Formation of Professional Associations

From 1946 until June 1989 social workers in Western Australia (WA) were represented by the WA Branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), an Australia wide federation of social workers managed by a Federal Council. The separate legal status of the WA Branch was lost when it joined the AASW in July 1989, a company of limited liability by guarantee, constituted under the national companies legislation

The resignation of the WA Committee of Management of the 'WA Branch' of the AASW in June 2003 resulted in the reestablishment of a wholly state based organisation, the Society of Professional Social Workers (Inc) (SPSW). The SPSW operates under the State's incorporation of associations legislation. This means since mid 2003 two different organisations have represented the professional interests of social workers in WA.

Click here to view or download a PDF version of a 9 page overview of the circumstances and historical context to the establishment of the SPSW in late June 2003.

Archive of WA Social Work Newsletters

All newsletters published after March 1997 were produced by use of DTP software, which also generated a PDF. As the newsletters in the archive prior to April 1997 were only printed, they have been scanned from a hard copy & converted into readable PDFs.

Click on a link to view or download a PDF of a newsletter.

Archive 1996 - 2005

Archive 1985 - 1995