Social Services Minister Christian Porter hails his new welfare investment approach as “close to revolutionary”. But how much is it a shift from the hardline approach? This piece, by David Donaldson, was originally published on The Mandarin.
Read MoreToday's post from Dr Helen Dickenson is on how the existence of high-quality commissioning is a bit like a unicorn, elusive and prone to unintended stabbiness. It first appeared on her website.
Read MoreAustralian reform discussions have of late focused around some seemingly new language and ideas concerned with stewardship and commissioning. This is being touted as a fundamental change in what government does, but what does this actually mean and will it really lead to significant reform? Helen Dickinson asks these questions and more in our latest post.
Read MoreStructural changes to government have become a common occurrence in Australia. But, in what circumstances are these so-called 'Machinery of Government' changes worth their while? Dr Gemma Carey reports on a comparison between Canadian and Australian contexts.
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By Professor Catherine Althaus (@AlthausCat), at the Australian and New Zealand School of Government
Thought-provoking discussions are taking place in Canada and Australia about the future of the public service. Having worked and researched in both jurisdictions, I know there is great value in comparative intelligence that probes the policy transfer between these countries.
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A social policy whisper piece by Robyn Keast on collaboration.
Read MoreMarket models of delivering publicly-funded services are underpinned by systems and processes of measurement designed to change the way citizens and service providers behave and interact. David Beer argues that to understand how markets shape our behaviour, we need to think about the role of measurement in our lives and reflect on how it makes us feel. This post originally appeared on the LSE Politics and Policy blog.
Read MoreIn today’s post, James McDougall examines Australia’s inconsistent record of promoting the rights of children. He argues that instead of simply reacting to policy failure, we must coordinate planning, effort, knowledge and resources across jurisdictions to improve the wellbeing of all young Australians.
Read MoreIn a recent interview on 3CR’s Solidarity Breakfast, Susan Feldman discussed gendered disadvantage and the need to look at men’s and women’s different experiences of ageing.
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In this post from Christina Boswell's Politics, Knowledge and Migration blog, Christina and Eugenia Rodrigues look at the implementation of central government 'targets', arguing that the problem-policy 'fit' must be strong for implementation to be effective.
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In August 2016 the Department of Employment released the first Star Ratings for service providers under the new employment services regime. The payment structure for providers, as argued by the Employment Minister, Michaelia Cash, is ‘more clearly tied to achieving sustained employment outcomes, with outcome payments heavily weighted towards placing the most disadvantaged people into employment.’ In this post, Kate O’Hara from JobVoice – an independent service operated by Social Security Rights Victoria – helps us understand the Star Ratings basics for jobseekers.
Read MoreTwitterview: The ecological systems of public policy: keeping them open, healthy and sustainable through strategic, multilevel collaboration.
Thanks to Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand's Women's Research Advocacy & Policy for putting together these Storify accounts of the 2016 Power to Persuade symposium, held in Melbourne on Monday, 15 August.
Read MoreConcurrent with Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Helen Dickinson (@DrHDickinson) draws on her forthcoming article 'What can feminist theory offer policy implementation challenges?' to explore how feminist thinking can help us move beyond a simplistic view of collaboration as coordinating activity across a number of actors.
Read MoreANZSOG researcher Joannah Luetjens has recently published on the application of design thinking to policymaking. Here she uses The Australian Centre for Social Innovation's Family by Family program as a case study to show how design thinking aims to connect with target populations and understand how they engage with their world.
Read MoreIn the lead-up to Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August 2016, the Women’s Policy Action Tank has asked some of the day’s participants to publish articles reflecting how current policy differently impacts on women. In today’s post, Susan Feldman and Harriet Radermacher detail how women’s disadvantage accrues across the lifespan resulting in a disproportionate number of older women in hardship. This article originally appeared in The Conversation.
Read MoreConcurrent with The Power to Persuade 2016 Symposium, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Graham Brown details lessons learned in enabling disenfranchised communities to influence policy.
Read MoreConcurrent with The Power to Persuade 2016 Symposium, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Social Policy Whisperer Dr Ben Spies-Butcher takes us beyond productivity.
Read MoreEquality is seldom the same as equity. In today’s post, Dr Peter Ninnes of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand analyses the New South Wales government’s data to refute their claims that the Gonski recommendations have been fully implemented through the Resource Allocation Model (RAM).
Read MoreIn today’s post, Summer May Finlay makes the case for a facilitative approach to policy influence and change for people whose voices are silenced. Specifically, she calls on the feminist movement in Australia to ally with rather than speak on behalf of Aboriginal women. A Yorta Yorta woman, Summer specialises in health policy, qualitative research and communications, and is a popular blogger with Croakey. She is speaking at Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August. You can follow Summer on Twitter @OnTopicAus
Read MoreMany argue that austerity, rising demand for public services and the growing complexity of social problems, such as persistent inequality and chronic ill health, presents a “perfect storm” for recasting the relationship between citizens and the state – one that is built on a more equal partnership and a recognition of the assets of citizens. Political connectivity should be key to this.
The RSA’s recent report, ‘Changing the Narrative’ by Paul Buddery, Matthew Parsfield, and Atif Shafique, suggests that our current social settlement needs rethinking and should be different from the one we have today. The service-centric model, which assumes that needs can be met and challenges can be resolved simply through the efficient delivery of professionally managed services, is untenable. Here Atif Shafique gives a snapshot of the report.
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