Posts tagged ideology
Words matter: deconstructing 'welfare dependency' in the UK

As we head towards the next Federal Budget and Federal Election, this post below from the London School of Economics and Political Science blog (@LSEpoliticsblog) provides a timely challenge to the term 'welfare dependency'. Paul Michael Garrett's post is focused on the United Kingdom but has much to offer the Australian context amid comments like 'the poor don't drive cars' from the former Treasurer Joe Hockey.

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Eva Cox: starting a hopeful policy narrative

PTP:Gender's keynote, Eva Cox AM (@evacox), is our guest writer today. In this special extended post, Eva presents a critical analysis of Australia's past and current state of play and shares her thoughts on how to start a hopeful narrative based on a feminist approach. This post ends by inviting the debate of ideas and discussion – you're all welcome to contribute through twitter or the comments section below.

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Why Basic Income? Why now?

As well as being the week of the Power to Persuade Symposium, this week is also International Basic Income Week. In recognition of this, we will be running a series of posts on basic income (as well as some lead up pieces to the symposium). Below Dr John Tomlinson outlines the case for basic income. John has campaigned and published widely on the need for basic income.

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Stop Calling it the 'Sharing Economy'. That isn't what it is.

As we look for new ways to collaborate and adopt 'disruptive' models of practice we need to be aware that just because it is disruptive, it does not mean that it is truly 'sharing' or revolutionary. The term 'sharing economy' is being co-opted as outlined in this post by Olivier Blanchard, which was originally published here.

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Just desserts? Social security and 'deservingness'

How do we determine who has a legitimate claim to income support - their 'deservingness'? And how can we reduce stereotyping while increasing workforce participation? In this post, social and economic policy analyst Peter Davidson looks to international research for some clues. This post originally appeared on Peter's Need to Know blog.

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Targets, Quantification and Moral Deliberation

Christina Boswell, Professor of Politics at the University of Edinburgh, explores the use of quantitative knowledge in policymaking and politics. In this article, previously published on her blog, she analyses the dangers of one such tool, the policy 'indicator' or 'target', which is increasingly used as shorthand for policy goals and outcomes. Further articles on Christina's blog can be found at https://christinaboswell.wordpress.com/about/ .

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Social Policy Whisperer: 'Having a Go' in the 21st Century

Last Monday I was lucky enough to get along to the John Freebairn Lecture in Public Policy at the University of Melbourne delivered this year by John Quiggin. On ‘Economic Policy for the 21st Century’ it was a great primer on current thinking about economic growth and provided an excellent preparation for making sense of the budget speeches later in the week.

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Urban and Regional Australia: The approach and major contributions of the Whitlam, Hawke and Keating Governmenets

The future of national urban policy in Australia has been in doubt since the closure of the federally-funded Major Cities Unit in late 2013. In this post, former Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe reflects on the contributions of previous federal governments to coordinated policy, planning and infrastructure investment in Australia's cities.

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Budget 2014: the pursuit of small government

The Federal budget has been controversial and divisive.  Sold as a measure to manage a ‘budget crisis’ , Joe Hockey’s first budget will come as a hard blow for many disadvantaged, low income and vulnerable Australians. But beneath the rhetoric and justifications, we can see a familiar political goal. In this comprehensive article below, Professor David Hayward (RMIT University) delves into the underlying story shaping the 2014/15 budget:

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