SUMMARY OF DELIBERATIONS – FEBRUARY 2026 

National Council met in Canberra on 20-22 February 2026. The Society’s Chief Executive Officers were invited to attend some parts of the National Council Meeting. These joint meeting sessions enhanced understanding and collaboration between the Society’s Stewards and our employees who are engaged to promote the Society’s mission. Below is a summary of key matters discussed at that Meeting. 

UPDATE ON SOCIALISING THE RULE PART III 

The International Confederation of the Society of St Vincent de Paul’s General International Council (CGI) Board approved Australia’s revisions to its Part III in late December 2025 and notified us of this in early January 2026.  The General Assembly is being presented with a number of amendments to Part II in June of this year.  Once these changes have been approved, we will be in a position to print the 8th edition of The Rule for Australia.   State and Territory Councils now are informing National Council of the number of hard copies of the revised document they want. National Council will then determine the best method to print and distribute the documents in July 2026.  A one-off printed copy of The Procedures will also be made available as a separate document given these Procedures are subject to review.  The Appendices will be available online from Society intranet sites – see below.

National Council has begun convening meetings to inform each State/Territory Council of the revisions to Part III.  A series of online ‘town hall’ event will take place in May to inform interested Members of these major changes. We are seeking your expression of interest to attend one of these events using the below link.

As well, each State and Territory Council has appointed a “Rule Ambassador” who will act as the first local point of contact for queries about aspects of an Article in Part III. 

The revised Part III will take effect from 1 July 2026 and is available from St Vincent de Paul Society | The Rule | Vinnies 

SOCIETY ETHOS BOOKLET 

The National Council endorsed a revised version of “Serving in Hope,” the Society’s Ethos Booklet.  This resource complements The Vincentian Way in a manner that introduces core elements of what it means to be Vincentian to new Society Members or to people inquiring about becoming a Member.  It is also a very helpful resource to share with employees and volunteers. 

CONDUCTING THE SOCIETY’S INTERNAL SAFEGUARDING AUDIT 

In the last Summary of Deliberations document, I mentioned ongoing progress in implementing the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards (NCSS) across the whole Society in Australia. National Council, acting as the Church Authority of the Society in Australia, committed to a program of internal safeguarding audits and reviews of all Society Councils and bodies corporate over a three-year period.   

These audits will take an incremental and flexible approach, focussing on the four NCSS capability areas that will build an evidence-based ‘picture’ of safeguarding practice across the whole organisation. The four NCSS capability areas are: Leadership, Monitoring and Improvement; Engaging with Children, Adults and Communities; Right People, Right Role, Right Knowledge; and Systems, Policies and Procedures.  Against this audit program, National Council will strengthen supportive assurance processes and remain responsive to identified risks. 

Discussions with the Society’s CEOs on the planning and implementation of an internal safeguarding approach to the variety of the Society’s service offerings across the eight jurisdictions continues.  Council Presidents acknowledge the need to allocate sufficient resources to engage dedicated Safeguarding Officers in every jurisdiction.  The employees work with the Society’s Safeguarding Standards Office to explore how internal audits can be rolled out in a manner that takes account of the different legislative obligations and the safeguarding maturity of each jurisdiction within the three year timeframe. 

During our meeting, the Society’s Safeguarding Standards Office confirmed that Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd (ACSL) is scheduled to audit National Council and its Secretariate against the 10 NCSS in early April this year.  This audit will present an opportunity to assess National Council’s safeguarding environment and will bring opportunities to identify learnings to improve safeguarding practice for all jurisdictions. 

National Council heard from the Safeguarding Standards Office of recent findings from a number of recent government reviews on safeguarding-related matters which helped highlight a range of safeguarding risk factors.  We explored some potential risk implications associated with State/Territory Council protocols around accepting Society Members from interstate or overseas Conferences.  

WORLD YOUTH DAY 

World Youth Day will be held in Korea in August 2027. The costs are expected to be out of reach for most young people.  National Council supports a suggestion from the Spirit of Youth Standing Committee that State and Territory Councils could promote this pilgrimage by encouraging local Conferences to assist interested young Members with fundraising activities.  National Council is seeking firm expressions of interest by July 2026 so travel and accommodation arrangements can be finalised by September. 

NATIONAL INTRANET 

Since the 2017 Congress, National Council has been aware that the Society in Australia does not have any communication platform that our Members can access in order to stay informed on important matters in real time.  Following Congress23+, National Council has been working with State and Territory Councils to deliver such a platform.  A significant challenge with delivering this essential communication tool, is that there are already a number of existing intranets in use across many jurisdictions.  Our CEOs agree the best and most economical option is to use existing individual intranet platforms as the way forward.  Agreements to simultaneously publish information on each of these intranet sites will now be prepared with each State and Territory Council that will allow National Council. National Council is also working with those jurisdictions that are currently exploring establishing an intranet. 

Stay tuned.

CGI BOARD MEETING IN AUSTRALIA 

Australia will host a meeting of the CGI Board in October 2026.  The President General International will present the 2026 Annual Report in Canberra at a public event. Following the meeting of the Board, we are proposing to show our international confreres some of the Society’s good works in Canberra and then in Sydney.  The latter will include a visit to the Matthew Talbot facility. We are keen to have a pilgrimage visit to the tomb of Australia’s first canonised saint Mary MacKillop. 

FAREWELLS AND WELCOMES 

Finally, National Council bid farewell to our outgoing Victorian State President, Michael Quinn. In my farewell speech to Director Quinn, I thanked him for his enormous contributions to the Society, not just in Victoria, but nationally as well. We were also able to welcome the new Victorian State President, Brendan Podbury, who was elected just the weekend before National Council met in Canberra.