In this episode, Dr Rebecca Colvin talks about Australia’s new Net Zero Authority, and the challenges some regional communities are facing as we move towards a decarbonised future. She expands on the role of both local and political leadership, and how identity influences the way in which our politics work. People’s love for and connection to place is often overlooked or outright ignored, as is local knowledge. Place-based community approaches are an integral part of climate...

In this episode, Professor Susan Sell talks about 21st century capitalism and how it undermines health outcomes, social goals and equity. She discusses the connection between the market, our work and our health, particularly for those with precarious working conditions where we see the market’s direct impact on physical and mental wellbeing. Professor Sell explains the phenomenon of ‘failure demand,’ growing demand for services we shouldn’t need, particularly if we were to value caring for...

This week, Professor Kay Cook and Associate Professor Ben Phillips talk about reimagining what we value and how we value it when it comes to poverty and social policy in Australia. 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...

In this episode, Dr Andrew Leigh MP sits down in the studio with Sharon and Arnagretta to discuss the hierarchies of evidence in policy making in Australia.   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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

In the final instalment in our series on housing, Executive Director of Anglicare Australia Kasy Chambers joins us to discuss the dire state of housing affordability and how policymakers can turn things around. Housing affordability, particularly in Australia’s private rental market, is an issue of major concern for people on low incomes. According to Anglicare’s annual Rental Affordability Snapshot, less than 10 rentals across the entire country were affordable for a single person looking...