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.

Advocacy, Community engagementPower to Persuade16 December 2024Policy advocacy, policy problem, co-production

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

Thinking differently about evidence: Collaborating with policy makers to create, share and apply knowledge for public health

Public health research generates a wealth of evidence but there are challenges when it comes to making that evidence available to audiences beyond the research sector. In today’s post, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellow Alexandra Chung (@Chung_Alexandra) of Monash University (@MonashNutrition) discusses a unique project that demonstrates the value of collaborative approaches to create and share knowledge with policymakers.

Traps, Assumptions and other acts of Policy Self-Sabotage – part two

Issues, Policy and governancePower to Persuade27 October 2023policy problem

Traps, Assumptions and other Policy Saboteurs – part one

Policy and governance, IssuesPower to Persuade27 October 2023policy problem

Too early to declare it over – The ongoing implications of COVID-19 for homelessness responses

While COVID-19 is no longer considered a global emergency, Chris Hartley discusses its enduring effects on homelessness policy and practice.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade3 August 2023housing and homelessness, policy problem

In Anti-Poverty Week here are 5 big ideas for Australia to halve child poverty by 2030

This year, Anti-Poverty Week @AntiPovertyWeek (16-22 October 2022) is calling on Australia to legislate a plan to halve child poverty by 2030 to meet our commitments to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Here, Life Course Centre @lifecourseAust researchers present 5 big ideas to help make this happen.

Womens Policy Action TankLife Course Centre20 October 2022Children, Poverty, policy problem, Policy Research

Women have spoken: new government urged to prioritise structural reform

Women were the driving force behind the federal election outcome, which sent a reprimand to the major parties and is set to significantly increase the diversity of Parliament, including a higher number of women. What does the electorate want from the new government? In today’s analysis, five of the women’s peak organisations – the Equality Rights Alliance (@ERAAustralia), Women With Disabilities Australia (@WWDA_AU), the National Rural Women’s Coalition (@NRWNetwork), Harmony Alliance (@Aus_Harmony), and the National Women’s Safety Alliance (@NWSAAU) – come together to provide input on key priorities for Australian women. These are five of the six National Women’s Alliances, funded by the Commonwealth Government’s Office for Women.

Tackling wicked problems from the inside out

A diversity of perspectives, particularly from those with lived experiences of poverty and socio-economic disadvantage, is critical to strengthening public health research, policy and practice. In today’s analysis, Joelie Mandzufas (@jmzuf7) PhD candidate at Telethon Kids Institute (@telethonkids) at The University of Western Australia (@uwanews) highlights the need for complex social problems to be addressed ‘from the inside out’.

The social safety net as a complex system failure for women

Women are more reliant on the social safety net than men, but what is their experience of it? In today’s analysis, researchers across multiple components of the safety net explain how deliberate design decisions have created a system that places women in crisis. This long read is based on a presentation at the Australian Social Policy Conference in October 2021.

Supporting young people experiencing family violence: Shortfalls but also opportunities

The Royal Commission into Family Violence found that appropriate supports for children and young people experiencing family violence were lacking. In a new report just released by Melbourne City Mission, the shortfalls and gaps are explored in depth, along with recommendations for strengthening the service response in ways appropriate for young people. Today’s analysis is a summary of key findings provided by co-authors Shorna Moore of Melbourne City Mission (@MelbCityMission) and Tanya Corrie (@TanyaCorrie) of Corrie Consulting. You can access the full report here: Amplify: Turning up the Volume on Young People and Family Violence.

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade10 December 2021young people, family violence, policy problem, Royal Commission

The NDIS – from then to now

In today's post, Dr Raelene West (@raelene_west) discusses the history and current state of Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme. She argues that the NDIS is at a critical juncture, and that its success hinges on people with disability having a more significant role in its design and delivery. Dr West is a sociologist based at the Melbourne Disability Institute at the University of Melbourne, and she has lived experience of disability.

Service Delivery, AccessibilityPower to Persuade7 December 2021NDIS, Disability, policy problem, implementation

Understanding the links between women, violence and poverty for Anti-Poverty Week

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 analysis, researchers at the Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) are highlighting the links between women, violence and poverty, and the structural inequalities that must be addressed to stop it. A summary of this analysis is presented here by Dr Alice Campbell (@ColtonCambo) and Professor Janeen Baxter (@JaneenBaxter7); you can read their full report here.

Anti-Poverty Week runs from 17-23 October this year.

Serious about women’s safety? It requires broad policy reform

The Women’s Safety Summit has sparked multiple conversations about best practice and effective policy for the next National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children. In today’s analysis, Emma O’Neill of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) makes the argument that wider policy decisions during the term of the first National Plan reduced women’s economic security and ran counter to women’s safety, and that these need to be reversed under the next National Plan.

Data collection, femicides and policy change: Lessons from Mexico

One woman a week is murdered in Australia, but there has been little to no progress on reducing this grim statistic. In the wake of the Women’s Safety Summit, it is clear a multi-pronged approach is needed. In today’s analysis, Brenda Gonzales of the Data Feminism Network (@DataFemNetwork) provides an example of how a private citizen in Mexico initiated policy change to make women safer through contextualised data collection of feminicides.

Accounting for care: The Intergenerational Report fails to value parenting

With the recent release of the Intergenerational Report, questions over how a dropping fertility rate will effect an ageing population have come to the fore. In today’s analysis, Miranda Stewart (@AusTaxProf) of University of Melbourne (@MelbLawSchool) and ANU (@ANUCrawford), explains how the lack of an economic accounting of care work, particularly of children, is creating myopia in government planning systems, and could be remedied if care work was properly valued as a national asset. This analysis is a summary of a policy brief put out by the Melbourne School of Government entitled Tax & the Fertility Freefall: Children, Care & the Intergenerational Report.

How can we convince young women to enter politics?

Kathleen Herbert reflects on what needs to change so we can convince women to enter parliament.

Women’s March4Justice through a feminist policy lens

Advocacy, Policy and governancePower to Persuade15 March 2021policy problem, gender, violence against women

Unravelling ‘complexity’: Keeping all women safe from violence

The phrase ‘complex forms of violence’ has been used to sequester certain types of violence to be addressed in a bespoke fashion. In today’s analysis, Laura Vidal (@lauraemilyvidal) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) and Sana Ashraf of The Harmony Alliance (@aus_harmony) consider the unintended consequences of framing certain forms of violence as complex by providing a background to diverse experiences of violence for women and their children. This post is the third in a series in response to the Senate Inquiry into Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence. Part one argues for the need for a multi-disciplinary response to family violence, while Part two explains how financial independence is critical to ensuring women’s safety.

Violence against public servants: risks and possible solutions

Violence and aggression perpetrated against frontline public servants is a serious issue, argues Steve Munns, psychologist, public servant and PhD scholar at the ANU’s School of Regulation and Global Governance.

Issues, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade7 October 2020public service, policy problem, crime, regulation, research

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