Policy in Australia: 'throwing the spotlight of academic inquiry on murky and ambitious work'

The newly published Policy Analysis in Australia is Australia's contribution to the International Library of Policy Analysis series.

It is edited by by Brian Head, right, Professor of Policy Analysis at the University of Queensland and Kate Crowley, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Tasmania, and recently launched by ANU public policy professor Andrew Podger. See his speech here, via The Mandarin, and the editors' blog post: Policy analysis in Australia: complexities, arenas, and challenges.

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade6 November 2015policy research, professor paul smyth

Racism: The painfully obvious 'missing factor'

In this article below, republished from IndigenousX with permission, Luke Pearson writes that we cannot examine issues of education, employment, housing, health, incarceration, suicide, or any other issue that affects Indigenous peoples, without acknowledging and examining the historic and ongoing impacts of racism.

Issues, AdvocacyPower to Persuade6 November 2015social justice, indigenous issues

Could a new 'basic income' protect Australia's most vulnerable?

By Ben Spies-Butcher, Lecturer in Economy and Society at the Department of Sociology, Macquarie University, with thanks to The Conversation for permission to re-post the original article here.

The story of Dr Nigel Gray vs Big Tobacco: a masterclass in advocacy

Veteran tobacco control researcher Professor David Hill paid homage at the recent 2015 Oceanic Tobacco Control conference in Perth to his former colleague Dr Nigel Gray, regarded by many as the 'father of tobacco control globally as well as in Australia".

Here are excerpts from his tribute speech - it's a #Longread but provides so many great insights into research and advocacy.

Dr Nigel Gray with former Labor Health Minister Nicola Roxon

Issues, AdvocacyPower to Persuade4 November 2015health, data and evidence for advocacy

Open government: a new paradigm in social change?

OpenAus is an exciting project in financial and political transparency for Australia, that sees open data as a way forward "to create both a better informed citizenry and also better informed policy evaluation."

Policy and governancePower to Persuade2 November 2015technology

Australian education fails one in four young people- but not the wealthy ones

New research from the Mitchell Institute has found one-in-four young people in Australia does not complete year 12 or its equivalent. Report author, Stephen Lamb, examines the implications of growing youth disengagement for policy makers, educators and services

Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuade27 October 2015education, young people

Childhood homelessness makes for unemployment study

New research shows people who become homeless as children and adolescents are much more likely to be unemployed as adults. Anna Zhu from the University of Melbourne looks at the data and implications. This post originally appeared on The Conversation.

Which parenting policy incentives increase gender equity at home? Insights from Europe

Leave entitlements for fathers can increase paternal involvement in housework and childcare but their longer-term impact on the gender division of labour in the home is contested. In this post, Pia Schober from the German Institute for Economic Research discusses policy movements concerning paternity leave in Europe and their outcomes in improving paternal involvement in household and care labour.

This item was originally posted on Policy Network.

Issues, AdvocacyDr Lara Corr23 October 2015gender, data and evidence for advocacy

Should women work like men? Mainstreaming gender in health-related policies

Should we mainstream gender in policy? What would that look like? Taking employment and work as a key example, our guest contributor Associate Professor Lyndall Strazdins (ANU) examines how working hours, ability, gender and care are intersecting and cautions us about which groups are being framed as the new 'leaners'.

*This post is based on Assoc.Prof Strazdin's contribution to a panel debate at the PTP:Gender, Menzies Policy Grand Challenge held in Canberra last month.

Eva Cox: starting a hopeful policy narrative

PTP:Gender's keynote, Eva Cox AM (@evacox), is our guest writer today. In this special extended post, Eva presents a critical analysis of Australia's past and current state of play and shares her thoughts on how to start a hopeful narrative based on a feminist approach. This post ends by inviting the debate of ideas and discussion – you're all welcome to contribute through twitter or the comments section below.

Creating using evidence, Policy and governance, IssuesDr Lara Corr21 October 2015evidence-based policy, ideology, gender

Policy success or failure? It's in the eye of the beholder

Today's post comes from Paul Cairney's fantastic 'policy concepts in 1000 words' series. You can check out his blog here. Paul is a Professor of Politics at the University of Stirling.

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade19 October 2015policy research

It's a gig but is it a job?

Would you choose workplace flexibility over pay? The future of work is here, we are told, and it is in the form of freelancing self-employment in the "gig" economy. But are we destined to become mini-entrepreneurs, free from the mundane 9-to-5? Or will we be imprisoned to a life of low-wage servitude and insecurity? In this post, which originally appeared on the OECD's Insights blog, Brian Keeley explores concerns about future job quality and job security in the "gig" economy.

Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuade16 October 2015service and social protection reform, employment

Domestic Violence and the welfare state

The problem of domestic violence has inspired much chest-thumping from Australian politicians and public figures alike. Grand statements are being made about collective social responsibility and social justice--perhaps attitudes are finally changing. In this article, however, Susan Hopkins and Jenny Ostini (University of Southern Queensland) argue that using populist rhetoric about domestic violence is inadequate while neoliberal governments continue to undermine key social services. Forms of support for women at risk of experiencing domestic violence remain dangerously underfunded. This article is reprinted with permission from the Overland Journal.

The side effects of 'wellbeing': from the welfare state to the wellness state

What happens when the state is concerned with how we feel and how healthy we are? André Spicer (Cass Business School) and Carl Cederström (Stockholm Business School) argue that with many governments now employing behavioural scientists to help shape policy, state interference in our private lives is increasing.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade14 October 2015service and social protection reform

Youth employment 'crisis' more about job quality

Do we have an immediate youth unemployment 'crisis' in Australia? Or is it more of a slow burn? In this post, Dr Iain Campbell of RMIT University provides some insights. This post originally appeared on The Conversation.

Employment participation policies and the 'good society'

In the closing plenary panel at last week's Australian Social Policy Conference, ACOSS' Peter Davidson @pagdavidson, highlighted three interrelated challenges for workforce participation and welfare reform. Today's post originally appeared on Peter's blog and is re-posted here with his permission.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade9 October 2015ideology

Social Policy Whisperer: The Vexed Issue of the Voluntary Sector

In today's Social Policy Whisperer column Prof. Paul Smyth from the University of Melbourne revisits the debate on the marketisation of community services.

Part Two: How many have slept rough? and what does that tell us?

At last week’s Australian Social Policy Conference Chris Chamberlain and Guy Johnson, from the Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, presented new research into homelessness in Australia. Today’s post is part two of an edited extract of this presentation. It looks at the number of people in Australia who have slept rough, and what these findings mean for policy making.

Part one: How many Australians have been homeless?

Homelessness in Australia is measured at the Census, by counting everyone who can be found at that point in time. New research by Chris Chamberlain and Guy Johnson, Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, looks how many people have experienced homelessness in their lifetime. Today’s post is part one of an edited extract of their presentation at last week’s Australian Social Policy Conference. It covers how may people have been homeless in Australia. Part two tomorrow looks at the issue of rough sleeping.

Shifting from Social Provision to Social Investment

The social sector has only recently begun to see itself as a critical economic player. But as governments shift more from social provision to social investment, David Hayward, Professor and Dean of the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University asks whet her it can and should think still more broadly and internationally – and even about how to ‘mix it ’ with the Sercos of the world?

This article was published in the latest edition of Insight, the VCOSS member magazine.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade1 October 2015service and social protection reform

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