Connecting Government to Community: A study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level. Facilitating community strengthening by making public institutions more responsive to the needs of citizens is a central policy challenge in the global era. This project will advance theoretical, methodological and practical understandings of this issue by using comparative measures of personal ties and organizational connectedness in four municipalities to explicate the networks linking poli ....Connecting Government to Community: A study of social and political connectivity at the municipal level. Facilitating community strengthening by making public institutions more responsive to the needs of citizens is a central policy challenge in the global era. This project will advance theoretical, methodological and practical understandings of this issue by using comparative measures of personal ties and organizational connectedness in four municipalities to explicate the networks linking politicians, bureaucrats, civic leaders and ordinary citizens. The study will generate new measures of which kinds of connections count most, which ties bring more isolated groups closer to engagement, and which community strengthening strategies are likely to make improved governance outcomes feasible.Read moreRead less
Community consultation and the hard to reach. Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure. This study offers conceptual insights into reasons for non-participation in local government consultation, drawing on critical policy analysis and debates on governance and democratic capacity. The collaboration of 7 local councils and the VLGA enable the development of a transferable, generally viable framework linking: (i) sophisticated demographic profiles (ii) types of communication me ....Community consultation and the hard to reach. Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure. This study offers conceptual insights into reasons for non-participation in local government consultation, drawing on critical policy analysis and debates on governance and democratic capacity. The collaboration of 7 local councils and the VLGA enable the development of a transferable, generally viable framework linking: (i) sophisticated demographic profiles (ii) types of communication media on a continuum of intensity (face to face, telephone/mail survey, email/Internet); (iii) issues on which residents wish to be consulted; and (iv) implications for civic infrastructure. Outcomes will benefit councils and Victorian citizens by providing an innovative, practically applicable framework for policy implementation using consultative processes.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0989700
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$175,000.00
Summary
The Australian Policy Online Full-Text Research Repository and Thematic Gateways. By bringing together the research outputs of over 160 member centres and institutes, as well as selected material from government and other sources, Australian Policy Online (APO) makes a significant contribution to the national research effort across all National Research Priorities - environmental sustainability, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and safeguarding Australia - and to the ....The Australian Policy Online Full-Text Research Repository and Thematic Gateways. By bringing together the research outputs of over 160 member centres and institutes, as well as selected material from government and other sources, Australian Policy Online (APO) makes a significant contribution to the national research effort across all National Research Priorities - environmental sustainability, promoting and maintaining good health, frontier technologies and safeguarding Australia - and to the development of well-informed public policy. This project will increase the value of APO by deepening its coverage of preventative health, planning and the environment, and citizenship; broadening its collection of research material; and offering new resources for researchers.Read moreRead less
The New Policing: Partnerships, Resources and Modes of Governance. This project promises to establish Australia as a world leader in policing research and policing practice. Following an exhaustive review of current approaches in Victoria and internationally, and backed up by needs assessments, a series of pilot programs at selected sites will allow the development of innovative models for securing and allocating resources that support innovative policing partnerships involving government, the b ....The New Policing: Partnerships, Resources and Modes of Governance. This project promises to establish Australia as a world leader in policing research and policing practice. Following an exhaustive review of current approaches in Victoria and internationally, and backed up by needs assessments, a series of pilot programs at selected sites will allow the development of innovative models for securing and allocating resources that support innovative policing partnerships involving government, the business sector, non-governmental agencies, community-based organizations and citizens. The collaboration with Victoria Police will provide a model for police-university partnership across Australia and the pilot programs developed will be replicable widely in Australia and overseas.Read moreRead less
Constituencies for welfare: Public responses to Australia's 'new welfare state'. The main national and community benefits fall within Research Priority 2: Promoting and Maintaining Good Health, and particularly 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'. Australia's welfare state helps maintain the social fabric, but its performance depends on citizens' confidence in the purposes and outcomes of welfare. This project investigates how well Australians understand recent welfare changes ....Constituencies for welfare: Public responses to Australia's 'new welfare state'. The main national and community benefits fall within Research Priority 2: Promoting and Maintaining Good Health, and particularly 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'. Australia's welfare state helps maintain the social fabric, but its performance depends on citizens' confidence in the purposes and outcomes of welfare. This project investigates how well Australians understand recent welfare changes, and measures their confidence in policy directions. The project will produce fresh research into the public's response to the Australian government's largest area of fiscal responsibility, provide new analytical and data tools for policymakers, and strengthen Australia's international profile in research into welfare reform.Read moreRead less
Advocacy in the age of compacts: Strengthening the policy development dimension of partnership agreements between government and community organisations. The proposed research will be the first attempt to evaluate the roll-out of compacts in Australia. In order to ensure that the new compacts continue to be responsive to the needs of both government and community organisations it is crucial that their early operation be evaluated and the findings used to create ongoing mechanisms for monitoring, ....Advocacy in the age of compacts: Strengthening the policy development dimension of partnership agreements between government and community organisations. The proposed research will be the first attempt to evaluate the roll-out of compacts in Australia. In order to ensure that the new compacts continue to be responsive to the needs of both government and community organisations it is crucial that their early operation be evaluated and the findings used to create ongoing mechanisms for monitoring, outcome evaluation, and skill-building. The proposed project will assist Austraian governments to identify performance indicators for outcomes in the context of the compacts, particularly those that lead to the effective contribution of community organisations in policy development.Read moreRead less
Assessment and Redevelopment of the Community Safety Officer Role in Victoria and Associated Retraining. A 30-month action-research project spearheaded by the Department of Criminology, to reassess and redirect the Justice Department's "Safer Communities" strategy. This sophisticated strategy has experienced extensive program drift, and key objectives and outcomes must be redefined. Research aims include: assessing the roles of the State's thirty-two Community Safety Officers; reviewing and revi ....Assessment and Redevelopment of the Community Safety Officer Role in Victoria and Associated Retraining. A 30-month action-research project spearheaded by the Department of Criminology, to reassess and redirect the Justice Department's "Safer Communities" strategy. This sophisticated strategy has experienced extensive program drift, and key objectives and outcomes must be redefined. Research aims include: assessing the roles of the State's thirty-two Community Safety Officers; reviewing and revising job descriptions, activity profiles, skill requirements and supervisory structures; and retraining relevant personnel. Outcomes will be independently assessed. Crime prevention and safety strategies are being implemented in most Western countries, and similar problems are being experienced. Hence the project is of national and international significance.Read moreRead less
Reconceptualising partnership: new options for effective partnerships between State governments and the third sector in employment services in Australia. The rapid devolution of employment services from the Commonwealth Employment Service to a model of contracted Job Network agencies assumes effective partnerships between Commonwealth, State, third sector and private organizations. Recent research suggests this is not the case. Furthermore, the industry partner, SACOSS, argues that the disparate ....Reconceptualising partnership: new options for effective partnerships between State governments and the third sector in employment services in Australia. The rapid devolution of employment services from the Commonwealth Employment Service to a model of contracted Job Network agencies assumes effective partnerships between Commonwealth, State, third sector and private organizations. Recent research suggests this is not the case. Furthermore, the industry partner, SACOSS, argues that the disparate requirements of Australian States in addressing local circumstances and diverse needs of disadvantaged jobseekers have not been met. This collaborative project will use network analysis methodology to assess alternative models of governance and identify best options for effective State/third sector partnerships that promote efficient and equitable labour markets.Read moreRead less
Enabling inter-agency data sharing to support the spatial analysis of social vulnerability in a transforming region. This project's resolution of constraints to government agency data sharing will enable modernisation of public sector information management, creating a secure environment for joined-up use of agency data and enabling major resource savings. It will produce more geographically sensitive indicators of social vulnerability, marking a major advance in its understanding and assessment ....Enabling inter-agency data sharing to support the spatial analysis of social vulnerability in a transforming region. This project's resolution of constraints to government agency data sharing will enable modernisation of public sector information management, creating a secure environment for joined-up use of agency data and enabling major resource savings. It will produce more geographically sensitive indicators of social vulnerability, marking a major advance in its understanding and assessment. The project will significantly broaden agency's capability for research and analysis. It will generate major social benefits nationally, enabling the development of research-based policy enhancements that better align human service delivery with community needs. Lastly, it will contribute significantly to the strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
Political and social factors in the decline of mass transit: an investigation of failed policies to rebuild Melbourne's mass transit. The project aims to improve understandings of political and social factors underlying failed attempts to rebuild an effective mass transit system In Melbourne.
It will do this by developing an analysis of the delivery of Melbourne's mass transit system which combines modern public policy theory with the outcomes of recent transport planning research.
Urban tr ....Political and social factors in the decline of mass transit: an investigation of failed policies to rebuild Melbourne's mass transit. The project aims to improve understandings of political and social factors underlying failed attempts to rebuild an effective mass transit system In Melbourne.
It will do this by developing an analysis of the delivery of Melbourne's mass transit system which combines modern public policy theory with the outcomes of recent transport planning research.
Urban transport in Australia imposes very large economic, social and environmental costs. Significant increase in the use of mass transit is necessary to reduce these costs. The project will provide problem-solving knowledge to assist efforts to improve the planning and delivery of mass transit in Australian cities.
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