The Federal Government's Indigenous Advancement Scheme (IAS) tender process caused much chaos and stress, particularly for Indigenous organisations and communities (see this previous Power to Persuade post on the opportunities lost).
Read MoreTale of two cities. We know there is a stark socio-economic divide in our cities. But new work has highlighted a further socio-economic divide within disadvantaged communities, which will have major implications to come, writes Professor Hal Pawson, Director of the AHURI Research Centre. This post was originally published on the City Futures blog hosted by the University of New South Wales.
Read MoreThe burden of chronic disease is particularly borne by disadvantaged communities and individuals who experience higher rates of chronic disease and greater exposure to associated risk factors.VCOSS Policy Advisor, Brooke McKail, argues that a broad social determinants of health approach to prevention and management of chronic disease in Australia is required that guarantees universal access to affordable and timely heath care.Australia needs to increase its investment in chronic disease prevention to reduce the burden of chronic disease on disadvantaged communities, and address the barriers that prevent people accessing timely, affordable health care.
Read MoreThe following is a summary of internal structural changes within government and key policy directions, part of a regular update series developed by The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). This update was developed in December 2014 and updated in early 2015. Thanks to Nicole Barling-Luke at ANZSOG for this contribution.
Read MoreAs we look for new ways to collaborate and adopt 'disruptive' models of practice we need to be aware that just because it is disruptive, it does not mean that it is truly 'sharing' or revolutionary. The term 'sharing economy' is being co-opted as outlined in this post by Olivier Blanchard, which was originally published here.
Read MoreThe tireless work of feminist advocates, scholars and their supporters has culminated in the establishment of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. The Royal Commission’s report, due to be released in February 2016, holds the promise of delivering what the family violence service sector has been demanding for decades – a system that recognises the harm that domestic/family violence causes, acknowledgement that it is everyone’s responsibility to prevent it, and provides adequate resources for services that provide the critical and often life-saving support to victims. Although it has already been a long journey, this is just the start. Yvonne Lay, Safety & Resilience Development Lead with Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, outlines the essential next steps as advocated in Good Shepherd’s submission to the Royal Commission.
Read MoreWomen in Australia, particularly single mothers, still face discrimination in the workforce after giving birth despite the Sex Discrimination Act prohibiting direct family responsibilities discrimination. The recent Australian Human Rights Commission Report highlights the need to review current protections and the complexity of current regulation that is in place. However, as Alexandra Heron, Research Associate Women and Work Research Group, University of Sydney Business School notes in this blog originally published http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/, it will also require the right political environment and cultural change.
Read MoreIf you're anything like us at Power to Persuade, you consider yourself a master of the dark arts of tweeting. Now it is time for you to level up and get some awesome Indigenous tweeting in your life.
Read MoreToday feels like a good day to highlight the range of amazing Indigenous people out there doing great things in our community.
Read MoreAustralia has experienced a number of high profile policy implementation failures in recent years, such as the 'Pink bats' scheme. Implementation, as a separate part of the policy process and as a scholarly endeavour, is creeping back onto the radar (thankfully). Today's post by Charlotte Sausman, Eivor Oborn and Michael Barrett discus orignally appared on the Politics and Policy Journal Blog as an overview of the paper - Policy translation through localisation: implementing national policy in the UK
Read MoreIncreasing employment participation is critical to improving living standards, individual well-being, and equality. In this post, Michael Keating (former Head of the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations) looks at concrete proposals to boost employment participation. This post originally appeared on the Pearls and Irritations blog.
Read MoreHow do we determine who has a legitimate claim to income support - their 'deservingness'? And how can we reduce stereotyping while increasing workforce participation? In this post, social and economic policy analyst Peter Davidson looks to international research for some clues. This post originally appeared on Peter's Need to Know blog.
Read MoreIn this post, Alex Baumann, from University of Western Sydney, examines how programs aimed at 'empowering' or 'engaging' public housing tenants and other service users too often ignore the experience and perspective of the people they are intended to support, and how the failure of poorly designed or implemented programs is unfairly blamed on service users
Read MoreJeff Thompson is community development manager at a disability service provider in the ACT. In this post he explains the implications of the NDIS for existing service providers in an environment that favours the “new” over the known.
Read MorePeople who are unemployed can be made to feel worthless, stigmatised, unwanted and lonely. Tracey Robbins discusses how we can seek to understand the loss of identity and loneliness people can feel as a result of being unemployed, and reset the way we work together as a community to help people find a way out of loneliness and possibly, find work too.
Read MoreThis year’s ACOSS conference – Towards the Common Good – took place at Technology Park, Sydney, June 24–26. Rik Sutherland from St Vincent de Paul reports.
Read MoreThe 'new' nanny trial has been hailed as a solution for flexible child care by the Federal government. But is it a solution and for whom? What do children, families and nannies need to make this 'solution' work well? Our guest today, Elizabeth Adamson (@eama221) from the Social Policy Research Centre, explores these issues as she takes us through details of the nanny trial.
Read MoreCare work, whether paid or unpaid, remains disproportionately carried out by women. With more and more women participating in the paid workforce and working non-standard hours alongside men, a care crisis has emerged globally. Who is caring for those that need it now? Who will provide care in the future? In this guest post, Emeritus Professor Fiona Williams from the University of Leeds explains the 'chains and drains' of global care and presents some alternative policy solutions that favour gender equity and workers' rights.
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