David Cappo
David Cappo AO is an internationally acclaimed social policy and reform advocate with particular expertise in developing innovative models of governance.[1][2]
As well as his ongoing work in Australia, Cappo is an advisor on programs in the United States to reduce homelessness and develop local solutions to social problems.[3]
Cappo was previously the Social Inclusion Commissioner for the State of South Austraila, while also serving as Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide.[1][4]
In 2007, Cappo was appointed an Office in the Order of Australia for service to social inclusion in South Australia.[2]
Early life
Cappo was born in Adelaide and educated at St Joseph's Primary School at Kingswood and at Rostrevor College.[5]
While completing a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work at the South Australian Institute of Technology (now University of South Australia), Cappo worked as a community welfare officer in the areas of child protection, family support and juvenile offending.[4]
Cappo was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1984 and served as a parish priest of Hectorville, South Australia, from 1996-2000.[4]
Career
In 2002, Cappo become Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide and was made a Prelate of Honour by Pope John Paul II, an appointment accompanied by the title of Monsignor.[4]
In the same year, the then Premier Mike Rann appointed him Chair of South Australia's Social Inclusion Board. In 2006 he aws named Social Inclusion Commissioner. [2][6]
Cappo was was also appointed an independent advisor to the Executive Committee of State Cabinet and a member of the South Australian Economic Development Board.[1]
Cappo worked with the Government in directing the implemention of the South Australian Strategic Plan, with particular emphasis on social targets and outcomes, and produced an innovative form of governance that brought Government departments together to provid a more effective delivery of social programs. This model received supportive comments from the World Health Organization (WHO) Social Determinants of Health Report 2008.[1][7]
Cappo also advised the Australian Government on social policy and mental health reform and was appointed Deputy Chair of the national Social Inclusion Board in 2008 by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.[1][2]
In late 2006, Rudd's successor Julia Gillard appointed Cappo to a national role in mental health, but he stopped down from the position, and from his role with the Social Inclusion Board, after a brief political controversy sparked by allegations, vigorously denied, that he and Archbishiop Phillip Wilson failed to properly investigate allegations involving another South Ausralian priest in the 1960s. A subsequent exhaustive investigation by a QC found there was no substance to the allegations.[8]
Achievements
Cappo's policy achivements as Social Inclusion Commissioner included:
- A reduction in rough sleeper homelessness in inner-city Adelaide by 50%
- An increase in school retention rates from 67.2% in 1999 to 84.2% in 2010
- Total reform of the mental health system to a community-based, stepped system of care
- Social innovation in responding to youth offending
- A blueprint for total reform of the disability system[9]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e "Social Inclusion: Profiles". SocialInclusion.gov.au. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
- ^ a b c d "The Australian Centre for Social Inclusion: Our Board". tacsi.org.au. The Australian Centre for Social Innovation. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
- ^ Priest David Cappo calls for rethink on housing the homeless: The Australian 7 January 2010
- ^ a b c d "Vicar-General Monsignor David Cappo". Adelaide.Catholic.org.au. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
- ^ Painful journey to self-discovery: AdelaideNow 6 October 2006
- ^ Commissioner for Social Inclusion: Government of SA
- ^ World Health Organisation: Closing the gap in a generation
- ^ Priest's rape claims have 'no substance': The Age 29 November 2011
- ^ Social inclusion sees true nature of disadvantage: The Australian 9 January 2012
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