The Batty Effect: a case study on the influence of victim-survivors, and an argument for purposefully engaging and empowering diverse voices in the development of public policy

Why are victim-survivors of gender-based violence such powerful agents of change? What perils do they face? New research published in the journal Violence Against Women (@VAWJournal) presents findings from an in-depth study of domestic and family violence advocate Rosie Batty and the significant social and policy change she helped to drive in Australia. Lead author Lisa Wheildon (@wheeliebinit), from BehaviourWorks at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute, shares a summary of the findings from the study, co-authored with Professor Jacqui True (@JacquiTrue), Associate Professor Asher Flynn (@AsherFlynn), and Abby Wild.

It’s a patient’s right to be involved in decisions about their healthcare – so why aren’t we doing it enough?

We expect to be included in decisions about our care, yet one in three patients report not being included as much as they would like. Health services are working to include patients in decisions through Shared Decision Making (SDM) but lack robust research evidence to support implementation in hospitals. In today’s analysis Alexandra Waddell (@WADDELLAL) of Monash University (@BehaviourWorksAustralia) shares a summary of her recently-published paper, co-authored with Alyse Lennox (@alyselennox), Gerri Spassova, and Peter Bragge (@BraggePeter). It is the first publication to explore insights into barriers and facilitators to SDM faced by patients and clinicians, specifically in hospital environments. It also goes beyond past research to include other crucial stakeholders such as health service decision-makers and administrators, and government policymakers.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade1 September 2021public health, health, behaviour change, public policy

How to build and maintain trust at the interface of policy and research, insights from a century of boundary spanning

Trust is often invoked as a key ingredient to establishing effective relationships between researchers, their research, and policymakers. In this post, Christopher Cvitanovic and Rebecca Shellock discuss their research on trust in practice. Drawing on their study into ICES (the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas), they outline lessons and processes in building and maintaining trust informed by the organisation’s extensive experience of connecting research to policy.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade28 July 2021Policy Research

The incompatibility of Nudge and Co-Design as tools for policymaking

You may know the terms “nudge theory” and “co-design” very well, but you’ve probably thought less about how contradictory they are in practice. This is problematic because it is not uncommon for policy development to use both simultaneously. In this post, the authors outline why they are contradictory and provide a link for further reading.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade26 July 2021Policy making

Transitions from care to adulthood: exploring historical narratives

The evidence has been well publicised: young people who have spent their formative years in public care are less likely than their peers to be in gainful employment, and more likely to become homeless, to become involved in crime or prostitution or to become long-term dependent on the state. A closer inspection of the data tends to reveal a much more nuanced picture: a small group of care leavers are ‘movers on’ who achieve educational, employment and wellbeing outcomes that are similar to those of their peers in the general population. A much larger group are survivors: they enter care significantly behind their peers in key areas of development and although, given the right support, they make progress, it takes time to narrow the gap, and their achievements, occurring relatively late in life, often go unrecognised. Only a relatively small group of care leavers fit the stereotype and struggle with very poor outcomes.

Nevertheless, we need to understand why, despite more evidence of success than is often acknowledged, the transition to adulthood from care can be problematic for too many young people who have been the responsibility of the state. In this blog, Harriet Ward and Mike Stein explore the transitions from care to adulthood through exploring historical narratives.

Survey highlights overwhelming opposition to independent assessments

Luke Michael (@luke_michael96) highlights findings from a new research report from Children and Young People with Disability Australia that suggest problems with NDIS implementation are many and varied, and are not likely to be fixed by the Government’s proposed major reform of Indpendent Assessments. He talks over the implications with the report’s lead author Professor Helen Dickinson.

Issues, Policy and governancePower to Persuade19 May 2021Disability, NDIS, Children

Public deliberation and policy design

Alastair Stark, Nivek Thompson (@NivekKThompson) and Greg Marston argue that public deliberation can lead to better policy design by offering something more dynamic than a ‘snapshot’ of public opinion: it can show policymakers how citizens think and justify their decisions.

How much can the budget’s $1.1 billion for women’s safety really achieve? Two experts give their verdict

One of the headline figures in Tuesday’s federal budget was a A$1.1 billion dollar investment in women’s safety. This came as part of a special women’s budget statement, which pitched the budget as helping provide women with “respect, dignity, choice, equality of opportunity and justice”. It also comes amid a national crisis in domestic violence. On average, one woman is killed every week in Australia by a male current or former partner. So does the budget deliver on its promise to prioritise women’s safety and equality at home and at work? Does it do enough?

A very personal call to action for non-violent men to denounce men’s violence

For decades addressing men’s violence against women has been “a women’s issue” and women’s responsibility. Women have established shelters and refuges to provide safety to women and children, women have taken to the streets to march for their safety, women have shared their lived experiences of violence and much more. We rarely hear from men or from children about their experiences of living with and witnessing men’s violence. This deeply personal piece seeks to start to change that.

Real action needed on Aboriginal deaths in custody

Despite being 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, families continue to lose loved ones. More than 455 Indigenous Australians have lost their lives in police or prison custody since the Royal Commission reported and according to families, the loss of life is higher than what has been reported. In today’s post, Eddie Cubillo, a proud Larrakia, Wadjigan, Central Arrernte man from the Northern Territory and Senior Indigenous Fellow at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, highlights successive government’s failure to act on the Royal Commission’s recommendations and calls for taking real and effective action into Aboriginal deaths in custody.

‘Dehumanising’ and ‘a nightmare’: why disability groups want NDIS independent assessments scrapped

In today’s post, originally published in The Conversation, Professor Helen Dickinson (@drhdickinson) outlines concerns about the introduction of independent assessments into Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, and explains why an independent evaluation of the proposed changes, designed in consultation with people with disability and their families, is needed before they are introduced.

Issues, Policy and governance, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade16 March 2021NDIS

Women’s March4Justice through a feminist policy lens

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

Primary Care Networks in a time of pandemic

PRIMARY CARE NETWORKS (PCNs) were introduced across England in July 2019, bringing together groups of general practices, along with community providers, to develop new services for patients. These networks respond to a need for better integration of health and social care services and issues of sustainability in primary care.

12 lessons for children’s social work from practising under Covid in England

The Covid-19 pandemic is presenting governments, social work leaders, managers and frontline practitioners with unique challenges. In this blog, Harry Ferguson, Sarah Pink and Laura Kelly discuss their Economic and Social Research Council-funded research, which explores its impact on children, families and child protection social work.

Issues, Policy and governance, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade10 March 2021social services, social care, COVID-19

Welcome to the age of epidemiological liberalism

Despite being at increased risk from the negative health impacts associated with COVID-19 infection, and despite potentially serious consequences to changes in service provision in 2020, for unstated reasons people who rely on the Disability Support Pension did not qualify for the Coronavirus Supplement. Today’s important piece by Holly Barrow, of the UK-based Immigration Advice Service, outlines the dire situation for people with a disability in the UK and warns that the neoliberal response to the pandemic reflects a calculated valuation of lives.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade3 February 2021Disability, public health, Population health, civil society

COVID and Suicide Prevention: Perspectives from Social Media

There is increasing cross-sectoral unease about the mental health impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown put in place to combat it. A recent commentary in the Lancet suggested that “suicide is likely to become a more pressing concern as the pandemic spreads and has longer-term effects on the general population, the economy, and vulnerable groups” (Gunnell et al. 2020). While a relationship between COVID and suicide is not clearly established, Dr Anna Lavis argues that the key to forging understandings of their potentially complex connections is an attention to the many suicide-related discussions currently happening on social media.

Markets in social care: outsourcing administrative burden to citizens and the third sector

We know that the NDIS is a lot of administrative work for scheme participants, but the administrative burden isn’t just borne by people with disability. Today’s post comes from Ellie Malbon (Centre for Social Impact), Gemma Carey (CSI), Helen Dickinson (Public Service Research Group), Megan Weier (CSI), and Gordon Duff (National Disability Services), who have done some research on the administrative burden of the NDIS for service providers.

Service Delivery, Policy and governancePower to Persuade3 November 2020NDIS, markets in public services, Disability

Poverty in childhood leads to poverty in adulthood

Today’s post by Dr Esperanza Vera-Toscano and Professor Roger Wilkins ( @RogerWilkins_au ) discusses the relationship that childhood poverty has with adulthood poverty.

This article was first published on Pursuit. Read the original article.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade29 October 2020Disadvantage

Will the work-from-home genie go back into the bottle?

In an article originally published by The Canberra Times, Dr Sue Williamson and Associate Professor Linda Colley discuss their recently released report Working During the Pandemic: From resistance to revolution. Their research found that the majority of public service employees want to continue the working from home arrangements some workplaces put in place during the coronavirus epidemic, and that while there are negative aspects to working from home, these are far outweighed by the positives. Governments may not find it as easy as they might hope to put this particular genie back in its bottle.

Big Tech, data and the public good: trade-offs and harms

The pandemic has exposed the multitude of dangers in trusting private entities with public data, demonstrating the need for carefully thought out regulation argue Jenna Harb and Kate Henne from the Justice and Technoscience (JusTech) Lab at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance.

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