The power to persuade: a tribute to Professor Gemma Carey
The power to persuade: a tribute to Professor Gemma Carey

Professor Gemma Carey passed away in November 2024 after a long illness. Alongside her distinguished academic career, she co-founded Power to Persuade in 2011 and was its co-director until 2018. She built a collaborative, volunteer-run and genuinely co-produced enterprise with extensive reach and influence that continues to promote understanding and communication across four key groups of stakeholders involved in designing, implementing, studying and navigating social policy – government, academics, the community sector, and people whose lives are directly affected by it. In co-founding Power to Persuade, Gemma made a notable and lasting contribution to research and practice in social policy in Australia and internationally. Here, five people who were part of that journey – Kathy Landvogt, Susan Maury, Sue Olney, Sophie Yates and Tanya Corrie - reflect on her legacy.

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Advocacy, Community engagementPower to PersuadePolicy advocacy, policy problem, co-production
What Do You Do? Hope in Disability Policy Advocacy
What Do You Do? Hope in Disability Policy Advocacy

As we approach the end of 2024, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on both the progress that has been made in disability equality, but also the things that we all do to protect ourselves and sustain our collective and individual advocacy efforts. In the Spring 2024 Edition of the Canberra Disability Review , Editor Rob Donnelly invited readers to do this, by responding to the question: What do you do that helps you to keep going, and maintain some measure of hope, when progress towards a fairer and more inclusive Australia is under heavy fire?  

Advocacy for Inclusion’s Head of Policy, Craig Wallace, and the Disability Leadership Institute’s CEO and Founder, Christina Ryan, shared their perspectives.  

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Advocacy, Lived experience, Policy and governancePower to PersuadeDisability, Policy advocacy, Lived/consumer experience
Unseen Impact: How Unpaid Caregiving Shapes Health and Lives
Unseen Impact: How Unpaid Caregiving Shapes Health and Lives

Care-giving can be a rich and complex experience that is both rewarding and challenging. Enrico Pfeifer (@EnricoPfeifer1), a PhD Candidate at the University College London, knows this first-hand. Today, he explores his doctoral research on the impact that care-giving can have on people’s health, and how we can support care-givers to stay healthy.

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Lived experience, Policy and governancePower to Persuadecare work, public health, Lived/consumer experience, young carers
Home Choice: An Interview with Hannah Orban, Co-Author of The Grattan Institute Report “Better, Safer, More Sustainable. How to reform NDIS housing and support.”
Home Choice: An Interview with Hannah Orban, Co-Author of The Grattan Institute Report “Better, Safer, More Sustainable. How to reform NDIS housing and support.”

In the Spring 2024 Edition of the Canberra Disability Review, Editor Rob Donnelly sat down with Hannah Orban to discuss the Grattan Institute’s (@GrattanInst) recent report “Better, Safer, More Sustainable. How To Reform NDIS Housing and support”. Today’s blog piece shares key parts of their interview, highlighting key issues with the current NDIS housing system and opportunities for improvement. You can read the original interview here.

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Advocacy, Policy and governance, Innovation, Service DeliveryPower to PersuadeDisability housing policy, Disability
A Window of Opportunity to Regulate Commercial Foods for Infants and Toddlers in Australia
A Window of Opportunity to Regulate Commercial Foods for Infants and Toddlers in Australia

Health experts are concerned about poor nutritional quality and misleading marketing of many commercially available foods for infants and toddlers. In today’s post, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellow Alexandra Chung (@Chung_Alexandra) from Monash University (@Monash_FMNHS @MonashNutrition) explains how government regulation could improve these products and protect the health of young children in Australia.

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Creating using evidencePower to PersuadeChildren, public health
Unpacking why mealtimes matter in early childhood centres for disadvantaged communities
Unpacking why mealtimes matter in early childhood centres for disadvantaged communities

This year, Anti-Poverty Week 2024 (13-19 October) continues its campaign to end child poverty in Australia. Dr Bonnie Searle (@BonnieSearle3) from The University of Queensland (@UQ_News) and the Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) has been examining meals in early childhood centres for children experiencing poverty, and how ensuring the quality and quantity of the food can help children thrive from an early age.

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Service DeliveryLife Course CentrePoverty, Children, health, Equity, schools
How food insecurity is biting: Australians are going hungry
How food insecurity is biting: Australians are going hungry

@Anti-Poverty Week is an event held every October to raise awareness and understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty in Australia, and to encourage action to end it. In today’s blog, Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) Research Fellow Dr Chandana Maitra from the University of Sydney (@Sydney_Uni) highlights food insecurity which is a hidden and overlooked socio-economic problem in Australia.

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IssuesLife Course CentrePoverty, Lived/consumer experience, economy
They Lie
They Lie

This week's posts are being sourced and moderated by the Antipoverty Centre (@antipovertycent) to spark thinking and discussion about poverty during Anti-Poverty Week. Today’s post by Robyn Hansen explores what we all lose by undervaluing the skills, knowledge and abilities of people outside the labour force.

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Power to Persuade
We should be looking at what we can add to children’s lives instead of what we take away
We should be looking at what we can add to children’s lives instead of what we take away

This week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government's plan to introduce legislation to ban younger teens from social media. Today, Cadhla O’Sullivan (@CadhlaOSull) and Sharon Bessell (@BessellSharon) from the Children’s Policy Centre at ANU, highlight what other approaches are worth considering.

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Advocacy, Lived experience, Service DeliveryPower to PersuadeChildren, social media
The Australian Government response to the Disability Royal Commission: Implementing strategies for improvement for people with disability within Australia’s health care system
The Australian Government response to the Disability Royal Commission: Implementing strategies for improvement for people with disability within Australia’s health care system

Rae West details the Disability Royal Commission’s findings and recommendations on improving healthcare for people with disability, and the Australian Government’s response - as well as the disability community’s frustration at how few recommendations were accepted in full.

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Policy and governancePower to PersuadeDisability Royal Commission, Disability, healthcare