Helen Dickinson (@DrHDickinson) of the University of Melbourne argues that investments in disability services are long overdue. The creation of the $22 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is an important step, but on its own will not necessarily secure human rights for people with disabilities. If we are to secure human rights for people with disabilities, a broader set of reform processes will need to be considered that go beyond the funding of care services.
Read MoreWith a Royal Commission about to report in Victoria; a second Australian of the Year in a row listing family violence as a priority topic; a Family Violence Index on the cards; a new national evidence-based framework for prevention with bipartisan support; and significant commitment at the political level in both countries, family violence has never been more topical for Australian and New Zealand public servants. Sophie Yates (@MsSophieRae) reports here on insights from a family violence learning and leadership challenge conducted by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG).
Read MoreThe Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee chaired by Senator Cory Bernardi is holding an Inquiry into the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Community Development Program) Bill 2015. Our Social Policy Whisperer Jon Altman made a submission number 8 to the Inquiry in January and was invited to give further evidence in a public hearing on 19 February 2016 at the Monash Conference Centre, Melbourne. The opening comments to his evidence are reproduced in this blog.
Read MoreThe Power to Persuade blog tackles policy change from many angles. In today’s post, Ina Mullin, Communications Specialist with Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, tracks the change in public perception on the government’s asylum seeker policies which has culminated in the high-profile #LetThemStay campaign.
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As we continue to turn our attention to preventing and addressing family and domestic violence, we are identifying areas where our understanding is still limited. Robust policy and practice interventions require a solid foundation of definitions, concepts and frameworks based on evidence. Dr Peter Streker writes here of the need to understand psychological and emotional abuse better, a theme explored more fully in his book I Wish that He Hit Me: Working with psychological and emotional abuse.
Read MoreBoth major parties are examining changes to negative gearing. Ben Spies-Butcher argues the two proposals for reform point to just how deeply flawed negative gearing is, and why neither change goes far enough.
Read MoreAustralia has long been known as a nation of home owners. Ben Spies-Butcher explores the changes and implications that have been slowly taking place.
Read MoreAustralia is grappling with the real world consequences of successive governments' harsh asylum seeker policies. Some journalists and media organisations have been singled out for government criticism over their reporting of the plight of people caught in the system. In an environment of near total government secrecy, how can media fulfil the public interest responsibility of ensuring people are accurately informed? This piece, by Thomas Schillemans from Utrecht University and Sandra Jacobs from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands (originally published on the Policy and Politics blog) examines the public accountability role of media in reporting on asylum seekers in Europe.
Read MoreDr Shelley Bielefeld from the Australian National University's RegNet considers the controversial cashless welfare cards introduced as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response, and their potential introduction in the UK.
Read MoreA key tenet of the Australian Government's National Innovation and Science Agenda is that public research funding should be awarded based on industry collaboration. A/Prof Michael Charles of Southern Cross University and our new Policy Whisperer Prof Robyn Keast ask: how can collaborative research excellence can be measured across a variety of very different disciplines? And if it can be measured appropriately, how can academic culture both within universities and at the grant-awarding level be changed to facilitate this transition?
Read MoreIn our first post of 2016, Dr Kay Cook (@KayCookPhD) of RMIT and Dr Kristin Natalier (@KrisNatalier) of Flinders University argue strongly for recognition of domestic violence in its socioeconomic context rather than in isolation. In particular, federal policies associated with a 'zero tolerance' approach to domestic violence are at odds with policies that disadvantage single mothers.
Read MoreLarge sections of the media focus too narrowly on the 'evils' of asylum-seeking. Gabriella Barnes from World Vision Australia's Field Partnerships team weighs in with a more sensible approach to the national policy debate. A better understanding of Australia's obligations to comply with the Refugee Convention--from a human rights rather than a security perspective--would be a good start. This is the last post in this week's series on asylum seekers.
Read MoreAustralia spends more on dealing with a few thousand asylum seekers than the UNHCR's budget for supporting nearly 50 million refugees worldwide. This is outrageous and unsustainable, according to Asher Hirsch, Policy Officer at the Refugee Council of Australia. It's the next post in this week's series on asylum seekers. This article originally appeared in Right Now.
Read MoreIn this post, Prof. Val Colic-Peisker from the School of Global, Urban & Social Studies at RMIT University reflects on Australia's place in addressing the global humanitarian migration challenge. It's the first in a series of posts this week about asylums seekers. This article is republished with permission from Nexus, The Australian Sociological Association's newsletter.
Read MoreAustralia’s welfare system does a lot with a little. But the plight of growing numbers of precarious workers has led to calls for a new basic income.
The cost of such a scheme seems prohibitively expensive. So, might the lessons of Australia’s super-efficient welfare system offer a potential way forward?
Read MoreYesterday, Paul Smyth provided a reflection on the Government's response to the Harper Review from a community sector perspective. In today's piece, Dr Lesley Russell from the Menzies Centre for Health Policy reflects on the Review from a healthcare perspective. Lesley worked in Washington DC on a range of issues around the enactment and implementation of health care reform, initially as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for American Progress (known as the 'Obama think tank') and later as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Surgeon General in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Read MoreWhile most in the social services and community sector assumed that the 2014\15 Harper review concerned the ‘economy’ and not them (see the very limited range of ‘social’ submissions) it has indeed turned out to be a Radical Liberal push to undermine social services and the community sector by an inappropriate extension of market principles into our community and social life. Even as the Federal Treasurer initiates a ‘reform’ process together with the States we have Mr Harper himself already positioned as an ‘independent’ advisor (representing the for-profit firm Deloites) to the Victorian Government’s current Roadmap for Reform. Push is turning to shove and it behoves anyone with a concern for the future of Australian society to take stock of the situation and develop their action plan.
Read MoreThe recent White Ribbon Day, and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gendered Violence, has brought the issue of Domestic and Family Violence to the fore. Gender inequality is the primary driver of Violence Against Women, and understanding this needs to be central when the Victorian Commission into Family Violence hands down its findings, as outlined in this article by Yvonne Lay at Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand.
Read MoreThe National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been built to enable people with disability a greater choice in the services they wish to use. However, what if these choices are different to supports that have been funded traditionally? If this is not enabled, are people with disability really being given a choice?
Helen Dickinson from the University of Melbourne explores this in an article originally published in The Conversation.
Read MoreIn 2005, the federal government announced Welfare to Work measures that fundamentally changed the expectations placed on those who received Parenting Payment, among others. After July 1 2005, many parents with children over the age of six were required to undertake 30 hours of paid work per fortnight. Many single parents were moved from this payment to the less generous Newstart Allowance once their youngest child turned eight. Single parents already claiming Parenting Payment were exempted from this requirement to move to Newstart, but in 2013 these changes were extended to all single parents. The government’s consistent claim has been that these reforms would improve the ‘wellbeing’ of those involved. In light of this claim, Michelle Brady (@MichelleBradyUQ) and Kay Cook (@KayCookPhD) ask: “how has Welfare to Work impacted on the wellbeing of single parents and their children?”
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