Do you know what you don’t know? Aboriginal people on the problem of ignorance

‘Closing the gap’ is a major, and highly visible, government policy goal, with the intention of reducing disparities between Australia’s First Nations peoples and White communities. Despite many years, however, there has been little demonstrable progress. Today’s analysis utilises critical race theory, with important lessons for intersectional feminism. Penny Skye Taylor (@PennySkyeTaylor) and Daphne Habibis (@dhabibis), both of the University of Tasmania (@UTAS_), identify white ignorance as an overlooked key factor. This analysis is drawn from their research into Aboriginal views of White Australians and the dominant culture.

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

Fixing Parliament for women: Five dimensions that help explain why it’s an entrenched masculine workplace

Earlier this year, Australians were shocked to hear Brittany Higgins’ story – not only of her alleged sexual assault in Parliament House, but also the lack of a process to report and address her allegations. More recently, Annabel Crabb’s series Ms Represented showcased the historic and continuing barriers to inclusion and respect that women face in Australian politics. In today’s analysis, Josefina Erikson (@Josefinaerikson) of Uppsala University (@UU_PoliSci), shares a summary of her recently-published paper, co-authored with Cecilia Josefsson (@CeciliaJsfssn). It provides a framework encompassing five dimensions, explaining how parliaments fail to operate as gender-sensitive workplaces despite increasing numbers of women working there.

Unpacking Australia's gender pay gap

Last week we learned that the gender pay gap widened in the first half of the year, with men earning on average $260 per week more than women. In today’s analysis, economist Leonora Risse (@LeonoraRisse) of RMIT, the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard (@wapppHKS), and the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (@WLIAus), parses the numbers to provide a more nuanced understanding of where the pain points are most acute, and provides policy remedies for this seemingly intractable issue.

New report: COVID-19 widens Australia's stark health income gap

Accessibility, IssuesPower to Persuade19 August 2021health, social inequalities, COVID-19

India's COVID-19 divide in digital learning

Issues, Remote learningPower to Persuade17 August 2021COVID-19, education, social inequalities

Australians back the case for guaranteed basic income

According to a recent Anglicare Australia report, more than three quarters of Australians surveyed using a representative national sample method supported the creation of a permanent basic income. Last year’s JobSeeker/JobKeeper experience showed us the potential of this approach. This article from Nikki Stefanoff (@nikki_stefanoff) was originally posted on Pro Bono Australia.

Finance and economicsPower to Persuade10 August 2021Social Welfare, financial wellbeing

Street-level bureaucrats and policy entrepreneurship: When implementers challenge policy design

In this Research Brief originally published in The Bridge, Maria Katsonis from ANZSOG reviews recent research on street-level bureaucracy - the people who translate policy into action. Her post provides clear and useful insights into tensions between policy designers and those working at the frontline of program and service delivery.

Power to Persuade6 August 2021

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

Addressing financial wellbeing with a systems based approach

IssuesPower to Persuade23 July 2021financial wellbeing

Should academics podcast?

Advocacy, Creating using evidencePower to Persuade22 July 2021data and evidence for advocacy

How ‘Neutral’ are Gender-Neutral Parental Leave Policies?

Despite being most notable for its ungenerous policies, Australia’s Paid Parental Leave has increasingly incorporated changes to encourage fathers or secondary carers to take leave. But is it working? In today’s analysis, Deborah Widiss (@DeborahWidiss) of Indiana University (@IUMaurerLaw) compares Australia’s policies to the US, where uptake by fathers or secondary carers is much greater. This analysis is drawn from a recently-published article that can be found here.

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.

When work becomes a masculinity contest

The workplace culture at Parliament House is under intense scrutiny after the revelations prompted by Brittany Higgins’ experiences as a staff member bringing forth an allegation of rape in the workplace, while the wider experiences of women in Australian politics is being highlighted in Annabel Crabb’s Ms Represented which aired its first episode yesterday. In today’s analysis, Leonora Risse (@Leonora_Risse) of RMIT, the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard (@wapppHKS), and the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (@WLIAus) discusses toxic workplaces as sites for contests of masculinity, and how that negatively impacts on women and others who do not conform to these norms, with a particular focus on Australia’s political spheres.

Working from home: Opportunities but also risks for supporting gender equality

As lockdowns become ‘the new normal’ in Australia, working from home, at least for some workers, is also becoming normalised. While working from home provides many women with the much-needed flexibility they need, there is also potential for a further eroding of gender equality, both in the workplace and the home. In today’s analysis, Sally Moyle (@SallyMoyle) and Helen Innes, both with the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) Gender Lens on the Budget team, explain how the government should be responding to the rapid changes in work-from-home practices. This analysis is drawn from their Federal Budget 2021/22 analysis on work from home policies. You can read a summary of NFAW’s infrastructure analysis here, and an overview of how the budget is analysed here.

Unlocking the Value of Big Data: Implications for Social Policy and Social Justice

Power to Persuade29 June 2021

Barriers and enablers in developing a COVID-19 policy response for people with disability - what can we learn?

As multiple states head back into lockdowns and restrictions due to new COVID-19 outbreaks around the nation, focus is once again on the Federal Government’s policy response to the pandemic. As we have seen with outbreaks in aged and disability care settings, policy responses must take into account groups who may be more at risk from COVID-19. At the start of the pandemic people with disability were largely ignored in the Federal Government’s intial COVID-19 policy response. Consequently the disability sector rapidly mobilised to lobby for a disability specific response. In today’s blog piece Celia Green discusses a new report that examines what helped and hindered the development of a COVID-19 policy response for people with disabiluty and what we can learn from this for future crisis and emergency situations.

Power to Persuade28 June 2021

Intergenerational report to show Australia older, smaller and more in debt

Today the treasuerer Josh Frydenburg will hand down the 2021 Intergenerational Report showing that one of the most significant impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic will be a smaller population in the decades ahead. In today’s blog piece Peter Martin discusses the implications for Australia of a smaller, older population.

Power to Persuade28 June 2021

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