACON’s communities, particularly people with HIV.
- A person with the ability to meaningfully connect with people from diverse backgrounds and possess the skills and commitment to provide a culturally open space.
- Someone with a balance of initiative and collaboration, who can work independently and as a part of a cohesive and supportive team.
What else can we tell you?
ACON provides a colourful, nurturing, and fun workplace. Our employees and volunteers are the foundation for our ongoing effectiveness and for our capacity to deliver innovative community engagement and health promotion programs and initiatives for our communities.
To support the successful candidate in their new role at ACON we offer:
- Flexible working arrangements.
- Generous learning and development opportunities.
- Potential for tailored mentoring opportunities.
- Supportive working environment with a knowledgeable and friendly team.
What’s the remuneration and working details?
Salary: $75,625 to $85,614 FTE (Gross per annum, PLUS Superannuation and Leave Loading) – commensurate with skills, qualifications, and experience (being $45,375 to $51,368 gross per annum for 3 days / week).
Location: ACON’s Bundjalung/Northern Rivers office (Lismore) with some flexible working options a possibility (WAFTO).
Hours: Part-Time (42 hours per fortnight) on a fixed term contract, with the possibility of extension.
We offer flexible working arrangements and a generous array of entitlements often above the National Employment Standards (NES) including:
- Salary Packaging up to $35,000 gross up value (i.e., currently up to $15,900 Expenses + $2,650 Meals, tax free).
- Generous pro-rata leave entitlements – including up to an extra week of paid leave for full time employees to be taken during our end of year holiday shutdown period.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – access to a comprehensive counselling service free to employees.
How can I find out more details and apply?
If this sounds like you, we invite you to apply to join our team and help us make a meaningful impact on the lives of those we serve. By joining us, you will be part of a mission to create a healthier and more inclusive community.
We’d love someone who has experience already in this area but people at all levels of experience are absolutely welcome to apply. We highly encourage Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disabilities, and people of all genders to apply.
For more information on the role, please contact Kate Airmid (she/her) Team Leader of Peer Work Services, via email at kairmid@acon.org.au or 0434 842 148.
All applications must include:
- Your completed ACON Employment Application Form – with all the details filled in where requested;
- Your Cover Letter outlining how you meet the Selection Criteria (max. 4 pages); and
- Your Resume (max. 4 pages).
DOWNLOAD: Job Pack – Peer Worker – Suicide Prevention (Northern Rivers)
Applications Close: Tuesday 22 April 2025
We are grounded in the belief that diversity is our strength, our differentiator, and at the core of who we are and what we do. As part of our commitment to inclusion, we encourage applications from people living with HIV, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and LGBTQ people from culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse, migrant and refugee backgrounds, and LGBTQ people of colour.
Say It Out Loud – Current NSW Groups, Workshops and Webinars
ACON’s Say It Out Loud program is running a series of workshops and webinars for LGBTQ+ in NSW who has experienced; or is currently experiencing; intimate partner, family and/or sexual violence.
To find out more, please visit the Say It Out Loud website.
Senior Producer – Special Events
Be part of NSW’s leading LGBTQ health organisation, ACON, and help the organisation connect with the communities it serves
- Full-Time (70 hours / fortnight)
- Fixed-Term Contract (April – November 2025)
- Based in Gadigal lands / Sydney
Ok, so what’s the role?
From August to October 2025, ACON is holding a series of events to mark its 40th anniversary. It will be a time to mark to ACON’s impact to the health and wellbeing of sexuality and gender diverse people in New South Wales. In celebrating this important milestone, ACON will work to foster further engagement with our communities, strengthen our connections with stakeholders and build our supporter base through fundraising and marketing initiatives.
The Senior Producer – Special Events is responsible for planning and executing all programming, production, operational, logistic and technical aspects in the preparation and implementation of ACON’s 40th Anniversary Program.
Working collaboratively with the Director, Marketing, Communications and Fundraising, and with key ACON staff and project teams, the role plans and produces special events and activities in line with the organisation’s event project plan.
Bringing a creative and innovative approach, the role advises on the production strategies and actions required to deliver a compliant event program – on time, within budget – maintaining leading practice processes to deliver ACON’s portfolio of anniversary events and activities.
The Senior Producer – Special Events is expected to utilise high-level strategic and critical thinking skills, and this role encompasses talent and stakeholder management, venue and production management, along with new event inception.
This is a creative and hands-on role that involves all aspects of special events management – from programming, planning, production and implementation – to successfully deliver a multi-faceted anniversary program held over multiple events.
Who are we looking for?
- Someone with relevant tertiary qualifications and/or demonstrated experience in event management, or related field at an appropriate level.
- A person with demonstrated experience in high-volume events management.
- Someone who can demonstrate experience in event and/or festival programming.
- A person with demonstrated experience in technical and production management of events and/or festivals including scoping, determining project resources, budgeting processes and project delivery.
- Someone who can demonstrate experience in building and managing successful relationships with suppliers, sponsors, performers and other staff to ensure successful delivery of events.
- A person with demonstrated ability to think strategically to achieve goals and objectives.
What else can we tell you?
ACON provides a colourful, nurturing, and fun workplace. Our employees and volunteers are the foundation for our ongoing effectiveness and for our capacity to deliver innovative community engagement and health promotion programs and initiatives for our communities.
To support the successful candidate in their new role at ACON we offer:
- Flexible working arrangements.
- Generous learning and development opportunities.
- Supportive working environment with a knowledgeable and friendly team.
What’s the remuneration and working details?
Salary: $112,000 – $114,500 (Gross per-annum, PLUS Superannuation and Leave Loading) – pro rata for 6 to 7 months.
Location: ACON’s Gadigal lands / Sydney Office, with flexible working options a possibility (away from the office).
Hours: Full-Time (70 hours per fortnight) on a 6 to 7 month fixed-term contract.
During the anniversary program, to deliver events as required, you will be expected to work outside of regular business hours, including late nights and on weekends.
We offer flexible working arrangements and a generous array of benefits and entitlements often above the National Employment Standards (NES) including:
- Salary Packaging up to $35,000 gross up value (i.e., currently up to $15,900 Expenses + $2,650 Meals, tax free).
- Generous pro-rata leave entitlements.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – access to a comprehensive counselling service free to employees.
- Access to discounted unique accommodation experiences to improve employee health and wellbeing.
How can I find out more details and apply?
If this sounds like you, we invite you to apply to join our team and help us make a meaningful impact on the lives of those we serve. By joining us, you will be part of a mission to create a healthier and more inclusive community. We highly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from CALD backgrounds, people with disabilities, and people of all genders to apply.
For more information on the role, please contact Reg Domingo, Director, Marketing Communications & Fundraising, via email at rdomingo@acon.org.au or (02) 9206 2000.
If this sounds like the position and organisation you’ve been looking for, find out how to apply at www.acon.org.au/jobs.
All applications must include:
- Your completed ACON Employment Application Form – with all the details filled in where requested;
- Your Cover Letter outlining how you meet the Selection Criteria (max. 3 pages); and
- Your Resume (max. 3 pages).
DOWNLOAD: Job Pack – Senior Producer – Special Events
Applications Close: Wednesday 2 April 2025
[Proposed Commencement: 22 April 2025]
We are grounded in the belief that diversity is our strength, our differentiator, and at the core of who we are and what we do. As part of our commitment to inclusion, we encourage applications from people living with HIV, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and LGBTQ people from culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse, migrant and refugee backgrounds, and LGBTQ people of colour.
