Dr Elroy Dearn
In this post from Christina Boswell's Politics, Knowledge and Migration blog, Christina and Eugenia Rodrigues look at the implementation of central government 'targets', arguing that the problem-policy 'fit' must be strong for implementation to be effective.
Read MoreIn August 2016 the Department of Employment released the first Star Ratings for service providers under the new employment services regime. The payment structure for providers, as argued by the Employment Minister, Michaelia Cash, is ‘more clearly tied to achieving sustained employment outcomes, with outcome payments heavily weighted towards placing the most disadvantaged people into employment.’ In this post, Kate O’Hara from JobVoice – an independent service operated by Social Security Rights Victoria – helps us understand the Star Ratings basics for jobseekers.
Read MoreTwitterview: The ecological systems of public policy: keeping them open, healthy and sustainable through strategic, multilevel collaboration.
Thanks to Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand's Women's Research Advocacy & Policy for putting together these Storify accounts of the 2016 Power to Persuade symposium, held in Melbourne on Monday, 15 August.
Read MoreConcurrent with Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Helen Dickinson (@DrHDickinson) draws on her forthcoming article 'What can feminist theory offer policy implementation challenges?' to explore how feminist thinking can help us move beyond a simplistic view of collaboration as coordinating activity across a number of actors.
Read MoreANZSOG researcher Joannah Luetjens has recently published on the application of design thinking to policymaking. Here she uses The Australian Centre for Social Innovation's Family by Family program as a case study to show how design thinking aims to connect with target populations and understand how they engage with their world.
Read MoreIn the lead-up to Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August 2016, the Women’s Policy Action Tank has asked some of the day’s participants to publish articles reflecting how current policy differently impacts on women. In today’s post, Susan Feldman and Harriet Radermacher detail how women’s disadvantage accrues across the lifespan resulting in a disproportionate number of older women in hardship. This article originally appeared in The Conversation.
Read MoreConcurrent with The Power to Persuade 2016 Symposium, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Graham Brown details lessons learned in enabling disenfranchised communities to influence policy.
Read MoreConcurrent with The Power to Persuade 2016 Symposium, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Social Policy Whisperer Dr Ben Spies-Butcher takes us beyond productivity.
Read MoreEquality is seldom the same as equity. In today’s post, Dr Peter Ninnes of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand analyses the New South Wales government’s data to refute their claims that the Gonski recommendations have been fully implemented through the Resource Allocation Model (RAM).
Read MoreIn today’s post, Summer May Finlay makes the case for a facilitative approach to policy influence and change for people whose voices are silenced. Specifically, she calls on the feminist movement in Australia to ally with rather than speak on behalf of Aboriginal women. A Yorta Yorta woman, Summer specialises in health policy, qualitative research and communications, and is a popular blogger with Croakey. She is speaking at Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August. You can follow Summer on Twitter @OnTopicAus
Read MoreMany argue that austerity, rising demand for public services and the growing complexity of social problems, such as persistent inequality and chronic ill health, presents a “perfect storm” for recasting the relationship between citizens and the state – one that is built on a more equal partnership and a recognition of the assets of citizens. Political connectivity should be key to this.
The RSA’s recent report, ‘Changing the Narrative’ by Paul Buddery, Matthew Parsfield, and Atif Shafique, suggests that our current social settlement needs rethinking and should be different from the one we have today. The service-centric model, which assumes that needs can be met and challenges can be resolved simply through the efficient delivery of professionally managed services, is untenable. Here Atif Shafique gives a snapshot of the report.
Read MoreIn today's post, Professor Paul Cairney reflects on the connections between policy theory and 'consultation', broadly construed. If consultation has many guises, how should we understand it? And, crucially, where does it fit in a complex, messy, and uncertain policy world?
Read MoreSome have suggested that vocational education and training in Australia provides an exemplar for the further marketisation they urge within health, community and educational services. But is a reality check in order?
David Freeman has worked on Australian skill reform resources and research since 1993. He is currently completing a history of its three decades to 2016.
Read MoreIn partnership with Curtin University, ANZSOG (Australia and New Zealand School of Government) Research has recently funded a number of case studies that look at joint efforts of public, not-for-profit (NFP) and business sector actors working together on public policy problems. This letter below is a call out for examples of recent and ongoing policy/service delivery initiatives that rely upon coordination and cooperation between public sector entities and not-for-profits.
Read MoreAmid all the concerns about the future of Medicare, incredibly the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into introducing competition, contestability and user choice into human services barely rated a mention during the recent federal election campaign.
It did however in a welcome and comprehensive panel discussion hosted last Sunday on the ABC's Sunday Nights with John Cleary program which declared the inquiry "a foundational issue for the whole shape and future of Australia society".
Read MoreProfound changes are underway in the social sector. In this post, innovation consultant Dale Renner shows how not-for-profit organisations are wrestling with fundamental questions of identity: what to keep, what’s important and what can be changed? This post originally appeared on Pro Bono Australia.
Read MoreBeing in receipt of welfare is the most significant factor in Australians experiencing poverty. Associate Professor Ruth Phillips from the University of Sydney analyses what the three major political parties are claiming they will do to reduce poverty in Australia; their capacity to deliver on their promises; and their welfare policy history. Scoring the parties on a scale of 0–4, where 0 = very low confidence and 4 = very high confidence, her overall scorecard has the ALP in front by virtue of its detailed equality policy that acknowledges issues that affect inequality and social justice in Australian society, but notes it has room for improvement in punitive policies affecting welfare recipients and refugees.
Read MoreIn this post, Dr Anu Mundkur, Dr Bina Fernandez and Ms Kara Beavis analyse the policies of the three major political parties in three key areas that impact women’s social, economic and political status – women’s unpaid care work, violence against women, and women’s representation in decision-making. Scoring the parties on a scale of 0–4 (where 0 = very low confidence and 4 = very high confidence), their overall scorecard has the ALP ahead in addressing women’s unpaid care work, the Greens ahead in addressing violence against women and women’s representation in decision-making, and the Coalition lagging in all three areas.
Read MoreNeither party provides, nor even alludes to any transformational change capable of achieving gender equality. This analysis of recent women’s policy statements by Yvonne Lay reveals a failure by both parties to address the deep-rooted social structures that reinforce our male-defined society.
Read MoreIn today’s post, leading up to the election, Professor Jon Altman analyses what the three major political parties are doing to address Indigenous poverty in Australia. Looking beyond campaign rhetoric he scores the parties’ commitment to ameliorating Indigenous poverty on a scale of 0–4 where 0 = very low confidence and 4 = very high confidence. His overall scorecard strongly favours the Greens and throws the shortcomings of the Coalition and the ALP in this arena into sharp relief.
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