Brianna Delahunty
Today the Interim Report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System was handed down, following receipt of 3,267 submissions and testimony from 99 witnesses before the four Commissioners. In the wake of yesterday’s announcement of the formation of the Women’s Mental Health Alliance, Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) analyses how well the report responds to the mental health needs of women and girls.
Read MoreFor the 16 Days of Activism, today’s analysis considers the importance of word choice in talking about gendered violence. Sophie Yates (@DrSophieYates) of the Public Service Research Group (@PSResearchG) at UNSW Canberra unpacks some of the pros and cons of using a ‘family violence’ rather than a ‘domestic violence’ approach. While there is concern that this phrase makes gendered inequalities invisible, there are also opportunities that this framing provides. This analysis is drawn from a new article which is freely available until January 2020.
Read MoreWith recent high-profile incidences of wage theft in the media, it is timely that the Attorney-General is looking at this issue. In today’s analysis, Helen Hodgson of Curtin University (@CurtinUni) and on behalf of the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) explains why wage theft is a gendered issue in Australia, highlights areas of concern from the discussion paper, and puts forward recommendations that would provide the necessary holistic response. The full submission is also available.
Read MoreThe World Economic Forum estimates it will take over 200 years to close the gender pay gap globally. In Australia, at current rates it will be 80 years before there is gender parity in senior management roles. Meanwhile, women often trade flexibility for career progression and are also more likely to be discriminated against in the workplace. Why are we not making more progress? In today’s analysis, Sue Williamson (SWilliamsonUNSW) from UNSW (@UNSWCanberra) provides insight into how gender fatigue is slowing down progress for women in the workplace. This analysis is a summary of a longer article which can be found here.
Read MoreGeneral practice in the United Kingdom has long had an international reputation as a positive exemplar of primary care. Free at the point of access, funded on basis of population and needs (i.e. not a fee for service), and led by clinicians, our model is seen to have a better chance than most of providing the support that is preventative, coordinated, and with continuity of care. In this post, Professor Robin Miller considers how over recent years, it has become apparent that our traditional model will struggle with expected demographic changes such as an ageing population, the rise of obesity, and increasing people living with multiple long-term conditions. These combined pressures are indeed leading to frustration for patients in relation to accessing appointments, and considerable stress for general practice.
Read MoreMany people have childhood memories of being pushed around and being punched by other pupils when we felt you couldn’t retaliate. They may also remember being the topic of nasty rumours or being excluded by others. Unfortunately, being bullied is not an unusual experience, even today. Similar to maltreatment, bullying involves abusive behaviours where it is more difficult for the victims to defend themselves. But in contrast to maltreatment, these abusive behaviours are perpetrated by others of the same age. In this blog post, Professor Louise Arseneault discusses research that she has been conducting for the past 15 years – alongside great collaborators – and emphasises the importance of moving away from the common perception that bullying is just an unavoidable part of growing up.
Read MoreEURIPIDES is the short title for Evaluating the Use of Patient Experience Data to Improve the Quality of Inpatient Mental Health Care study. EURIPIDES aimed to understand which of the many different approaches to collecting and using patient experience data are the most useful for supporting improvements in inpatient mental health care.
Researchers from the EURIPIDES study team have made a series of recommendations for improving the way that NHS mental health trusts collect and use patient feedback to improve the quality of care for mental health inpatients. In this post, Dr Sarah-Jane Fenton summarises some of the key findings ahead of the full report being published in early 2020 as health research academics call for NHS to act on mental health patient feedback.
Read MoreWhen the Productivity Commission recently released their draft report into mental health, there was a somewhat surprising focus on structural issues – particularly the role that the social safety net plays in supporting people with mental health conditions, their family members and carers. This is a particularly important issue for women, who have higher rates of diagnosis of mental health conditions and are more likely to be in unpaid caring roles. In today’s analysis, Yvette Maker of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute provides a summary of the draft report’s main concerns and what will be needed for the final report to make a real difference to current government policy trends.
Read MoreProviding support services has become an increasingly complex task, with current approaches not adequately meeting the needs of individuals or communities, especially those with multiple care needs. The increasing social and economic cost burden of this failure compounds a multi-level system that is already struggling with service integration (The Drum 2019). At least part of the problem relates to the lack of connection between the two levels of person and organisation, two circling systems that are not fully integrated.
Read MoreIn the once separate fields of politics and governance, the narrative is everything. Perhaps more. Mark Kenny from Australian Studies Institute looks how the government controls the storyline across Newstart, refugees and the Uluru Statement from the Heart and concludes it is the ‘back story’ that lends the government legitimacy.
Read MoreIs there a gendered component to leisure time? Who organises and facilitates it in heterosexual couples? While the reinstatement of the Time use Survey is an important step in understanding how Australians use their time, in today’s analysis Julia Cook (@julia_anne_cook) of University of Newcastle (@Uni_Newcastle) and Dan Woodman (@DrDanWoodman) of University of Melbourne (@unimelbsoc) share the findings from their recently-published paper which utilises an in-depth approach to not only time use but also how time is coordinated and how women and men feel about task-sharing.
Read MoreAt the recently-held Power to Persuade Symposium, the talk given by Aurora Milroy (@AuroraMilroy) of ANZSOG (@ANZSOG) was a stand-out. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, her talk was not captured on film. We are therefore pleased to present a summary of her talk and her slides here. Aurora spoke of “black swan theory” which highlights the deficits of western knowledge and ways of working. Acknowledging and honouring the ‘black swans’ that Indigenous ways of being and knowing represent brings a more holistic understanding and can mend broken relationships.
Read MoreKanika Samuels-Wortley, scholar at the University of Waterloo, reveals stories of police violence and prejudice towards Indigenous and Black populations, and explains why understanding these experiences is critical for justice and equity.
Read MoreWhat happens if we classify climate change as a threat, not an emergency? Liz Boulton from the ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society explains how military strategy can be combined with new ideas from philosophy to understand climate change as a ‘hyperthreat’ – and describes what that might mean for crafting effective policy solutions. This is the second in the Narration as Regulation series from ANU’s School of Regulation and Global Governance (Regnet)
Read MoreThis blog is the first in a series examining narration and renarration as regulation from the School of Regulation and Global Governance (Regnet) at ANU. Here, Miranda Forsyth and Philip Gibbs tell us what we can learn from attempts to curb sorcery accusation related violence in PNG.
Read MoreWhile there is growing consensus that domestic and family violence is an expression of power that utilises coercive control, Australia’s legal system is designed to respond to incidences of physical aggression. This approach means victims are often mis-identified as perpetrators, and tragically that legal action can sometimes not be taken until it is too late. In today’s analysis, Paul McGorrery (@PaulMcgorrery) of Deakin University (@DeakinLaw) shares a summary of his research, conducted with Marilyn McMahon, on the U.K. experience of criminalising coercive behaviour.
Read MoreData-fuelled technologies and industries will deliver significant economic growth over the coming decade. How can we ensure that the benefits of that growth are shared fairly? The Consumer Policy Research Centre, an independent, for purpose consumer research think tank, is hosting a conference in Melbourne in November to explore consumer welfare and innovation in the digital economy. CEO Lauren Solomon explains who will be there and why it's important to examine the intersection between data, privacy regulation, competition policy and consumer protection.
Read MoreIn this blog piece, Churchill Trust Fellow Katrina Marson outlines the evidence for a sex-positive approach to sex education in schools. She argues that setting the baseline expectation that sex is something everyone enjoys, will meet standard harm prevention requirements while also paving the way for healthier relationships and wellbeing.
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