Advocacy, Lived experience, Finance and economicsPower to Persuade3 October 2023Poverty

Understanding the Feelings of Poverty: Shame, Anger, and Hope

Being poor isn't just about lacking material resources; it's also an emotional experience involving shame, anger and hope, explain Rose-Marie Stambe and Cameron Parsell from the UQ School of Social Science.

IssuesPower to Persuade29 September 2023Poverty, welfare conditionality, welfare reform

Alone Australian or collaboration for the nation we want?

Dr Millie Rooney, co-director of Australia Remade and long-time contributor here at Power to Persuade, has had some great ideas for new reality TV shows, following the success of ‘Alone Australia’. The question is - do we have contestants going it alone to survive, or a team effort to re-imagine a way for everyone to thrive?

Diversifying the gender equality lens to include migrant women

In 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.

Policy and governance, PoliticsPower to Persuade6 September 2023Gender equality, migrants, politics, government, diversity, inclusion, equality

Focus on children to improve national wellbeing

Deb Tsorbaris (@DebTsorbaris), CEO of The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (@CFECFW), discusses the recently launched national wellbeing framework, Measuring What Matters, and contends that if we're serious about enhancing the wellbeing of Australians, the first place to start is with our children and young people.

Policy and governance, AdvocacyPower to Persuade6 September 2023Children, young people, wellbeing, Social Welfare, family

Rethinking scholarly assumptions about vulnerable workers: A call for reflection and action

Creating using evidencePower to Persuade31 August 2023employment, work

When policy lessons don’t speak for themselves – a “traveller’s guide” for practitioners of policy learning

Policy lessons don’t travel on their own - a lot goes into helping them from their place of origin to new homes (or stopping them from getting there). Drawing on research with disaster management personnel in Queensland, Dr Jenny van der Arend (@JennyvdA) and A/Prof Alastair Stark distil a ‘traveller’s guide’ of practical insights for policymakers who want to help lessons from place to place. The post is based on their new article in the Journal of European Public Policy and is free to read until October 2023.

Climate Change in South Asia and Lessons for the Philippines in Building Community Resilience

Building on the post-disaster recovery narratives, today’s piece by Dr Sajal Roy and Oliver Tirtho Sarkar draws insights from the Munda Indigenous peoples' response to climate change in Bangladesh and documents their livelihood-rebuilding strategies to identify lessons which can be replicated in the Philippines in the context of other climate induced disasters like Cyclone Mocha.

Power to Persuade23 August 2023climate change, Disaster management

Gambling: An intergenerational justice issue

Last month the Victorian government announced new reforms on poker machines – but is it enough to tackle the harms caused by gambling, particularly in protecting future generations? In today’s article Dr Hannah Pitt (@HannahLPitt), Dr Simone McCarthy (@SimoneNicoleM), and Ms Grace Arnot (@GraceArnot), all from the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University (@IHT_Deakin) outline why gambling is an intergenerational justice issue and makes specific policy recommendations to protect communities from harm.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade16 August 2023public health, Children, young people, financial wellbeing

DrinkWise: A wise partner choice?

Not too long ago a global survey named Australia the ‘drunkest country in the world.’ Meanwhile, studies are increasingly emphasising that there is no ‘healthy’ or ‘safe’ level of drinking. In today’s post, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Postdoctoral Fellow Florentine Martino (@FP_Martino) of Deakin University (@IHT_Deakin) discusses how the Australian alcohol industry influences health policy through its registered charity DrinkWise.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade15 August 2023public health, public policy, social determinants of health

It's time to stop the processed food industry from compromising children's health

which in turn is driven by the marketing of unhealthy foods. In today’s post, VicHealth (@VicHealth) Research Fellow Alexandra Chung (@Chung_Alexandra) of Monash University (MonashUni) traces the problem to its origins in childhood and explains recent proposals to curb commercial activity that compromises children’s health.

Policy and governancePower to Persuade14 August 2023public health, public policy, Children

Implementing Trauma-Informed Care in the Proposed National Housing and Homelessness Plan

Exploring the pressing need for trauma-informed care in Australia's National Housing and Homelessness Plan, Research Fellow Chris Hartley sheds light on the deep links between trauma and homelessness while advocating for a unified, comprehensive approach to address the issue in line with global best practices.

Lived experience, Politics, Service DeliveryPower to Persuade11 August 2023housing and homelessness, trauma

Too early to declare it over – The ongoing implications of COVID-19 for homelessness responses

While COVID-19 is no longer considered a global emergency, Chris Hartley discusses its enduring effects on homelessness policy and practice.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade3 August 2023housing and homelessness, policy problem

Why is Lived Experience Absent from Social Security Policymaking?

Reposting an excellent blog that was published on the UK social policy blog, because of the insights it offers into the ways in which welfare recipients could be supported to participate in welfare policymaking. Given current interest in stigma power in the wake of the Robodebt Royal Commission the blogs insights are salient to thinking about the ways in which lived experience can be embedded in future policy making in Australia.

Power to Persuade25 July 2023

Doing the right thing by Australia’s children

In today’s post, Deb Tsorbaris discusses the sobering findings of the landmark Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) released in April this year, and the need for policymakers and the child services sector to respond swiftly. The study reveals that child maltreatment is widespread in Australia and associated with early and persistent harm. Deb is the CEO at The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, (@CFECFW), Victoria’s peak body for child and family services.

Advocacy, Policy and governancePower to Persuade21 July 2023Children, family violence

Rethinking Income Limits for Disability Pension Recipients

Today’s post by Brandon Maki was commissioned by the Antipoverty Centre. Brandon is on the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and has written about the income free area and the focus of pushing people into work.

Antipoverty Centre, Advocacy, Policy and governancePower to Persuade20 July 2023Disability

Victims now know they were right about robodebt all along. Let the royal commission change the way we talk about welfare

This article by Darren O’Donovan, republished from The Conversation, discusses the findings of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme released on 7 July 2023. Dr O’Donovan has written and spoken widely about Robodebt, and pursued answers to how government was calculating debts, since 2017. You can read and hear more of his work on Robodebt here, here, here and here.

Power to Persuade14 July 2023

Governments of Australia, consider this your debt notice

Today’s post from the Australian Unemployed Worker’s Union discusses the report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt scheme released on 7 July 2023. AUWU describes the Royal Commission as “the most significant and damning investigation into our welfare system in decades” and pledges to “stand with victims and fight to extract justice for the mass abuse and denigration inflicted on the poor.”

Peer-led services: reducing barriers to healthcare for LGBTIQA+ people

LGBTIQA+ people are more likely to experience marginalisation, stigma, social exclusion, abuse, and violence than the wider community. Philippa Moss, CEO of ACT-based LGBTIQA+ peer-led health service Meridian, and Alison Barclay, researcher and social impact consultant, explain how peer-led services are helping to address this gap, and what more needs to be done.

Restorative Justice for Animal Harm

Recent animal cruelty court cases have once again shown that the traditional justice system falls well short for both victims and offenders. Felicity Tepper, senior research officer at ANU’s School of Regulation and Global Governance explores how restorative justice could have better outcomes for humans and animals alike.

Advocacy, Conferences, IssuesPower to Persuade5 July 2023justice, animal welfare, Research

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