Policy Forum Pod

The latest federal budget defines our values but does it live up to them? Australian historian, Professor Frank Bongiorno, joins us to discuss the limitations, merits and shift of focus in the second Albanese government budget.Professor Bongiorno explores the values-based approach to governing and the delicate balancing act between providing Australians with the care and support they deserve whilst creating sustainable change.Despite the budget’s emphasis on delivering for the most vulnerable Australians, critics note that there is much to be desired. On the one hand, the budget increased support for Medicare, single parents, and some relief with energy bills. But on the other hand, the jobseeker rate remains well below the poverty line. “The pressure will remain for a government that calls itself values-based and values-driven to look at some of these really key areas of policy for those who are marginalised,” says Frank.Frank Bongiorno is a Professor of History at the ANU College of Social Sciences, President of the Australian Historical Association and a Member of the Order of Australia. He specialises in Australian political, cultural and labour history.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.

Two-thirds of Australians experience one or more forms of abuse or neglect as children. Daryl Higgins, a co-author of a new ground-breaking study into child maltreatment, joins us to discuss the findings, and what needs to be done to stop the cycle of abuse.  WARNING: This episode discusses child abuse, sexual assault and suicide. The Australian Child Maltreatment Study published in The Medical Journal of Australia 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. To prevent children from suffering further, Higgins says there needs to be a focus on redefining the health care system as a trauma response service.  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,” he says. 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.You can find full show notes at policyforum.net. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helen Haines, the Independent Federal Member for Indi, joins us to discuss the unifying power of grassroots democracy and the major challenges Australia is facing in 2023.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.  She 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. She also discusses what lessons can be learned from her seat of Indi around meaningfully engaging with, and listening, to the people that policies effect. 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.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.You can find full show notes at policyforum.net.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

South Australia's inaugural Commissioner for First Nations Voice Dale Agius joins us to discuss how South Australia’s Voice to Parliament can be used as a template to understand the need for our national referendum. Dale talks about how in his more than 40 public community consultations he is hearing the call from indigenous people to "give us enough autonomy and self-determination in our legislation for our people to feel safe” and to feel they have the ability to talk straight to the parliament.Dale Agius is South Australia's inaugural Commissioner for First Nations Voice. Dale is a Kaurna, Narungga, Ngadjuri and Ngarrindjeri person with connection to communities and Country across South Australia. 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.You can find full show notes at policyforum.net.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A third of global deaths can be linked to a combination of climate change, the non-communicable disease epidemic, and just four industry sectors: tobacco, ultra-processed food, fossil fuel, and alcohol.Professor Sharon Friel joins hosts Sharon Bessell and Arnagretta Hunter for a challenging conversation about the commercial determinants of health, and what can practicably be done to save and improve lives.We discuss how there is no silver bullet fix, and it would take a multilevel and multi-pronged approach to commercial determinants of health but if it is done right, it could save a third of preventable global deaths. However, the implications are far more wide-reaching than that. If we take into consideration the indirect impact that industries have, from health and health inequities, income inequalities and changes to our lived environment, “well above half of the global burden of disease could be eliminated” Professor Friel states. The challenge is enforcing change across unregulated industries, and on transnational corporations. “The most basic public health question is not whether the world has the resources or will to take such actions, but whether humanity can survive if society fails to make this effort.”Sharon Friel is a Professor of Health Equity and an ARC Laureate Fellow in Planetary Health Equity at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance. 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.Find full show notes, including articles mentioned in this episode, can be found at policyforum.net. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we move towards the referendum on the Voice later this year, it is important that we think deeply about both our future and our past. We cannot do that unless we talk honestly about a history of dispossession and genocide. These are difficult and painful issues but are essential if we are to have genuine reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. To begin the first of several conversations over the coming months, Sharon and Arnagretta are joined by Professor Kate Auty. Professor Auty is a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne and Chair of Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority. She has formerly held appointments as a magistrate in Victoria where she helped establish the Koori Court in Shepparton, and in the goldfields and western desert of Western Australia, establishing Aboriginal sentencing courts in consultation with Aboriginal people. Her latest book is O’Leary of the Underworld: The Untold Story of the Forrest River Massacre.WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following program contains discussion of deceased persons. This episode recounts some aspects of Australian history that are violent and some listeners may find disturbing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kicking off 2023, we discuss a public service reckoning with the failure of Robodebt, and its path to rebuilding trust. Sharon and Arnagretta sit down with the new Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy, Professor Janine O’Flynn to see where the year will take us.Professor Janine O’Flynn's research interests are in public management, especially reform and relationships. 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.Dr 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.If this episode raised any concerns for you, in Australia you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the final episode of Policy Forum Pod for 2022, Katherine Trebeck and Millie Rooney join us to reflect on this year’s big policy issues and consider the opportunities for change that lie before us.What were the policy highlights and lowlights of the year? Where are the opportunities for transformative change in 2023? In the last instalment of Policy Forum Pod for 2022, founder of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Katherine Trebeck and National Coordinator for Australia reMADE Millie Rooney join Professor Sharon Bessell and Dr Arnagretta Hunter to look back on the year and consider the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead.Katherine Trebeck is a political economist, writer and advocate for economic system change. She co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance and is a writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Futures Institute.Millie Rooney is the National Coordinator 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.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.Find full show notes, including all of the panel's summer content suggestions, at policyforum.net. 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 or join us on the Facebook group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Siobhan McDonnell and George Carter join us to share their experiences inside the COP27 negotiations in Egypt and why the agreement on a ‘loss and damage’ fund was a landmark moment in global climate change discussions.What does the historic agreement to establish a ‘loss and damage’ fund at this United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt mean for small island developing states, particularly in the Pacific? How can negotiating parties ensure the fund is operationalised by COP28 in Dubai, rather than allowing countries to stall - as has been seen with previous initiatives? And with Australia looking to co-host the 2026 instalment of the conference with Pacific Island nations, what impact would a successful bid have on the region and the Australian public? Dr Siobhan McDonnell and Dr George Carter, who negotiated on behalf of Pacific Island countries at COP27, join Professor Sharon Bessell and Dr Arnagretta Hunter to discuss the talks and to look ahead to the next conference in Dubai. Siobhan McDonnell is a legal anthropologist with over 20 years of experience working with Indigenous people in Australia and the Pacific on land use, gender, and climate change. She is a Senior Lecturer at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and Chief Investigator for the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project on Climate Change and Gender in the Pacific.George Carter is a Research Fellow in Geopolitics and Regionalism at ANU Department of Pacific Affairs and Director of ANU Pacific Institute.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. Image: IAEA Imagebank on Flickr. 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 or join us on the Facebook group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Valerie Cooms from The Australian National University joins us on this episode to discuss justice reinvestment, the importance of the whole Australian community embracing First Nations languages, and progress towards a constitutionally-enshrined Voice to Parliament.Is the allocation of $81.5 million for justice reinvestment initiatives in the recent federal budget a step in the right direction when it comes to reducing the high rates of incarceration of First Nations peoples? And why is truth-telling about Australia’s colonial history so important for reconciliation? On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Director of ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research Professor Valerie Cooms joins Professor Sharon Bessell to examine the First Nations justice measures in the recent federal budget and the need for bravery from policymakers to ensure Australia achieves genuine reconciliation.Valerie Cooms is Director and Professor of Indigenous Policy at ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.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.Find full show notes on policyforum.net. Policy Forum Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, 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 find us on Twitter at @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.