Time for action: The need for children and young people in climate decision-making

Children and young people are essential voices and forces for change in public health, yet they are not included in climate discussions and decision-making. In today’s post, public health researchers from Deakin University’s Institute for Health Transformation (@IHT_Deakin) Grace Arnot (@GraceArnot), Dr Hannah Pitt (@HannahLPitt) and Dr Simone McCarthy (@SimoneNicoleM) highlight the important knowledge and experience that children and young people have, and call for their greater inclusion in climate decision-making and public health governance.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade10 April 2024climate change, Children, policy problem, Policy making, human rights

A ‘hierarchy of rights’ will leave many without recourse from discrimination

While it has been anticipated for several years now, the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 is already making headline news for failing to protect individuals from discrimination based on religious belief. In today’s analysis, Helen Dalley-Fisher and Toni Hassan (@ToniHassan) of the Equality Rights Alliance (@ERAAustralia) provide a summary of ERA’s submission that explains how the Bill will undermine gender equality. Portions of this analysis also previously appeared in the Canberra Times.

Australia's First Charter of Rights for Parents and Families

Advocacy, Innovation, Policy and governance, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade28 September 2021Children, family, Policy making, human rights

Radically rethinking child protection work with the four pillars of institutional justice capital.

Australia’s child protection systems have long failed the families and children it was designed to protect. The structural injustices of the child protection system can be tackled by building institutional justice capital. This must include parental rights, non-violence, respectful relationships and public debate argue Dr Sharynne Hamilton and Dr Sarah Maslen.

Advocacy, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade3 May 2021Children, justice, social services, human rights

Basic Income, Gender and Human Rights: reinforcing inequalities or transformative action?

The concept of a basic income, paid indiscriminately to all by the government, has had increasing support from people on all sides of politics, and this interest has only increased with the onset of COVID-19. Such a proposal has important implications for women, who are more likely to live in poverty and precarity due to their unpaid social roles. In today’s analysis, Beth Goldblatt of UTS (@UTSLaw) and the Australian Work + Family Roundtable provides a gender-sensitive human rights analysis of how a basic income could be designed to support economic justice for women. This analysis is drawn from her article Basic Income, Gender and Human Rights, recently published in the University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal.

Building a sustainable, comprehensive response to COVID-19 in prisons

Tackling COVID-19 must include building a sustainable response in prison systems and other detention settings.

Advocacy, Policy and governancePower to Persuade22 July 2020prisons, covid, public health, human rights

As use of digital platforms surges, we’ll need stronger global efforts to protect human rights online

While the use of digital platforms has kept us socially connected during times of physical isolation, there are concerns that online safety measures are not enough to deal with potential surges in harassment and abuse, including cyber violence against women.

Auckland University of Technology’s Cassandra Mudgway and Kate Jones are calling for governments to establish an international charter on digital human rights to protect digital citizens from online harassment and abuse.

Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuade9 April 2020human rights, COVID-19

Abortion laws in NSW: Beyond Decriminalisation

As the NSW parliament prepares for the introduction of a bill to decriminalise abortion in that State, Ashlee Gore writes that many believe abortion is already legal and freely available in NSW, and that while decriminalisation will be important for women’s choice and autonomy, there will remain many other medical, social and interpersonal barriers that restrict the exercise of this autonomy after the law has changed.

IssuesPower to Persuade30 July 2019law, health, gender, human rights

ParentsNext - Activating why? Activating how?

In 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

IssuesPower to Persuade9 April 2019human rights, Gender Inequity, indigenous issues, Social Welfare

Adopting or adapting: past mistakes vs new possibilities for child protection in Australia

A scathing critique of the NSW government's push for the adoption of children in out-of-home care and a call for positive alternatives from Sharynne Hamilton, Ngunnawal woman and UWA doctoral candidate.

Left behind: Are gender equality measures excluding men?

Perceptions of both the fairness and impacts of gender equality measures can help to either promote greater equity or, conversely, create barriers to their uptake. In today’s post, Pia Rowe of University of Canberra’s 50/50 by 2030 Foundation shares highlights from their recently-released report From Girls to Men: Social Attitudes to Gender Equality in Austria (co-authored with Mark Evans, Virginia Haussegger and Max Halupka).

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank9 October 2018Gender Inequity, Equity, human rights

A woman’s struggle: how our system fails to address discrimination at work

Australia has many documented barriers to achieving gender parity in the workplace, and while a statistical overview of the pay and superannuation gap, differences in part-time and full-time positions held, and/or the percent of women in senior management or board positions is a good dashboard indicator, the most revealing view is to examine how things sit for women who face multiple barriers to achieving workplace equity. In today’s importance analysis, Catherine Hemingway[1] (@cathehemingway) of WEstjustice (@WesternCLC) shares findings from her Not Just Work report, which explores the high levels of discriminatory actions that recently-arrived women experience in their work places.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank13 September 2018human rights, work, discrimination, CALD communities

Justice, parents and child protection: a role for a Charter of Rights?

We spend a lot of time as a local, national and global community considering the wellbeing of children and what is in ‘the best interest of the child’ when they are at risk of abuse and neglect. We spend much less time considering the rights and responsibilities of parents and other family members who have children in the care of child protection services. It is time for a Charter of Rights for Parents and Families, argues Sharynne Hamilton from the Telethon Kids Institute at the University of Western Australia.

What does the future of care look like?

Will it soon be possible to outsource our caring responsibilities for ourselves, our children and our parents to robots? Catherine Smith and Helen Dickinson ask what the human rights, privacy, equity and practical implications for care would be in a tech-dominated future.

Innovation, IssuesPower to Persuade6 August 2018Aging, care work, technology, Data, human rights

Forced marriage in Australia: Looking beyond the law

At the moment, the Australian Government is examining modern slavery and developing a comprehensive response to how it presents in Australia. In today’s analysis, Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs and Laura Vidal of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand explore the opportunities this presents for creating a more effective response to instances of forced and child marriage. This article is an edited extract of a keynote presentation given at a ‘Good Conversations’ event hosted by Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand at Melbourne Town Hall on 7 June 2018.

Lessons on Child and forced marriage: reflections on progress towards global eradication

One in five girls globally is married before her 18th birthday, representing 650 million girls. While this number is high, it has dropped significantly in the past 10 years, when the ratio was one in four. This is a serious breach of human rights – one that extends to within the borders of Australia.

Recently the largest-ever gathering on child marriage was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—The Global Meeting of Girls Not Brides: Global Partnership to End Child Marriage (The Global Meeting). 500 delegates from over 70 countries joined together over three days to connect, learn and strategise toward a common goal: allowing every girl, everywhere, to fulfil her potential. Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand’s Laura Vidal was the only delegate to participate from Australia and shares some of her insights.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank9 July 2018Children, human rights, Slavery

Modern Slavery Bill a step in the right direction – now businesses must comply

This week has seen a significant milestone in the fight against modern slavery as the Modern Slavery Bill was introduced into the Australian parliament. When passed, the law will require companies with an annual turnover of more than $100 million to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and on the actions to address these. Fiona McGaughey (University of Western Australia) and Justine Nolan (UNSW) explain more.

Human Rights and the Cashless Debit Card: Examining the Limitation Requirement of Proportionality

The Cashless Debit Card Symposium was held at both the University of Melbourne and the Alfred Deakin Institute on Thursday, the 1st of February 2018. The Power to Persuade is running a series of blogs drawn from the presentations made on the day. In this piece, Shelley Bielefeld from Australia National University analyses the Cashless Debit Card initiative to ascertain whether the concept of proportionality can justify the curtailing of certain human rights for communities subjected to the CDC.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade23 March 2018indigenous issues, social welfare, human rights

How a human rights frame can advance better policy for women

There are a range of approaches and tools that can be used to assess and improve public policy for women. Annie Pettitt, of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, shared her expertise in applying a human rights lens to gender inequality in a keynote address given at the Women’s Policy Forum, held on 22 September 2017 in Melbourne. Today’s piece provides a summary of Annie’s key points, which explains the unique contributions that a human rights frame makes to better policy for women.

The meaning of YES… and NO

The Australian "postal survey" said YES to marriage equality, and in doing so rejected a number of false or misleading claims by opponents. As the Senate returns this week to resume debate on the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, Jamie Gardiner examines the implications of the survey outcome for future reforms in addition to equal marriage.

Advocacy, IssuesPower to Persuade27 November 2017human rights, social justice

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