Dr Leigh, a former Economics Professor at the ANU and prolific author on the subject, shares his views on the benefits of randomised trials and what he hopes the newly established Australian Centre for Evaluation will accomplish in a data-rich world.

Understanding the strengths and limitations of each data collection method is crucial. This can include awareness of the knowledge framework that underpins the design of a trial, the structure of the data that’s being collected and the subsequent analysis. Dr Leigh emphasizes the need for better evidence and an evidence-based strategy to improve support and public policies for Australians as we work towards a wellbeing economy.

Dr Andrew Leigh is Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, is a lawyer and former Economics Professor here at the ANU and has published widely on the topic of economics, public policy and law. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.

Sharon Bessell is a Professor of Public Policy and Director of both the Children’s Policy Centre and the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.

Arnagretta Hunter is the Human Futures Fellow at ANU College of Health and Medicine, a cardiologist, a physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

You can find full show notes on the Crawford School of Public Policy LinkedIn account.

Policy Forum Pod is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Subscribe on Android or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum.

The post Podcast: Hierarchies of evidence: reimagining social policy appeared first on Policy Forum.

Since the creation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, there has been a renewed push to achieve a range of global development objectives, including eliminating poverty, addressing gender inequality, and promoting environmental sustainability. A plethora of new initiatives have taken shape in the years since, but efforts to measure the outcomes of these activities remain insufficient.

The challenge is that some of the desired outcomes of development programs, such as increased happiness, are intangible. While traditional businesses rely on measures like return on investment to evaluate their work, financial return isn’t necessarily an adequate or appropriate marker of success in development project.

While impact measurement is no doubt a difficult task, this lack of quality data can have serious implications across the sector. Without consistent metrics that capture the true value of development projects, it can be difficult to make informed decisions about, for example, how to best allocate resources to ensure that this work is actually having a positive impact.

More on this: Parliament's power of banishment

In response, there has been a push to create alternative evaluation frameworks. Examples such as ‘impact management norms’ and ‘social return on investment’ (SROI) are starting to grow in popularity, as they offer organisations a way to more fully evaluate the impact of their work.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan has been a leader in using these kinds of tools, driven by a small but vibrant community of practitioners and experts.

Taking the example of SROI, which was created by England-based registered charity Social Value International (SVI), Taiwan ranks first in the region for the number of assured reports produced.

In this assurance process, SVI examines whether analysis reports applicants submitted comply with SROI’s eight principles: understand what changes, value the things that matter, only include what is material, do not over-claim, be transparent, verify the result, and be responsive.

As of October 2022, the number of assured SROI reports in Taiwan reached 36. Of these, 20 were impact assessment cases for projects carried out by listed companies, 11 were for non-profit organisations, and four were concerned with government initiatives.

More on this: Getting on track to net zero

However, for this kind of impact measurement to thrive, a larger ecosystem of human, financial, and intellectual capital needs to exist, and this is where Taiwanese policymakers can provide support.

One step the government could take is to fund industry-focused academic research centres dedicated to impact measurement.

Evaluation is only useful to the extent that organisations actually use it to inform resource allocation and utilisation, so by supporting research to better understand how this work is being applied, policymakers can support and build upon best practice in this area.

Governments could also reward organisations that conduct impact assessments by publicly encouraging these practices or even with tax relief.

Furthermore, governments can set an example by introducing broader impact measurement and management to their own projects.

As one of the most advanced economies in the Asia-Pacific region, Taiwan is well equipped to cultivate impact measurement as an area of expertise. There is an opportunity now to capitalise on the work that has already been done and use it as a strong foundation to expand its use nationally.

In doing so, Taiwan can ensure it is truly meeting its own development targets and provide support to others in the region to do the same.

The post Measuring the social impact of development appeared first on Policy Forum.

The recent data breaches at Optus and Medibank remind us how valuable, yet vulnerable, Australians’ personal data is. The hacks — which are two of the worst in the country’s history — highlight the need for a rethink of the nation’s approach to cyber security. In this episode of the National Security Podcast, Australia’s Minster for Cyber Security the Hon Clare O’Neil MP and former head of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre Professor Ciaran Martin join Katherine Mansted in conversation. This episode was recorded at an event hosted by ANU National Security College, in partnership with CyberCX, on 9 November 2022. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3UhJATD

The Hon Clare O’Neil MP is Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security in the Australian Government. She Labor Member for the federal seat of Hotham in Victoria.

Professor Ciaran Martin is the former Chief Executive of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre and is a Professor of Practice in the Management of Public Organisations at the University of Oxford.

Katherine Mansted is a Senior Fellow in the Practice of National Security at ANU National Security College. She is also the Director of Cyber Intelligence at CyberCX.

Major General Duncan Lewis AO DSC CSC (Retd) is a Professor in the Practice of National Security at ANU National Security College. He concluded his 47-year career in the Australian Government as Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation.

We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

The post National Security Podcast: Clare O’Neil MP and Professor Ciaran Martin on cyber security appeared first on Policy Forum.

Young people across the Pacific Island region have driven the rapid uptake of digital technologies, particularly the use of social media.

In Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji, two of the region’s largest countries by population, young people aged 12-30 (PNG) and 15-35 (Fiji) make up 62 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively, of total Internet users.

Youth populations in the region have exploded in recent decades, in what scholars have described as the Pacific’s ‘youth bulge’. However, to get a more complete picture of the digital landscape in both countries, it’s important to consider a variety of intersectional factors, such as gender.

Audience insights from Meta, the owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, demonstrates that young men outnumber women on Facebook in PNG 62 per cent to 38 per cent. A likely reason for this is that men in PNG have far greater access to disposable income than women, and that gendered power dynamics make it more likely that men will exert control over the few mobile devices in a household.

By comparison, Fijian Facebook usage is more evenly distributed, with a roughly 50-50 split down gender lines in the country. For Fiji, this does not necessarily reflect greater societal parity, but rather an implication of increasing affordability of and access to devices and the Internet.

More on this: Social media in Fiji’s national election

The type of content that’s popular in each country is also revealing.

In PNG, entertainment pages such as KabbageGang – which posts comedic videos and memes – are extremely popular. This is followed by sports pages such as the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) and Pasifika Rugby League. The prominence of rugby league pages represents the popularity of the sport in PNG, and provides further indication of the country’s gendered digital landscape.

In contrast, mainstream media outlets such as the Fiji Sun and the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation constitute half of the top 10 most popular pages used on Facebook in Fiji.

This underscores the important role that traditional media serves in the country, especially at a time when more people are turning to social media for their news and information.

Traditional media has far less of a foothold within PNG. EMTV Online, the Facebook page of the popular EMTV free-to-air television broadcaster, is one of the few traditional media Facebook pages that is popular amongst the country’s youth.

More on this: PNG’s digital divide

The only other news or media page that is ranked in the top 10 is the Chinese state-controlled Xinhua News page. Considering the escalating geo-strategic competition in the Pacific Island region, the prominence of China’s Xinhua News is worthy of further inquiry.

Does this mean that Xinhua News is growing in its popularity among PNG’s youth? If so, why?

And was this organic or a deliberate strategy on the part of Xinhua, especially in the context of the recent national election?

Answering these questions requires deeper ethnographic research of the Pacific’s digital environment, particularly as the region becomes more interconnected and contested.

As the region’s geo-strategic climate becomes ever more competitive, the battle for hearts and minds could now become the battle for attention online. As such, policymakers must be aware of the ways actors both within and outside of the state will seek to utilise this new digital environment to their own ends.

The emergence of a thriving digital culture is a great opportunity, but it must be managed properly to ensure a safe, trusted, and equitable digital environment across the region.

The post How young people are reshaping the Pacific’s digital landscape appeared first on Policy Forum.

In this episode of the National Security Podcast, hosts Gai Brodtmann, National Security College Futures Council member, and Meg Tapia, Principal Director for Defence and National Security at Accenture, are joined by Lindy Cameron, Chief Executive Officer of the UK National Cyber Security Centre. As the first international guest on the WiNS mini-series, Lindy explains the need for the United Kingdom and Australia to share their experiences in dealing with cyber threats, and increase both nations’ capabilities. Lindy discusses her approach to partnering across government and industry, in an effort to enable citizens to participate confidently in the online world. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3rhIdHA.

Lindy Cameron is Chief Executive Officer of the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre. She commenced in the role in 2020, following more than two decades of national security policy and crisis management experience.

Gai Brodtmann is a member of the ANU National Security College’s Futures Council having previously served as a diplomat, defence consultant, Member of Parliament, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence.

Meg Tapia has 16 years of experience in national security and foreign policy. She served as a diplomat in Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, and Vanuatu. Currently, Meg is Principal Director for Defence and National Security at Accenture.

This episode was recorded before the Optus data breach of September 2022.

We’re giving away several free tickets to the WiNS Live event, taking place on the 10 November in Canberra! If you’re a woman who is new to — or interested in joining — the national security community, enter now.

All episodes of the Women in National Security mini-series are available here.

We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

The post National Security Podcast: Lindy Cameron, CEO of the UK National Cyber Security Centre appeared first on Policy Forum.

The AUKUS technology-sharing arrangement – between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia – is set to, among other things, fundamentally change the nature of Australian sea power and introduce nuclear-powered submarines to the Royal Australian Navy. ANU National Security College has produced a podcast mini-series, a year on from the AUKUS announcement, exploring its background, implications, and the implementation challenges ahead – for Australia in particular. In the first episode of this series, recently retired Vice Admiral Michael Noonan – former Chief of the Royal Australian Navy – joins Professor Rory Medcalf. They discuss the strategic challenges that led to AUKUS, nuclear submarines, the role of sea power for Australia and more. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3StW9tx

Vice Admiral Michael Noonan AO RAN (Retd) assumed command of the Royal Australian Navy in 2018 and retired in 2022.

Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of ANU National Security College. His professional experience spans more than two decades across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, and journalism.

We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

The post National Security Podcast: Diving into AUKUS, nuclear submarines, and sea power appeared first on Policy Forum.

Stela Solar – prominent Australian expert on artificial intelligence (AI) – joins Olivia Shen and Dr Will Stoltz from ANU National Security College to discuss the strategic implications of AI technology. From AI ‘data deserts’ to Chinese facial recognition technology, they reflect on the ethical questions raised by the global pursuit of the technology’s development. They discuss Australia’s position in the race to develop AI capabilities, the responsibilities of government in regulating the technology, and the opportunities AI presents for the future. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3BaSlX6

Olivia Shen is a Director in the Executive and Professional Development Program at ANU National Security College. With a decade of experience in national security and foreign policy roles in the Australian Government, in 2019 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington where her research focused on the ethics of artificial intelligence in national security.

Stela Solar is the Director of the CSIRO National Artificial Intelligence Centre and former Global Director of Artificial Intelligence Solution Sales and Strategy at Microsoft. She is well-versed in artificial intelligence technology and is helping to bridge the chasm between innovation and commercialisation to create new opportunities for Australia.

Dr William A Stoltz is the Policy Director at ANU National Security College. He is responsible for mobilising the College’s research and resident expertise to influence and inform current public policy debates.

We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. 

The post National Security Podcast: The future of artificial intelligence appeared first on Policy Forum.

How do nations in the region balance the conflict between immediate needs and those that are more long-term and strategic? Is regional leadership in South-East Asia changing? And if so, what is the role of ASEAN into the future? Principal Policy Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre Dr Huong Le Thu and Gatra Priyandita from ANU Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs join ANU National Security College Policy Director Dr Will Stoltz to discuss how Southeast Asia’s technology and development needs are intersecting with geopolitics and great power competition in the region. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3AEfBhv

Gatra Priyandita is a PhD candidate at ANU Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs and an Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. He recently co-authored China Inc. and Indonesia’s Technology Future, a Policy Options Paper published by the ANU National Security College.

Dr Huong Le Thu is Principal Policy Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre and Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Southeast Asia Program. She speaks five languages and has published in four of them.

Dr William A Stoltz is the Policy Director at ANU National Security College. He is responsible for mobilising the College’s research and resident expertise to influence and inform current public policy debates.

Show notes | The following publications are discussed in this episode:

China Inc. and Indonesia’s Technology Future, Policy Options Paper (2022)

Southeast Asia in Great Power Competition: Between Asserting Agency and Muddling Through, Strategic Asia (2022)

Digital Southeast Asia: Opportunities for Australia-India cooperation to support the region in the post-Covid-19 context, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (2022)

Australia must be ASEAN’s digital transformation partner, Australian Financial Review (2022)

Investing in Southeast Asia’s Tech Future: How to Bridge the Digital Divide, The Sydney Dialogue (2021)

A Collision of Cybersecurity and Geopolitics: Why Southeast Asia Is Wary of a Huawei Ban, Global Asia (2019)

We’d love to hear from you! Send in your questions, comments, and suggestions to NatSecPod@anu.edu.au. You can tweet us @NSC_ANU and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes. The National Security Podcast is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

The post National Security Podcast: Development and geopolitics in Southeast Asia appeared first on Policy Forum.

How has social media changed the way we see the world? In the wake of the 2019 Christchurch massacre and the January 6 insurrection, how can policymakers ensure these platforms don’t continue to be hives of violence and discrimination? And is social media a threat or a positive for democracy? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, The Australian National University’s Emeritus Professors Shirley Leitch and Paul Pickering and Dr Katrina Grant join Professor Mark Kenny to discuss the Internet, democracy, and their new publication, Rethinking Social Media and Extremism. Listen here: https://bit.ly/3T6gmHg

Rethinking Social Media and Extremism, edited by Shirley Leitch and Paul Pickering, is free to download from ANU Press.

Shirley Leitch is Emeritus Professor and a Professorial Fellow at The Australian National University (ANU) Australian Studies Institute. She was formerly Pro Vice-Chancellor of Education & Global Education at ANU, and Dean at the ANU College of Business and Economics.

Katrina Grant is Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities at ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.

Paul Pickering is a Professor and Director of ANU Australian Studies Institute.

Mark Kenny is a Professor at ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.

Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.

This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University.

The post Democracy Sausage: The net good of the net appeared first on Policy Forum.

Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s digital landscape is the most populated in the Pacific, with an estimated 1.66 million Internet users, of which 1.03 million are active social media users. With more than 85 per cent of PNG’s population residing in rural areas, this figure is impressive.

The most frequently used social media platforms in PNG include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Reddit, and Pinterest. Of these platforms, Facebook and Twitter are known sites of political discussion and debate, with Facebook being the most popular and most populated social media platform in PNG, with over one million active accounts. For comparison the next highest, LinkedIn, is estimated to have 240,000 users in the country.

Men dominate the Facebook landscape in every demography, with an aggregate 64 per cent active male users to 36 per cent active female users. This is particularly apparent amongst younger users, with the largest gender difference being in the 25-34 age bracket. Given that 96 per cent of social media access is facilitated through mobile devices, this could imply increasing access to mobile devices for men over women.

More on this: Social media in Fiji’s national election

Furthermore, youth – classified by the PNG government as being between 12-30 years – dominate the platform. There is an estimated at 685,400 active youth accounts, constituting 62 per cent of the total active Facebook population.

Despite PNG’s relatively large rural population, social media use is predominantly centralised in urban areas. Port Moresby for example, is home to more than half of PNG’s social media users at 56 per cent. This is followed by PNG’s second largest city, Lae, with 12 per cent.

Additionally, despite the Internet’s well noted tendency to disrupt traditional journalism, legacy media still has a strong presence in the digital landscape. Tellingly, media organisations such as EMTV Online and Loop PNG, sit in the top 10 most accessed Facebook pages in PNG.

Other popular pages include; PNG Breaking News – which reposts news from official media outlets as well as private and unofficial Facebook groups – sports pages such as Pasifika Rugby League and NRL (Australian National Rugby League), and the KabbageGang, which produces meme and comedic content. Another notable page is the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Jobs Network, which underscores the significance of employment opportunity and access.

High Internet prices remain a challenge in PNG, with mobile Internet connectivity being poorer than in other Pacific nations.

More on this: Why PNG’s 2022 election is facing controversy

Despite this, future prospects for expanding access remain hopeful. The undersea cable between Australia and PNG announced in 2018, coupled with an expanding telecommunication market, will most likely see Papua New Guinea’s Internet and social media access continue to rise in the foreseeable future.

Encouragingly, Vodafone Mobile, re-entered the PNG market for the first time in 2022, bringing the total number of telecommunications companies to four. There are talks of two of the national mobile operators merging, which would eventually reduce the number of operators to three. This has the potential to drive down prices, leading to an increase in the number of active mobile phone users. However, it is also possible that the gendered landscape will continue.

These emergent social media and mobile device trends will likely have ongoing implications on electoral campaigning and debates. PNG’s digital landcsape has offered key opportunities for campaigning parties and policy makers to understand this environment and utilise its audience in the 2022 national election.

The increased use of mobile and smart technology in Papua New Guinea has offered alternative channels for political parties and candidates to use online platforms for electoral campaigning, especially for smaller parties, independent candidates and female candidates who didn’t have the means to cover huge geographical electoral boundaries. However, the low numbers of female Internet users also highlights the need to increase access to marginilsed communities in order to strenghten their voice in the political discourse.

This said, uptake of social media and mobile technology also brings risks, with concerns over misinformation at the forefront. A recent study shows a proliferation of fake and misleading pages created under the name of popular politicians leading up to the 2022 elections. Furthermore, vaccine misinformation in PNG is rampant, and has played a major role in keeping the coutries national vaccination rate below four per cent.

As such, whilst expanding Internet access is a must in the modern global economy, it should not be done so blindly. PNG leaders must ensure that online citizens are well informed, and be willing to combat the threats of fraud and minsiformation.

The post PNG’s digital divide appeared first on Policy Forum.