We speak to Dr Millie Rooney from Australia ReMADE and Amanda Kelly, the CEO of Women’s Health Goulburn North East, about a joint project called ‘Care through Disaster’ that looks at what would happen if we put care at the centre of disaster decision making.

People want to be seen, be safe and be supported, with people in the community best placed to know how that looks. Amanda Kelly says if you know one regional town, you know one regional town. What works in one place might not work elsewhere.

Disasters will no longer be unprecedented. They will be expected. Therefore, we need to start the work now, and this episode outlines exactly what that could look like.

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Dr Millie Rooney is the Co-Director for Australia ReMADE, an independent, non-profit leadership network where Australian civil society leaders can collaborate with one another and engage in long-term proactive agenda-setting. Dr Rooney has a research background with expertise in local community and social norms around neighbourhood sharing and community building.

Amanda Kelly is the CEO of Women’s Health Goulburn North East. Amanda works within a community context because when everyone participates, the best outcomes are achieved. Engaging stakeholders, identifying objectives, assessing the risks involved, working out a strategy, and then planning and managing the process are Amanda’s interest areas.

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.

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: Caring through disaster appeared first on Policy Forum.

Professor Gurran notes that there is no substitute for housing, and unless there is some better planning now, the crisis we are facing will only escalate. She also adds that the language used around housing is often misleading, with housing need driven by an increase in population, whereas housing demand is how much people are willing to pay for properties themselves.

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Nicole Gurran is Professor of Urban and Regional Planning and Director of the Henry Halloran Research Trust at the University of Sydney. Nicole has authored and co-authored numerous publications and books on urban policy, housing, sustainability and planning. Her research focuses on comparative urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability.

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, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

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: Reimagining urban planning appeared first on Policy Forum.

Barbara Norman is an Emeritus Professor of Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Canberra and an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University. Barbara is also Director of the Urban Climate Change Research Network Oceania Hub (Columbia University, USA) and co-chair of Planners for Climate Action (UN Habitat).  She was recently appointed Chair of the Urban Policy Forum.

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, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

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: Housing fit for our climate appeared first on Policy Forum.

In this episode, we speak with Professor Alan Morris about what we can do to fix the social housing crisis, as well as the decline in homeownership across Australia.

Having stable housing brings a significant cost benefits, ranging from improvements in mental health and reduced hospitalisation time to enhanced growth and development in young children. Professor Morris argues it is a human right, one we have been neglecting.

This is the second podcast in our housing miniseries, following the first episode with Dr Nicholas Frank. Stay tuned for next week!

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Professor Alan Morris is an urban and housing studies scholar.  He is a professor at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney, and is the author of many books, including The Private Rental Sector in Australia: Living with Uncertainty co-authored with Hal Pawson and Kath Hulse and published in 2021. He currently has Australian Research Council funded projects on eviction and on social housing waiting lists.

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, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

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: Fixing our social housing crisis appeared first on Policy Forum.

He breaks down some key items of the report, and how he thinks we can prevent a policy like this from happening again. It is clear that the scheme was made possible through years of attitude and policy changes that prevented access to social security and stigmatised those who received it.

Professor Whiteford also highlights that when Robodebt was active there was an ongoing pattern of deception to prevent results from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) being released to the public.

He recalls the disbelief he felt when he learned that DHS was averaging out income over a whole year. While Robodebt affected a vulnerable minority of the population, this government failure represents a risk to all Australians. “You are very lucky if you don’t have to call on social security at some time in your working life.”

Peter Whiteford is a Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy. He’s a member of the Interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee. His research focuses on social security policy in Australia and internationally. Peter was previously Principal Administrator in the Directorate of Employment, Labour and Social Affairs of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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, 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: After Robodebt: reimagining social policy appeared first on Policy Forum.

Both Professor Cook and Associate Professor Phillips are on the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee and advocate strongly for raising the rate of support payments in Australia, to bring people out of poverty.

Phillips takes us through the immediate steps and payments that would make a difference to poverty in Australia, and how to raise the revenue to make it happen. He says by lifting JobSeeker to be lifted to 90% of the aged care pension would bring around one million people above the poverty line. For the millions of people still below the poverty line, it alleviates the depth of poverty they suffer. Cook reminds us that people who are receiving JobSeeker payments are being forced to choose between food and medicine, and in colder climates, also warmth.

Cook puts in perspective through her own research, how having limited government support can also leave struggling parents reliant on child support from the other parent, making them vulnerable to financial abuse. Abusive former partners can exploit loopholes in a flawed system further impacting the lives of children. She says this would have less of an impact if people were able to receive benefits that did not force them into poverty.

Both agree the Measuring What Matters Framework is a good start, but acknowledged that there are flaws. Cook says what matters to whom is something that needs to be discussed. Phillips raises the issue that the lack of data means we may not be able to measure what we value as a society.

Professor Kay Cook is Associate Dean of Research School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education at Swinburne University of Technology, and a former Australian Research Council Future Fellow.  Her research has focused on a range of social policy issues, including welfare-to-work, child support and child care policies. She is also a member of the federal government’s interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee.

Associate Professor Ben Phillips is a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research and Methods at ANU. He has more than 20 years of experience as an economic and social researcher in Australia, and has worked on issues from housing affordability and financial stress to reform of the tax and welfare systems. He is also a member of the federal government’s interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee.

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, 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: What we value: reimagining social policy appeared first on Policy Forum.

The pair, along with host Sharon Bessell discuss how this framework can be applied across multiple disciplines from health to climate change to work through complex policy challenges.

Its goal is to break down the silos of thinking, and enable insights from diverse disciplines to not just be ‘bolted on’ to ideas, but be included right from the beginning. Anthea Roberts encourages experts to learn to speak ‘policy pidgin’ and communicate in an interdisciplinary dialogue, while still maintaining their specialty knowledge and perspective.

The discomfort of ideas, rather than just agreement, is beneficial under this framework. Arnagretta Hunter also raises how uncertainty should be incorporated into best practice, not just in health care settings, but across a broad range of policy spheres.

Implementing the framework will require changing how we listen to create a space that will inform and broaden our thinking.

Anthea Roberts is a Professor at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University. She’s an interdisciplinary researcher and legal scholar who focuses on new ways of thinking about complex and evolving global fields.

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

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.

Show notes:

Risk, Reward, and Resilience Framework: Integrative Policy Making in a Complex World by Anthea Roberts (2023)

How Minds Change: The Surprising Science Of Belief, Opinion, And Persuasion by David McRaney (2022)

Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Matters by Anthea Roberts and Nicolas Lamp (2021)

Globalisation and the search for common ground – Policy Forum Pod with Anthea Roberts and Nicholas Lamp (2022)

The post Podcast: Integrating risk, reward and resilience in policy appeared first on Policy Forum.

She tells the incredible story about her family meeting Thomas Mayor and discussing the Uluru Statement from the Heart that he rolled out on the floor of her lounge room. “We could hear the beating of that heartbeat,” she said.

Catherine also shares her insight on how poverty in indigenous communities is often misunderstood as neglect, the damage of covert racism, and why Alice Springs often becomes a political football.

“Everything relates to policy, and we know that the wins are only as good as the government that gets them across the line.”

Catherine Liddle is an Arrernte/Luritja woman from Central Australia. She’s a leading advocate in upholding the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. As CEO of SNAICC – the national voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, she works to strengthen, represent and amplify the voices of children and families.

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, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

Show notes / The following was mentioned during this episode

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children

Northern Territory Emergency Response (also known as Northern Territory Intervention)

Beacon of Democracy: The strength of listening – Helen Haines on Policy Forum Pod (2023)

Lessons from South Australia’s Voice to Parliament – Dale Agius on Policy Forum Pod (2023)

Courting change: Indigenous reconciliation – Kate Auty on Policy Forum Pod (2023)

Uncovering the cycle of child abuse in Australia – Daryl Higgins on Policy Forum Pod (2023)

Behind the scenes of change – Rachel Perkins on Policy Forum Pod (2023)

Weaponising Indigenous children for the voice’s no campaign is a distraction from the solutions we need – Catherine Liddle for the Guardian (2023)

Uluru Statement from the Heart

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report – PowerWater (2021)

“Little Children are Sacred” – Northern Territory Government Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse (2007)

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: Policy without voice: a history of failure and harm appeared first on Policy Forum.

WARNING: This episode and the below show notes discuss child abuse, sexual assault and suicide.

Listen here:

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study was published in The Medical Journal of Australia. It is the first national survey in the world to examine in detail the experiences of all forms of child maltreatment and the associated health and social consequences.

Maltreatment types that were studied were physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, exposure to domestic violence and neglect. Researchers uncovered that exposure to these types of abuse increased all health risk behaviours. These range from binge drinking, cannabis dependence, smoking, obesity, self-harm and suicide attempts.

The authors state there needs to be more of a focus on multi-type maltreatment, as it is more common for children to be exposed to more than one type of abuse. In order to start making progress, Higgins says we must redefine the health care system as a trauma response service.

Professor Higgins notes in the research that girls are more likely to experience multi-type maltreatment and their associated health consequences. However, he is clear that boys experience all forms of maltreatment and support needs to be in place for all genders.

Horrifically, on top of gender disparities, there are factors that more than double the risk of multi-type maltreatment. This includes socioeconomic factors, divorce, mental illness and/or alcohol or drug dependence in the family.

It is also vital we do not just concentrate on children, but on the parents too. “Parents themselves will come to this task of parenting having likely experienced their own child maltreatment.”

If this podcast has raised some issues for you, or someone you know needs support, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. For children and young people, there is also Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. 

Daryl Higgins is a Professor and director of the Institute of Child Protection Studies at the Australian Catholic University. Before joining ACU, Daryl was Deputy Director (Research) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

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, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

Show notes | The following was mentioned during this episode

The Australian Child Maltreatment Study: National prevalence and associated health outcomes of child abuse and neglect – Medical Journal of Australia (2023)

Bob Hawke’s speech on ending child poverty (1987)

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017)

Global Health: Holding industries accountable – Sharon Friel on Policy Forum Pod (2023)

Women in leadership with Natasha Stott Despoja – Policy Forum Pod (2021)

Preventing violence against women and girls with disabilities – Patty Kinnersly on Policy Forum Pod (2022)

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: Uncovering a cycle of child abuse in Australia appeared first on Policy Forum.

Dr Haines discusses how kitchen table conversations had with humility and patience can bring people together. She talks about how people in regional Australia are reacting to the Voice Referendum and the power of the Uluru Statement of the Heart.  Haines outlines what regional and marginalised Australians want to see in the Federal budget based on the conversations had and the poverty so many of Australians are facing. Also discussed is what lessons can be learned from her seat of Indi around meaningfully engaging with, and listening, to the people that policies effect.

Listen here:

The Voice to Parliament

Helen Haines likens the Voice to Parliament to the Magna Carte document in its level of importance both in Australia but on a global level. She says that it is an invitation to the nation to go on a “journey of home and a step forward that unites us.”

In the context of this Dr Haines talks about how people in regional Australia are reacting to the Voice Referendum with her hearing comments about the fear of changing the constitution. She says that when talking people through the process, she describes the constitution as a “framework not a recipe book” and that as a politician it is her goal to implement change for the betterment of her constituents.

Poverty

The struggles of people in regional Australia are another key issue for Dr Haines. With the upcoming federal budget, she says a focus needs to be on the poverty so many are facing. She says that the government controls the purse strings and that it’s “so obvious that we’ve fallen off the cliff” for people to put food on the table and survive and that it’s “abundantly clear that we need to raise JobSeeker.”

Haines says one way we can bring money into local economies is renewable energy. She’s hoping for a “gold rush” as regional Australia makes the transition. However, that also needs government funding and a change in policies. Currently people who are renting, or who have a low income have been unable to benefit from the technology or grants available. As the sector grows she hopes that it will create long term jobs for young people from trades all the way through to engineering so profits can stay on shore.

The strength of listening

Sharon and Arnagretta also discuss in this episode the importance of listening to people. Dr Haines says doing just that, is one of the key reasons Independents have been elected in the seat of Indi in the last four elections. She’s now working with a much bigger crossbench in parliament she says this adds more challenges, but also gives Independents the opportunity to put forward their ideas and hold the government to account more easily.

Helen Haines is the Independent federal Member for Indi. She worked as a nurse and midwife for decades before completing her PhD in medical science. She was elected in 2019, as the first Independent to follow an Independent in Australian history. Dr Haines was also re-elected in the 2022 election.

Sharon Bessell is 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, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.

Show notes | The following was mentioned during this episode

The Indi Way: How a rural community sparked a social and political movement – Voices for Indi (2023)

Thomas Mayor recites the Uluru Statement (2019)

Climate Change Bill (2022)

Federal Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill (2022)

Mortgage Interest Payments in Advanced Economies – Reserve Bank of Australia (2023)

Default Market Offer 2023–24 draft determination – Australian Energy Regulator (2023)

Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (2022)

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: Beacon of Democracy – The strength of listening appeared first on Policy Forum.