Megan Lang
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.
Read MoreIn 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 MoreIn this post, author and disability advocate Dr Peter Gibilisco offers a perspective on the role of affirmative action as a policy approach to promote inclusion of people living with disabilities. This post originally appeared on the Pearls and Irritations blog.
Read MoreThere have been various attempts in Australian research to measure the 'multidimensional' nature of poverty- that is, adding things like rental stress or health inequity to ordinary income measures. In this post, which originally appeared on the LSE Politics & Policy blog, Rod Hick looks at comparing multidimensional and income poverty measures.
Read MoreA new research report, Poor housing quality: Prevalence and health effects, has found that a growing number of Australian households living in poor quality and unhealthy housing are doubly disadvantaged—by the quality of their housing and because policy makers in Australia do not acknowledge the health effects of housing.
In the article below, report authors Emma Baker, Andrew Beer, and Rebecca Bentley outline the need for urgent action, warning that otherwise we risk becoming "a nation scarred once again by slums, reduced life chances and shortened lives."
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 MoreThe United States spends more on health care than any other developed nation, yet a recent study suggests social services spending has a greater impact on health outcomes. This post, by Elizabeth H. Bradle and Lauren A. Taylor was published at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation blog and is republished here with permission.
Read MoreI feel sorry for today’s students and educators. At every step of the process they are both told to be more innovative, more entrepreneurial, to prepare for this new world that no one actually can yet describe. We are beset with paralysis, be it students unable to visualize realistic role models or educators unsure of what is required of them. We are told that we have outgrown an education system designed for the industrial revolution. That the world no longer cares what you know, just what you can do with what you know. Increasingly institutions look beyond their best assets in search of golden ideas elsewhere, hoping to import programs and best practice. Guess what? They are kidding themselves.
Read MoreIf you missed or want to revisit Putting Women at the Centre: a policy forum, hosted by Power to Persuade and Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand (GSANZ), here are links to Storify accounts of the day put together from Twitter by Susan Maury and the GSANZ team.
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 MoreConcurrent with Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Kristin Natalier uses the concept of micro-aggressions to explain how single mothers experience a devaluing of their personhood through their interactions with Centrelink personnel.
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 MoreMarket-based solutions to complex social problems can appear tantalising in their simplicity. In this post Lanie Stockman, Outcomes and Evaluation Specialist at Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, questions how outcomes would be identified and measured if social services were funded based on ‘success’.
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, Rob Hulls and Elena Campbell discuss the shortcomings of Australia’s criminal justice system. When a significant proportion of all offenders come into custody profoundly disadvantaged - and traumatised - in some way, does imprisonment offer the best chance at behavioural correction and rehabilitation? This article originally appeared in The Conversation.
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