Continuing her series of posts examining Australia's employment services system, Dr Simone Casey discusses the shortcomings of Work for the Dole both as a mutual obligation activity and as a pathway to work. Her previous posts explore issues related to welfare conditionality; ParentsNext; mutual obligation; 'work first' activation of jobseekers; and the growing presence of automation in Australia's welfare system. Dr Casey is an Associate of the RMIT Future Social Services Institute.
Read MoreWhile the Australian Public Service is showing signs of greater gender equality, what can it do to further progress this agenda?
In this feature originally published in The Mandarin, UNSW Canberra’s Dr Sue Williamson outlines some of the key elements and tactics to bring about a more gender-equal public workforce.
Read MoreOlder Aboriginal Australians are considered one of the most vulnerable populations in the country as they are at greater risks for multiple chronic diseases while being less able to access culturally appropriate care.
In this post from The Conversation, Neuroscience Research Australia’s Tony Broe believes that an effective Indigenous aged care model must facilitate greater family and community involvement to improve the health outcomes of older Aboriginal Australians.
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Last week was NAIDOC week - a week set aside for non-Indigenous Australians to “increase [their]awareness… of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.” Today’s post, by Zuleyka Zevallos (@othersociology) shares her listening and learning to the unjust experiences of Indigenous women in the criminal justice system. This piece first appeared at Other Sociologist.
Read MoreThe rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has be challenging, with the scheme experiencing delays in budget allocation as well as the design and review of individual plans. But how can this be avoided for a service that, to be fit-for-purpose, requires a significant amount of client engagement and service personalisation?
In this article from The Mandarin, BIS Oxford Economics’s Flavio Souza explains why he believes adopting innovative approaches to client segmentation may be the answer.
Read MoreAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples occupy a unique position as the first sovereign peoples of Australia. And while governments have been striving to improve their relationships with as well as their abilities to represent and provide services to Indigenous Australians, there is still a long way to go.
In this post, the Australia and New Zealand School of Government’s (ANZSOG) Aurora Milroy discusses why Indigenous values and culture should be embedded in the Australian Public Service (APS), and outlines practical solutions for helping the Commonwealth begin to reset its relationship with Indigenous peoples.
Read MoreIs Australia getting good return on investment in early childhood education? A report conducted by PwC for the Front Project finds that Australia is getting $2 back for every $1 spent on preschool.
While this statistic is important, Jen Jackson of Victorian University’s Mitchell Institute argues that we need to examine and invest in the complex chain of events that in order for the country to reap the two-for-one return.
This article was originally published in The Conversation.
Read MoreIs wealth inequality threatening Australia’s egalitarian dream?
RMIT University’s Salvatore Ferraro provides a preview of his and Monica Jurin’s presentation at this year’s Australian Conference of Economists in this article originally published in The Conversation.
Read MoreThe Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System - the first of its kind in Australia - is looking into ‘[accelerating] improvements in access to mental health services, service navigation and models of care.’ One element of the mental health care system, which is often overlooked, is help for informal carers that support those who have mental illness.
In this article originally published in The Conversation, the University of Newcastle’s Jaelea Skehan and Sally Fitzpatrick explain the emotional labour involved in caring, the case for preventing their psychological distress, and the policy setting that government needs to enhance carers’ wellbeing and prevent the onset of mental health issues of their own.
Read MoreThe Gender pay gap is an issue which has received a substantial amount of attention both in research and policy discussions and reforms. However far less attention has been paid to the Disability pay gap. People with disability in Australia face not only disadvantages in accessing employment such as discrimination in hiring practices but also in even securing minimum wage pay to which non-disabled Australians are entitled. Currently paying people with disability below the minimum wage is legal in Australia, yet illegal for a non-disabled person. In today’s blog piece George Disney asks some pressing social policy questions about employment policy for people with disability and suggests some solutions policy makers could adopt to improve working conditions for all Australians, irrespective of their disability status.
Read MoreIn many countries social policy has seen a growing concern for citizen control and empowerment which has led to an increase in person centred approaches to social care, referred to a personalisation. The National Disability Insurance scheme (NDIS) is one of the most ambitious personalisation schemes in the world and aims to give choice and control over services and supports for people who acquire a permanent disability, thereby boosting citizen empowerment and improving social and health outcomes. However a new research paper by Gemma Carey, Eleanor Malbon, and Ariella Meltzer suggests that the ability to have choice and control in personalisation schemes can be distributed unequally. They use to context of the NDIS to examine how some Australians with disability may be missing out on accessing the care they are entitled to.
This piece originally appeared in The Conversation and was authored by Eleanor Malbon and Gemma Carey.
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This blog is the second in a four-part series on women’s mental health. As the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System continues its public hearings there is an opportunity to consider the social and economic factors that contribute to poor mental health using a gender lens. This piece by Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah) and Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) of @GoodAdvocacy explores how economic inequality contributes to poor mental health among women, drawing on reflections from practitioners in Good Shepherd services. You can read the first in this series here.
Read MoreWhile value creation has long been discussed in the private sector, the concept of value creation by the public sector is largely absent. Until recently there has been no clear role for the public sector to create value itself – the term ‘public value’ does not even exist in economics. However a new paper by Mariana Mazzucato and Josh Ryan-Collins at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose proposes ways that public value can be created using a theory of collective public value creation. This article orginally appeared in The Mandarin and is authored by Maria Katsonis.
Read MoreOn the 30th May 2019 the findings from a new project to make the City of Melbourne more inclusive for people with disability were reported at a community forum at Melbourne Town Hall. This project showcases how different sectors and community members can come together to create policies that reflect the views and ideas of those most affected by the proposed policies. People with disability have historically been marginalised from the policy process, with a lack of consultation with people with disability a significant issue in the formation of government policy. This project addressed these issues by using an evidence base coming directly from people with disability in order to inform policy for the City of Melbourne Disability Action Plan. In the blog piece below Dr Jerome Rachele lead investigator of the project talks about its development and how working cross-sector between local government and academia led to a successful outcome.
Read MoreHousing affordability stress has been a major talking point for both the public and politicians over the last decade. Yet many people, especially first home buyers , are still finding it difficult to break into the housing market and Australian housing remains some of the most expensive housing in the world. This has seen an increase in the number of people renting long term. However the private rental market in Australia is owned almost exclusively by small scale mum-and-dad investors, and unlike in some other countries, notably European ones where renting has long been the norm, there are few policies to ensure tenants have access to long term stable and affordable rentals in Australia. In today’s blog piece Professor Hal Pawson from UNSW discusses a Build-to-rent housing model that has the potential to address some of the public policy objectives around affordable housing. While not a silver bullet, this type of housing can create stability in an otherwise volatile housing market, and provide an affordable housing fix for many renters doing it tough in the current rental environment. However for this to happen major tax changes are needed.
This piece orginally appeared in The Conversation
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Australian policymakers will need to take critical action in response to the care crisis revealed by coverage of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the lead up to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Laura Davy (@LauraKDavy) from the Public Service Research Group, UNSW Canberra, discusses how feminist ethics and feminist economics can inform workforce investment strategies into the future.
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Last week the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System held its first public hearings. The Royal Commission is an opportunity to consider the social and economic factors that contribute to poor mental health using a gender lens. With significant investment in men’s mental health in recent years, it is timely to switch focus and consider women’s experiences and how the mental health service system and other institutions are responding to their needs. Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah) and Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) of @GoodAdvocacy summarise some of the gender differences in prevalence, diagnosis and treatment in the first of a four part series.
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In today's post, Dr Simone Casey (@simonecasey) discusses the ethics and efficacy of recent developments in welfare conditionality in Australia. This continues her series of posts examining topical issues in Australia's employment services system - ParentsNext; mutual obligation; 'work first' activation of jobseekers; and the growing presence of automation in Australia's welfare system. Dr Casey is an Associate of the RMIT Future Social Services Institute.
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