Dr Raelene West @raelene_west
In the lead up to Federal Budget, we featured a series of posts about the challenges of living on Jobseeker. Last week’s budget confirmed there would be no increase to the payment, meaning it remains below the poverty line. In today’s post, Maiy Azize, Deputy Director of ANGLICARE AUSTRALIA, outlines the long history of research and inquiry demonstrating the need to raise the rate, and calls for a backlash over the ‘deliberate choice to keep three million people in poverty’.
Read MoreWith the NDIS Amendments Bill 2024 open for submissions until the end of the week, today’s post, written by Muriel Cummins, critiques the potential impact of the Bill on some of the most marginalised NDIS recipients – people living in private supported boarding houses. Muriel raises concerns from her reading of the Bill and NDIS reform more generally, and the potential of these policy and legislative changes to further erode the rights of people living in these modern-day institutional settings.
Read MorePublic 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.
Read MoreCamps are dynamic, culturally significant spaces. New research from the University of Newcastle proposes the significance of these cultural practices may provide an alternative pathway to protection.
Read MoreWithin mental health research and service delivery, involvement of experts by experience has become increasingly common. The involvement of experts by experience allows for the design and delivery of research that is of higher quality and more rigorous.
Transitioning out of youth-focussed lived experience groups is a matter that is not well understood and, for many reasons, complex. It can be difficult to transition from the role of being a young contributor to research into a professional in the Public and Patient Involvement space. Working in lived experience roles, either as ‘lived experience practitioners’, ‘peer support workers’, ‘PPI facilitators’ or ‘involvement officers’ can be complex and the relationships you hold in these spaces vary depending on your positioning within either the group or the organisation (Carr, 2019).
In this blog we explore the experience of Beckye, a former Youth Advisory Group (YAG) member for the University of Birmingham’s Institute for Mental Health as she begins the making this transition into an employee in a Youth Involvement Officer. The blog takes the form of responses to an with Beckye (Youth Involvement Officer) and Niyah (Senior Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Lead). The interview offers early reflections that may be of use to organisations or individuals who may be supporting folk undertaking these transitions or in the process of negotiating the transition themselves.
Read MorePublic inquiries are a frequent response to policy and systems failures. Here A/Prof Alastair Stark and Dr Sophie Yates (@DrSophieYates) give a preview of their new Cambridge Element on public inquiries and policy design – introducing a typology of four design functions that inquiries perform, and discussing how to design for inquiry effectiveness. Public Inquiries and Policy Design is open access until 28 February 2024.
Read MoreIt can be very difficult to get traction for meaningful policy change that will benefit the Australian public, particularly for marginalised communities. What can make it even harder is the influence of corporate actors, which is often hidden from public view. In today’s post, VicHealth postdoctoral research fellow Jenn Lacy-Nichols (@JLacyNichols) of University of Melbourne (@unimelbMSPGH) and Katherine Cullerton of University of Queensland (@UQmedicine) share their research findings into tracking the lobbying activities of corporations. This article first appeared in the The Conversation on 13 November 20203; you can read it in its original form here.
Read MoreAustralians consume an average of a ½ kilo of sugar per week, much of it ‘hidden’ in high-sugar foods. For Sugar Awareness Week (13 – 19 November), VicHealth Postdoctoral Researcher Adyya Gupta (@AdyyaGupta) of Deakin University (@IGHT_Deakin @GLOBE_obesity) explains the current policy climate in Australia for regulating free sugars and what policy options are under consideration to create a healthier food environment.
Read MoreChanelle Wilson and Keira Bury explore the risks that online alcohol marketing and fast delivery services pose to those in addiction treatment and recovery, advocating for tighter regulations to prevent potential relapses and safeguard health.
Read MoreEnsuring all Australians have a safe, secure and affordable home is an important focus of Anti-Poverty Week 2023 (15-27 October). Here, Professor Stephen Whelan from the University of Sydney School of Economics (@USydneyEcon) and Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) examines the current state-of-play in Australia’s housing market, its influence on experiences of poverty, and what can be done to improve the future health, welfare and dignity of all Australians.
Read MoreIn today’s post, Hyein Cho (@hyein_ellen_cho) and Marie Segrave (@MSegrave) from Monash University (@MonashUni) present a snapshot of their recently launched report on Victorian local councils and gender equality. They detail seven key findings in the report and highlight four of them here.
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