Dr Megan Lang
Evidence matters, but evidence that is inaccessible or difficult to apply will have little real-world impact. As financial education continues to gain prominence in schools and communities, questions are growing about how research can better inform practice. Tracey West argues that alongside investment in research, we need an evidence infrastructure that helps translate knowledge into effective practice.
Read MoreFor several years, Australians have been talking about cost-of-living pressures. We have debated inflation, interest rates, housing costs, groceries and energy bills. But much less attention has been paid to the people least responsible for these pressures, and the least able to change their circumstances: children.
Read MoreA landmark new research report launched last week, led by Honorary Professor Roslyn Russell, has found Australia needs a more coordinated and integrated national approach to financial wellbeing. The Good Shepherd Institute were fortunate to attend the launch and have already seen the report's insights inform our evaluation of a disaster recovery program submitted to the Queensland Government, demonstrating its immediate relevance to policy and practice. This post by co-author Dr Jozica Kutin highlights the need for systems to work together especially given the overlap with climate change, technology and health. This post was originally published by Ecstra Foundation, who funded the research, and is republished here with permission.
Read MoreThe Iran War has sparked a global fuel crisis, so we've decided to take a look at what this might mean for our island state. In the first post of a two-part series, we provide an overview of the impact that rising fuel prices are having on Tasmanian households and our economy.
Read MoreAustralians with disability and their families are well aware that living with disability can be very expensive – and yet our national poverty statistics and indicators do not take account of the hidden costs and earning barriers of being disabled in Australia. In their new article for a special issue of the Australian Economic Review, Sue Olney and Sophie Yates discuss the links between disability and poverty. They also explore why we need to think about using both monetary and non-monetary indicators (drawing on the knowledge of people with lived experience of both disability and poverty) to capture the full picture of inequality between people with and without disability in Australia.
Read MoreThere has been increasing interest in revamping our economic systems to better support individual and collective health and wellbeing and distribute wealth more evenly, while doing more to protect the planet. In today’s post, recently-appointed VicHealth (@VicHealth) postdoctoral research fellow Melissa Kennedy of Deakin University (@DeakinSeed) explains what Community Wealth Building (CWB) is and how a recent Masterclass in the Victorian Goldfields region explored its transformative potential.
Read MoreChristian Eva (@ChristianEva9), Kerry Bodle, Dennis Foley, Jessica Harris, and Boyd Hunter discuss their new research in the Australian Journal of Social Issues on Indigenous owned businesses - to help inform future policy direction for both Indigenous employment and Indigenous business policies.
Read MoreDr Adrian Bazbauers (@AdrianBazbauers) of the Public Service Research Group, UNSW Canberra discusses his new analysis of how multilateral development banks approach gender.
Read MoreIn today’s post, Emma O’Neill of Good Shepherd (@GoodShepANZ) explores the potential impacts of the Government’s proposed regulation of Buy Now, Pay Later Products. Emma is a Senior Policy & Advocacy Advisor with a particular interest in women’s economic security, gender and climate change, and the impacts of marketisation on social equity.
Read MoreIn today’s analysis, Phoebe Nagorcka-Smith (@PNagorckaSmith) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodShepANZ) uses evidence from their recent ‘Safety net for sale’ report to explore how Buy Now Pay Later is used to trap family violence victim-survivors in debt, and why regulation is key to preventing it.
Read MoreDr Kim Moloney (@Global_Academic) of Hamad Bin Khalifa University shares a preview of her new book Who Matters at the World Bank: Bureaucrats, Policy Change, and Public Sector Governance, which tells the story of civil servant influence and the rise of public sector reform at the World Bank (read a sample chapter here).
Read MoreOur care industries are vital to a healthy, functioning economy. In today’s analysis, Kristine Ziwica (@KZiwica), a journalist with 20 years experience working in Australia, the United States and the UK on human rights and gender equality campaigns, argues that we need to invest in our people and place care at the centre of the Australian economy.
Read MoreThis article by Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor in the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne, examines Australia’s 2022-23 Budget through a health lens and highlights missed opportunities for the federal government to improve primary care and aged care. It is republished from The Conversation.
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