As an egregious abuse of human rights and an often hidden form of violence against women and children, forced marriage needs very specific policy responses. Currently, the major response is a legal one, requiring police intervention. Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand has been a key driver in increasing awareness of its prevalence in Australia, through conducting research (The Right to Refuse) and helping to establish the Victorian Forced Marriage Network. Good Shepherd’s Kathy Landvogt explains why a criminal response, while important, is not adequate.

What does the Trudeau era mean for the social inequalities that spawn health inequalities? With appreciation to the insights of The Who

One year into the election win by Justin Trudeau and the Liberals in Canada, Prof Dennis Raphael of York University Canada (@DennisRaphael01) assesses progress on the social issues that underpin health. With promises to act on climate change, income inequality, and the inequities experienced by indigenous Canadians, is this government a harbinger of change or a party that "campaigns from the left yet governs from the right"?

Welfare investment approach ‘revolutionary’ — or is it?

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.

Policy and governance, InnovationPower to Persuade1 October 2016social welfare, social inequalities

Why commissioning is like a unicorn

Today'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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade26 September 2016cross-sector relationships

Reform and the (not so) new role of stewardship

Australian 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.

Machinery of Government changes: could there be a better way?

Structural 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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade19 September 2016government, policy making

Strategic Foresight and the Future of the Public Service: Imagination and Disruption

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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade13 September 2016networked governance, policy making

Think outside the 'blue box': three reasons it matters for authentic collaboration

A social policy whisper piece by Robyn Keast on collaboration.

Social Policy Whisperer, Policy and governancePower to Persuade12 September 2016

Is neoliberalism making you anxious? Metrics and the production of uncertainty

Market 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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade8 September 2016markets in public services

A National Plan for Children?

In 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.

Susan Feldman on ageing and gendered disadvantage

In 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.

Implementing Targets in UK Government: A Multiple Streams Approach

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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade2 September 2016government, accountability

Is the star system keeping you up at night?

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.

Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuade2 September 2016accountability, employment

How can we make sure public policy eco-systems are healthy and robust? A Twitterview of the 2016 Power to Persuade symposium

Twitterview: 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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade25 August 2016social welfare

Working across boundaries: how insights from feminist thinking can make us better at collaboration

Concurrent 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.

Design thinking in policymaking processes: Opportunities and challenges

ANZSOG 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.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade18 August 2016policy making, social services, family

Why Australian Women over 55 Aren’t Exactly Enjoying the Time of their Lives

In 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.

Sex, Drugs and Politics: Enhancing peer-led health promotion’s influence in community and policy systems

Concurrent 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.

Advocacy, Policy and governancePower to Persuade15 August 2016policy making, health

Beyond productivity

Concurrent 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.

Is this the Full Gonski? Equitable Funding of NSW Government Schools

Equality 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).

Policy and governance, Finance and economicsPower to Persuade12 August 2016education, government, fund

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