Over half of the people in Australian prisons have been incarcerated before, which means that interventions to help people stay out of prisons are crucial. If people find employment after they are released, they are less likely to return to prison. Here Dr Caroline Doyle, Dr Sophie Yates, Professor Lorana Bartels, Dr Helen Taylor and Associate Professor Anthony Hopkins discuss their research into the employment experiences of people released from prison in the ACT.
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Centrelink plays a central role in supporting women and children to leave family violence. But how effective is this safety net? Previous research by Economic Justice Australia (formerly the National Social Security Rights Network) found that Centrelink policies and processes often increased women’s risk. Today’s analysis provides an overview Economic Justice Australia’s latest report, authored by Sally Cameron of Welfare Rights Centre (@welfare rights) and Linda Forbes of Economic Justice Australia (@ej_australia), which examines how Centrelink debts intersect with family violence. You can access the full report here: Debt, duress and dob-ins: Centrelink compliance processes and domestic violence
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New research reveals that women are underrepresented in Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme, and may be less likely to get the supports they need once they are on the scheme. In today’s post, three members of the research team - Sophie Yates, Gemma Carey and Jen Hargrave - present key findings from their study and call for further research and policy reform to address the gendered dimensions of inequality in the NDIS and other individualised funding models. This post was originally published on Broad Agenda and you can read the original article here.
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In today’s post, Susanna Trnka and Luca Muir from the University of Auckland discuss opportunities and challenges ahead for the new Ministry for Disabled People in Aotearoa New Zealand. This post is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. You can read the original article here.
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In the wake of anti-poverty week Joey King, a community services professional and student living with mental illness, details the systemic pressures that keep her ‘dirt poor’ and homeless.
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New research shows households with young children are feeling the highest level of stress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is highest for families in communities that experience moderate levels of poverty. Professor Abigail Payne from the University of Melbourne discusses what needs to happen to ensure families are not left behind as we look ahead to the COVID-19 economic recovery.
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n today’s blog post Robyn Oxley from the University of Western Sydney discusses ways to look beyond punishment as a way to address crime, with a specific focus on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. She argues that defunding police and abolishing prisons are not radical ideas when funds can then be re-directed towards areas that improve social issues such as housing, health, education and employment, which in turn reduce incarceration rates.
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Events such as wild fires, floods, and droughts in all continents remind us of how fragile and vulnerable cities, communities, and wildlife are. In this blog Dr Juan Carlos Fallas Chinchilla examines the role engineering innovation has in relation to alleviating climate change; and debate the need for new technology alongside other policy instruments and how these can be complementary in tackling the climate emergency.
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Anti-Poverty Week is an event held every October to raise awareness and understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty in Australia, and to encourage action to end it. In today’s analysis, researchers at the Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) are highlighting the links between women, violence and poverty, and the structural inequalities that must be addressed to stop it. A summary of this analysis is presented here by Dr Alice Campbell (@ColtonCambo) and Professor Janeen Baxter (@JaneenBaxter7); you can read their full report here.
Anti-Poverty Week runs from 17-23 October this year.
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The Women’s Safety Summit has sparked multiple conversations about best practice and effective policy for the next National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children. In today’s analysis, Emma O’Neill of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) makes the argument that wider policy decisions during the term of the first National Plan reduced women’s economic security and ran counter to women’s safety, and that these need to be reversed under the next National Plan.
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Young people with lived experience of self-harm or suicidal behaviour should be at the forefront of designing, evaluating and implementing suicide prevention research.
Controversial? Unfeasible? Risky?
You name it. As a suicide prevention researcher I have heard it all…by funders, ethics committees, Higher Education Health and Safety committees to name a few.
In this blog, I (Dr Maria Michail) share my experience of working in partnership with young people with lived experience of self-harm and suicidal behaviour to co-design of a guide titled “Visiting your General Practitioner: A guide for young people with lived experience of self-harm and suicidality”.
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In this punchy piece about gender discrimination and employee dress codes, Dr Briony Lipton (@briony_lipton) discusses work clothing in the time of coronavirus. With reference to the Department of Home Affairs’ attempts to ban sleeveless blouses from video calls for employees working at home, Dr Lipton explores changing norms of workplace attire and the confusion they can entail…
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In this short but powerful piece, PhD scholar and ANZSOG researcher Patrick Lucas (@paustinlucas) discusses how nature is valued in very different ways by different social groups, and how current policy frameworks struggle to account for this diversity. He explores the emerging framework of “relational values” and its potential to lead to more equitable and just outcomes in biodiversity conservation.
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Without representation, young people are struggling to get their voices heard in the decisions that affect them. Lowering the voting age to 16 is one integral way the government can reinvigorate the interest of young people in their democracy, argues Jordan Maloney, ANU Political Science and Sociology student and policy adviser
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As pandemic impacts continue to be felt across much of Australia, changes in personal debt, particularly for women and lower-income households, is increasingly concerning. In today’s analysis, Dr Lucinda O’Brien (Melbourne Law School), Dr Vivien Chen (Monash Business School), Professor Ian Ramsay (Melbourne Law School) and Associate Professor Paul Ali (Melbourne Law School) report on research recently published on how under -regulated debt collection practices are contributing to women’s lack of safety.
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