Rosie Williams (@Info_Aus), who runs the OpenAus project in financial and political transparency, has developed a short (free) introductory course for people who are unfamiliar with open data as a concept and with the open data eco-system. She explains below.
Read MoreEvidence-based policy only works if the evidence base itself is robust enough to inform decisions. Joseph Borlagdan (@borlagdanj), Iris Levin and Shelley Mallett of the Brotherhood of St Laurence started their review for ANZSOG's Evidence Base journal aiming to evaluate the evidence for the effectiveness of the youth foyer model. But after their literature search revealed an overall lack of rigour in evaluation studies, they realised they needed to take a different tack.
Read MoreIn many ways, 'evidence-based policymaking' is the bureaucrat's new black. But what, really, does it mean? Where does it fit in the broader policymaking process? And how 'realistic' do we need to be to use it in practice? Below, Paul Cairney explores these issues in the UK context. This post originally appeared on his personal blog and is accompanied by a longer lecture on the subject (listen) Paul is a Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Stirling, you can follow him on twitter at @Cairneypaul.
Read MoreLuke Craven (@Luke Craven) from the University of Sydney, and a new moderator with Power to Persuade, considers what political theory can offer to our understanding of social policy. In particular, he argues that political theorists are uniquely placed to understand the ideas and values that underpin evidence-based policy.
Read MoreDr Shelley Bielefeld from the Australian National University's RegNet considers the controversial cashless welfare cards introduced as part of the Northern Territory Emergency Response, and their potential introduction in the UK.
Read MoreWe’ve posted a number of times recently on violence against women and the way it affects women’s health and wellbeing. The statistic that violence against women is the leading preventable contributor to death, disability and illness in Victorian women aged 15–44 (VicHealth 2004) is now well known. This piece from the US Health Affairs Blog is by Laudan Aron, Lisa Dubay, Elaine Waxman, and Steven Martin. It shows more broadly that recent increased mortality among white people in the US is disproportionately due to more deaths among women of reproductive and childrearing age. Could the two be linked?
Read More“Despite a push in Canada, Australia and New Zealand to recruit more Indigenous people into the mainstream public service, no academic study has analysed their contributions or the precise purpose behind the recruitment until now,” according to an international research team examining the experiences of Indigenous public servants.
Catherine Althaus (@AlthausCat) reports on the early findings of this important research.
Read MoreANROWS has released a new report detailing the extent of violence against women in Australia. Below, Dr Peta Cox provides an overview. We urge you to read the full report at www.anrows.org.au/PSS
For a summary of the report and infographics for download, go to: http://anrows.org.au/publications/compass/PSS
Read MoreThe newly published Policy Analysis in Australia is Australia's contribution to the International Library of Policy Analysis series.
It is edited by by Brian Head, right, Professor of Policy Analysis at the University of Queensland and Kate Crowley, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of Tasmania, and recently launched by ANU public policy professor Andrew Podger. See his speech here, via The Mandarin, and the editors' blog post: Policy analysis in Australia: complexities, arenas, and challenges.
Read MoreNew research shows people who become homeless as children and adolescents are much more likely to be unemployed as adults. Anna Zhu from the University of Melbourne looks at the data and implications. This post originally appeared on The Conversation.
Read MoreShould we mainstream gender in policy? What would that look like? Taking employment and work as a key example, our guest contributor Associate Professor Lyndall Strazdins (ANU) examines how working hours, ability, gender and care are intersecting and cautions us about which groups are being framed as the new 'leaners'.
*This post is based on Assoc.Prof Strazdin's contribution to a panel debate at the PTP:Gender, Menzies Policy Grand Challenge held in Canberra last month.
Read MorePTP: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.
Read MoreAt last week’s Australian Social Policy Conference Chris Chamberlain and Guy Johnson, from the Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, presented new research into homelessness in Australia. Today’s post is part two of an edited extract of this presentation. It looks at the number of people in Australia who have slept rough, and what these findings mean for policy making.
Read MoreHomelessness in Australia is measured at the Census, by counting everyone who can be found at that point in time. New research by Chris Chamberlain and Guy Johnson, Centre for Applied Social Research, RMIT University, looks how many people have experienced homelessness in their lifetime. Today’s post is part one of an edited extract of their presentation at last week’s Australian Social Policy Conference. It covers how may people have been homeless in Australia. Part two tomorrow looks at the issue of rough sleeping.
Read MoreThe burden of chronic disease is particularly borne by disadvantaged communities and individuals who experience higher rates of chronic disease and greater exposure to associated risk factors.VCOSS Policy Advisor, Brooke McKail, argues that a broad social determinants of health approach to prevention and management of chronic disease in Australia is required that guarantees universal access to affordable and timely heath care.Australia needs to increase its investment in chronic disease prevention to reduce the burden of chronic disease on disadvantaged communities, and address the barriers that prevent people accessing timely, affordable health care.
Read MoreThe idea that public policy can nudge people in the direction of good decision making, was popularised in the book Nudge by Sunstein and Thaler. However, as today's post by Reuben Finighan from The Conversation shows, old fashioned regulation might be the most effective nudge of all.
Read MoreWomen in Australia, particularly single mothers, still face discrimination in the workforce after giving birth despite the Sex Discrimination Act prohibiting direct family responsibilities discrimination. The recent Australian Human Rights Commission Report highlights the need to review current protections and the complexity of current regulation that is in place. However, as Alexandra Heron, Research Associate Women and Work Research Group, University of Sydney Business School notes in this blog originally published http://blogs.reading.ac.uk/, it will also require the right political environment and cultural change.
Read MoreParticipation in evaluation, actually participation in everything to do with social policy, is frequently seen as time-consuming and expensive. But does it have to be? Leslie Groves and Irene Guijt identify the common perceived barriers for the use of participatory methods in evaluation, and suggest that our resistance to participation in evaluation runs deeper than we think.
Read More“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Almost 300 years later, this proverbial insight by Benjamin Franklin has lost none of its pertinence. On the contrary: in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia we want to show not only that preventative policy pays off in Benjamin Franklin’s sense, but that prevention can help us to avoid social follow-up costs. This post is by Hannelore Kraft is premier of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and first appeared on the Policy Network.
Read More