Policy Forum Pod

Professor Peter Whiteford joins us to talk about the highly anticipated Robodebt Scheme Royal Commission report. 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.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode kicks off our miniseries on reimagining social policy. Sharon Bessell sits on the other side of the mic to give her insights into how Australia ended up in the position it is, the commodification of public policy and how child poverty became acceptable in society. She talks about the policy history that allowed Robodebt to be accepted, the current PwC scandal, and how this is all a part of a bigger picture of Australia’s step backwards in helping those in need. Sharon also gives us hope that we’re now seeing a shift away from this style of policy, towards a wellbeing and care economy. If done right, she says, it’s a once in a generation chance to make a difference, especially to the lives of children. 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we talk to Professor Kim Rubenstein about what Constitutional change means for Australia and how the Voice to Parliament is the first step in recalibrating for modern times. She discusses how the Australian Constitution is structurally caught in the 1890s and we need to evolve our constitution so it represents who we are today.Professor Rubenstein also criticises the unreasonable expectation that the Voice should have unanimous support in Indigenous communities. She points out that there is never 100 per cent agreement from the population on any issue and that there is a wide consensus on the Voice among First Nations people.Kim Rubenstein is an Australian legal scholar and lawyer, and ran for the Australian senate in the most recent federal election. She’s a Professor of Law at the University of Canberra. In 2020 she became the inaugural Co-Director, Academic of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation. Previously she was a Professor of Law at the Australian National University. 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. Executive Producer: Hannah Scott Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we discuss the deliberations, points of contention and wider implications of the Bonn Climate Change Conference, which recently took place in Germany. Dr Siobhan McDonnell who was part of the negotiations joins us for this podcast.The Bonn Climate Change Conference aims to lay the groundwork for the political decisions required at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) at the end of the year.Dr McDonnell describes the “real and palpable grief in the room” when new climate science was presented to the Alliance of Small Island States that showed predictions are now twice as bad in 2100 compared to what was presented in the latest IPCC report.Despite this new data, a backwards step has been taken in the difficult negotiations. There’s now no longer an agreement on including the IPCC report as an agenda item at COP28. She says that the latest climate science is horrific and apocalyptic and the fact that negotiations cannot “even begin from that established understanding is very hard.” She also discusses how important it is that indigenous peoples are involved in climate negotiations as they are the most impacted across Pacific nations and how there is no financial support for the ‘non-economic’ damage caused by climate change.Dr Siobhan McDonnell is a lawyer, anthropologist and economist who has spent over 25 years working with Indigenous people in Australia and Oceania on land rights, gender, and climate change issues, including as a climate change negotiator for various Pacific governments. She’s also a Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU.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 at policyforum.net.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Policy Forum Pod encourages you to take this week to listen back to some of our episodes around the Voice to Parliament. Professor Kate Auty spoke to Sharon Bessell and Arnagretta Hunter about her work on documenting Australia’s true history and her work in establishing indigenous courts.  Dale Agius, South Australia’s inaugural Commissioner for First Nations Voice discussed how SA’s Voice to Parliament can be used as a template to understand the need for our national referendum.  MP Dr Helen Haines gave her insight into how people in regional Australia are reacting to the Voice Referendum and the types of conversations she is having about constitutional change.   Film and TV director Rachel Perkins talked about her dedication to telling indigenous stories and how Australia’s voice can give First Nations Peoples a voice.  And you can listen to Catherine Liddle, the CEO of SNAICC, discuss the lasting impact policy has on Indigenous peoples. You can find all these episodes on your podcast platform of choice or our social media accounts: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedInArnagretta 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.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we delve into the new Risk, Reward, and Resilience Framework with Professor Anthea Roberts and Dr Arnagretta Hunter. 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. You can find full show notes at policyforum.net.Executive Producer: Hannah Scott Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine Liddle, the CEO of SNAICC the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, joins us for a powerful conversation about the lasting trauma of policy failures.She tells the incredible story of her family meeting Thomas Mayo 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.You can find full show notes at policyforum.net.Executive Producer: Hannah Scott Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode of Policy Forum Pod, we are joined by the Treasurer, the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP, who talks about the values behind the May budget.The Pod was recorded live in front of an audience at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy on May 31st, 2023. The Treasurer gave a short speech highlighting the nine ways to unlock the budget before sitting down for a one-on-one conversation with Crawford School Director Professor Janine O’Flynn.Following this, an ANU panel of experts from the Crawford School of Public Policy answered questions about the longer-term impacts of the budget.Panel members were:Sharon Bessell, 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. She is also the co-host of the Policy Forum Podcast. Frank Jotzo, a Professor of environmental economics at Crawford School and Head of Energy at the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions. He’s been involved in policy advisory on climate change and energy transition and has been a senior author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.Professor Peter Whiteford works at the Crawford School of Public Policy and is a member of the Interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee. His research focuses on social security policy in Australia and internationally.Dr Siobhan McDonnell, a lawyer, anthropologist and economist who has spent over 25 years working with Indigenous people in Australia and Oceania on land rights, gender, and climate change issues, including as a climate change negotiator for various Pacific governments.Dr Michael Di Francesco, an Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy with research and teaching interests in public financial management. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of Public Administration.Kristen Sobeck, a Research Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. Kristen undertakes research on various Australian tax and transfer policies using administrative data and formerly worked for a decade as an economist at the International Labour Organisation.Podcast co-host is Arnagretta Hunter. She is the Human Futures Fellow at the ANU College of Health and Medicine, a cardiologist, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.Executive Producer: Hannah Scott Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we speak to Rachel Perkins, a film and television director, on her dedication to telling indigenous stories and the Voice to Parliament. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners are warned that the following podcast contains stories about deceased persons.Released at the start of Reconciliation Week 2023, Sharon Bessell and Arnagretta Hunter acknowledge the 6th anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and discuss with Rachel how those fighting for change are trying to make it happen.“We put our trust in the Australian people and hopes in the Australian people because we have had our trust and hopes shattered so many times by the government,” she says.Rachel also talks about the legacy of her work and that of her father, Charles ‘Charlie’ Perkins. As a civil rights activist, he led the University of Sydney students on a ‘Freedom Ride’, which played an important role in shaping the 1967 referendum, but also the conversation around our current Voice to Parliament referendum.All indigenous people are asking for, she says, is a modest request to have an advisory body cemented into the constitution. Unless the majority of Australians back this request, the government won’t listen to indigenous people, “in a way, our fellow Australians’ voice, gives us a voice.”Rachel Perkins is a film and television director, producer, and screenwriter and a proud Arrente and Kalkadoon woman. She is also co-chair of Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, one of the most prominent ‘Yes’ institutions in the country. 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 at policyforum.net. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Budgets are a central tool of government, offering not just economic policy but defining social and environmental policies for the years ahead. The 2023 budget moves in “the direction of fairness,” but is it moving fast enough? In this episode, we speak to Professor Paul Burke and Associate Professor Elise Klein about the impact budget priorities have on people’s daily lives, the values that underlie it, and unpacking the choices that have been made. Discussion centred on the care economy, the level of welfare payments and the revenue needed to support our most vulnerable. Associate Professor Elise Klein says the government was in a position to do something bold after voters asked for action on poverty, inequality, and climate action. A government “going from terrible to being less terrible is still terrible,” she says, adding that a lot of people are being left behind in life-and-death situations because of the decisions of this Government in this budget. In order to have more money to spend to solve these problems, Professor Paul Burke says Australia needs to be more efficient in raising revenue. As a country, if we created a few simple streams we could see billions of dollars available to target poverty reduction. Professor Paul Burke is Head of the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics and Deputy Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. His research is in energy and environmental economics, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific. Elise Klein (OAM) is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Crawford School. Her research is situated in the intersections and cracks of development, social policy, decoloniality and care. 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 at policyforum.net. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.