Few Australians experience more pain from government policy than Indigenous populations, and too often it is Indigenous women who bear the brunt. In today’s federal election piece, Zoe Staines (@Zoettes) of The University of Queensland places a gender lens over the troubling Welfare to Work remote community incarnation known as the Community Development Programme, and explains how it differentially disadvantages women.
Read MoreBridging the evidence-policy gap is a recognised challenge for researchers and policy makers alike. In today’s blog post Hannah Badland, a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, talks about the value of inter-sectoral partnerships to solve complex problems. Using the example of a new global framework, The New Urban Agenda, she discusses how agendas that draw on cross-sectoral collaborations can help advance policy action in complex policy areas such as the social determinants of health.
Read MoreElection season is on us again, and Twitter feeds and daily news updates are full of potential elected leaders making policy promises and giving warnings about how the opposing parties won’t be able to bring us the Australia we need.
But how do we know what the Australia we need is? Depending on political leaning and personal values, this is going to vary from voter to voter. But when deciding on which policies to support, it can be useful to try and have a framework by which to evaluate platforms and the societies they are wishing to create. Megan Weier suggests that, if we want an Australia in which there is a ‘fair go for all’ (the classic Australian dream), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a useful benchmark to look to.
Read MoreIn today’s post, Professor Catherine Needham argues that low tolerance for public servants to test new ways of working is hampering meaningful change in the way government works with citizens. This post was originally published on the 21st Century Public Servant blog.
Read MoreAs the portion of Australia’s older population continues to grow, there is increasing focus in policy on issues pertaining to ageing, demonstrated most recently in the Liberal Budget papers. However, much of these policies appear to be designed with little input from those who are struggling most to age well – older women. In today’s election series piece, co-authors Susan Feldman and Harriet Radermacher provide a summary of their recently-published research in which they heard from older women in the greater Melbourne area on issues of importance to them.
Read MoreIn this post, Zoe Callis, Ami Seivwright, and Paul Flatau of the Centre for Social Impact, University of Western Australia write about the practice of outcome measurement in Western Australia, including its facilitators and barriers. This media release provides a snapshot of the major findings, but readers are encouraged to peruse the entire series. Their research suggests that while efforts to measure social outcomes has increased in the last year, the actual practice has decreased. The main barrier? Funding. But, there are others…
Read MoreWith the Coalition’s ‘woman problem’, representation of women in Australia’s Parliament has been at the forefront. While Labor has a self-imposed gender quota (see page 6) that means women are at near-parity in Parliamentary representation at 46.3 per cent, the Liberals are at 22.9 per cent (percentages calculated in January 2019). With an overall female representation in Parliament of 33.2 per cent, here’s the question: does representation matter? One way to answer this is to look to countries which have a quota system, to identify any changes to policymaking. In today's analysis, Quentin Lippmann of the Paris School of Economics provides evidence from France. This summary draws on Quentin’s presentation at the Australian Gender Economics Workshop in February of this year; his full presentation notes can be found here.
Read MoreIn today’s post, Dr Simone Casey takes a close look at the underpinnings of ParentsNext, a widely-criticised program that aims to encourage eligible parents to plan and prepare for employment by the time their children start school. Dr Casey is an Associate of the RMIT Future Social Services Institute and this post draws on her research into resistance in employment services and the construct of the welfare subject
Read MoreKrystian Seibert is an Industry Fellow at the Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology. In this cross-post from The Conversation, Krystian argues that we will soon witness the largest inter-generational transfer of wealth we’ve ever seen. However, evidence suggests that charities may miss out. In this article, we learn how much we give to charity each year, how philanthropic activity can be structured in different ways for different purposes, and what needs to happen in order to drive the growth of giving.
Read MoreHidden away amongst supplemental papers to the recently-released Coalition budget papers is a line item for $10 million earmarked to support counselling for families experiencing domestic violence. In today’s election platform analysis, Hayley Foster (@HayleyFoster82) of Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service NSW (@wdvcasnsw) explains why this funding goes against both the evidence base and the recommendations from the domestic and family violence service sector. This piece is adapted from a media statement that WDVCAS NSW recently released, which can be viewed here.
Read MoreOur budget coverage continues! Ahead of the ‘National Integrity Forum’ on 8 April at Parliament House, Dia J Andrews (@DiaJAndrews1) of the Public Service Research Group, UNSW Canberra takes a look at the state of play in the federal anti-corruption space in the lead-up to the 2019 Federal Election. What have each of the major parties promised, and what do the experts recommend?
Read MoreWhat does attending playgroup have in common with getting off drugs? The government thinks threatening to take away your welfare payments will help you do both. Internationally the payment of welfare benefits is increasingly being made contingent on a diverse array of behavioural conditions, from attending parenting classes to sending children to school and getting them immunised. Drawing on her recent article in the Journal of Social Policy, Dr Katherine Curchin (@katiecurchin) argues we need more debate about the threat this growing regime of surveillance and punishment poses to citizens’ autonomy.
Read MoreTonight the Coalition Government will be releasing its budget just weeks prior to the federal election. The Women’s Policy Action Tank will be running a special series which focuses on the election. In today’s analysis, Tanja Kovac (@TanjaKovac) of Per Capita (@PerCapita) explains how the elimination of the Women’s Budget Statement has led to a long decline in women’s security that cannot be offset by short-term election promises. This piece was originally published in Women’s Agenda and can be viewed in its original format here.
Read MoreAhead of the launch of her new book The Colonial Fantasy: Why white Australia can't solve black problems, Professor Sarah Maddison (@madd_sarah, co-Director of the Indigenous Settler Relations Collaboration at the University of Melbourne) explains that white Australia can’t solve black problems because white Australia is the problem. There needs to be a radical restructuring of the relationship between First Nations and the settler state.
Read MoreWith recent inquiries into many aspects of the Coalition government’s welfare reforms, including jobactive and ParentsNext, a more foundational question is raised: What is the point of aggressive and austere policies? In today’s piece, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) employs a psychological frame to examine why putting people into crisis is counterproductive.
Read MoreLaura Davy (@LauraKDavy) from the Public Service Research Group, UNSW Canberra, summarises the findings of a review into the implementation of the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and urges readers to contribute to the consultation process for a new national disability policy framework which will begin next month.
Read MoreIf we believe in a society that is just and equitable, and where the rule of law is both respected and effective in maintaining such a society, then our criminal justice system is failing us in achieving these aims. In today’s post, Helen Forster of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand proposes basic principles for addressing shortcomings in how the criminal justice system interacts with women, and proposes that innovative health justice partnerships offer a promising corrective.
Read MoreOur second post today is by Professor Helen Dickinson (@drhdickinson), who explains the Medicare rebate freeze and how it could impact you. Reposted from The Conversation.
Read MoreToday’s post is by Chloe Duncan from the Public Service Research Group, UNSW Canberra, and it explores how the personal identity and experiences of policy practitioners and service providers can inform their practice in profound ways. Based on PhD research into the implementation of breastfeeding policy in Victoria, it suggests that the ability to draw on multiple perspectives, both professional and personal, can allow policy implementers to overcome significant challenges in their work by devising creative and innovative solutions to problems.
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