How will hearing the coranderrk resistance story shift racist attitudes? a crowdsourcing history project

Joanna Cruickshank is a Senior Lecturer in History at Deakin University who has watched people of all ages and backgrounds respond powerfully to the compelling theatre production: Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country. The performance recreates a Victoria government inquiry in 1881, when a group of Aboriginal people from the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve fought for their right to self-determination. 

She has now launched the History for Change crowd-sourcing campaign on Possible to bring the performance to high school students and to get a better understanding of how historical story-telling can educate students against racism. She explains the research project and the use of crowd-sourcing in the post below.

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Advocacy, IssuesPower to Persuadecommunication, indigenous issues
Carrots, sticks, and individual support in the welfare system: Welfare conditionality in the UK

Conditional arrangements designed to ‘correct’ the ‘problematic’ behaviour of welfare recipients have become commonplace in the UK, Australia and other countries for many years. What’s missing from current debates about welfare conditionality, and how can this problem be thought about differently? Professor Peter Dwyer from the University of York, and head of the Welfare Conditionality: Sanctions Support and Behaviour Change project, offers his views in this email interview for Power to Persuade.

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Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuadesocial welfare, service and social protection reform
The new frontier? The making of the psychological domain in development policy

Nudging is the flavour of the moment in public policy, with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet recently announcing they will follow NSW and establish a new high-level behavioural economics team in PM&C. But what are the risks, ethically and otherwise, of a focus on the psyche? And what can we learn from the experiences of international development practitioners in how we nudge our citizens at home? Elise Klein explores these questions, and more, in this new post.

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Finance and economics, Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuadeeconomic policy, government, social welfare
The Tough Life of an Academic Entrepreneur: Innovative commercial and non-commercial ventures must be encouraged.

In this post, Asit Biswas and Julian Kirchherr outline how and why academic entrepreneurship is a key part of impact in the modern university. The ‘social policy entrepreneur’ fits squarely in that picture. However, Asit and Julian argue, we need a shift in incentives to unleash the creative potential of scholars for the overall benefit of society.

 

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Creating using evidencePower to Persuadepolicy research
Can debates on immigration be ‘evidence-based’? And should they be?

Discussion around immigration and asylum seekers in Australia has become increasingly populist and emotive and too often devalues evidence-based decision making. This piece by Professor Christina Boswell, originally published on her blog, explores how the immigration debate in the UK has evolved over time and how to develop a more nuanced and realistic conversation based on evidence and experience.

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Advocacy, Creating using evidencePower to Persuaderefugees and asylum seekers, data and evidence for advocacy
Ideas about Info, Linkages & Capacity Building & the NDIS

NSW Council for Intellectual Disability has been having lots of conversations and engaging with many people about the NDIS Information Linkages & Capacity Building Framework which is currently in consultation. Submissions on the framework can be made until 22 April. This post, originally published on the CID website, explores some of their initial thoughts on the framework and shares some of the ideas and themes that they are developing.

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Policy and governancePower to Persuadesocial services, ndis, disability
Social Service Futures: The Marketisation of Healthcare Services: when political mantras win out over evidence and patients’ needs
Social Service Futures: The Marketisation of Healthcare Services: when political mantras win out over evidence and patients’ needs

In its November 2015 response to the Harper Competition Policy Review (CPR), the Australian Government stated its intention to commission a Productivity Commission review to explore how competition principles can be applied in practice to the human services sector. This further review has not yet been implemented – it’s not clear if there has even been any consultation with the states and territories on the terms of reference – and it’s unlikely to be put forward as a Liberal National Party (LNP) campaign issue in the looming federal election, but if the Turnbull Government is returned, we can expect to see the topic of the marketisation of healthcare services reappear. 

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Social Service FuturesPower to Persuadedr lesley russell
When policy limits self-efficacy
When policy limits self-efficacy

Positive psychology is the emerging field that examines what allows people to thrive.  In this blog post, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury of Good Shepherd AustraliaNew Zealand makes a case for considering self-efficacy when designing or evaluating government policy. 

Please note that some links embedded in this blog post contain photos of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who may be deceased. 

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Policy and governance, Social Policy WhispererDr Susan Maurypolicy making, social justice, indigenous issues, susan maury
Biography, politics and passion: women who change policy

International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on or around 8th March. In 2015 Kathy Landvogt, head ofGood Shepherd’s WRAP (Women’s Research, Advocacy and Policy) Centre, attended an event reflecting on two questions: “What took you into a career in politics?” and “What do we need to do next to further women’s equality?” Organised by the Member for Bentleigh Nick Staikos, three eminent former politicians – Kay Setches, Janice Munt and the late Joan Kirner – took us back to darker days when many of the gains for women’s equality were yet to be won, and urged us to keep working for equality.

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AdvocacyPower to Persuadegender