Inequality, Prosperity and the Australian Welfare State. This project aims to clarify contested understandings of Australian inequality and the role of economic and social policies in addressing policy challenges going forward. The objective of the project is to generate significantly improved knowledge of inequality in Australia using innovative approaches of data splicing, decomposition, simulation and backcasting to fill research gaps and resolve contested interpretations. We aim to provide a ....Inequality, Prosperity and the Australian Welfare State. This project aims to clarify contested understandings of Australian inequality and the role of economic and social policies in addressing policy challenges going forward. The objective of the project is to generate significantly improved knowledge of inequality in Australia using innovative approaches of data splicing, decomposition, simulation and backcasting to fill research gaps and resolve contested interpretations. We aim to provide a benchmark and robust framework against which policy development after the current crisis can be evaluated. This project aims to provide significant benefits, keeping Australia at the forefront of research on inequality and public policy, strengthening links between researchers and policy makers.
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Child poverty, labour markets and social transfers. This project aims to discover how earnings and social transfers determine the living standards of disadvantaged families with children, and the constraints that wage rates and employment patterns place on social transfer structures. This project will compare the family incomes of disadvantaged children and how the interaction of wage rates, employment and social policies affect them. It will compare Australian outcomes to those in OECD and midd ....Child poverty, labour markets and social transfers. This project aims to discover how earnings and social transfers determine the living standards of disadvantaged families with children, and the constraints that wage rates and employment patterns place on social transfer structures. This project will compare the family incomes of disadvantaged children and how the interaction of wage rates, employment and social policies affect them. It will compare Australian outcomes to those in OECD and middle income countries. This project expects to understand which labour market and social policies combine to lead to the best economic outcomes for disadvantaged families and children.Read moreRead less
An examination of Refugee "Women at Risk" in Australia's refugee policy. The passage of refugees from situations of danger to the comparative safety of resettlement is becoming increasingly more complex.Australian refugee policy has a quota of resettlement places for women and children at risk. This policy is not fulfilling its aim of targeting those most in need of protection. This three year longitudinal study will employ action research to examine the reasons for this phenomenon. It will iden ....An examination of Refugee "Women at Risk" in Australia's refugee policy. The passage of refugees from situations of danger to the comparative safety of resettlement is becoming increasingly more complex.Australian refugee policy has a quota of resettlement places for women and children at risk. This policy is not fulfilling its aim of targeting those most in need of protection. This three year longitudinal study will employ action research to examine the reasons for this phenomenon. It will identify potential solutions which will assist some of the world's most vulnerable women reach a situation of safety. At an academic level it will address issues of policy failure.Read moreRead less
Emerging from the shadows: the evaluation of intervention strategies to reduce social isolation amongst the aged. Social isolation imposes a high cost on affected individuals and the community at large. This project will determine what interventions work in addressing social isolation amongst the older population.
Government purchased services for children. Government purchased services for children. This project aims to establish ways the Chinese government can avoid the quality and accountability problems other countries’ governments have faced when purchasing child welfare services over the last 30 years. Using six regional case studies and government national datasets, this project will identify the effect of new purchasing models and address significant regulatory risks in China’s burgeoning welfare ....Government purchased services for children. Government purchased services for children. This project aims to establish ways the Chinese government can avoid the quality and accountability problems other countries’ governments have faced when purchasing child welfare services over the last 30 years. Using six regional case studies and government national datasets, this project will identify the effect of new purchasing models and address significant regulatory risks in China’s burgeoning welfare state. Findings are expected to build governments’ capacity to purchase good quality, equitable services for children; improve outcomes for millions of Chinese children; and build new theories of government contracting, service system governance, and global social policy convergence and transfer, relevant for Chinese and Australian social services.Read moreRead less
Increasing innovation and flexibility in social service delivery. This project will use a comparative methodology to investigate how contracted social services require careful regulation to ensure service effectiveness and improved organisational capacity. The outcome will include a practice model for understanding the relationship between regulation, contract structure and forms of service delivery innovation.
Corporate political activity of tobacco, alcohol and gambling companies in Australia. This project investigates how tobacco, alcohol and gambling industries influence the policy process, by stalling or defeating the implementation of effective public health policies in favour of ones which do not affect profit. The study will develop guidelines for industry-government interaction to ensure maximum public benefit.
Making complex interfaces work for the national disability insurance scheme. This project aims to examine how organisations, frontline workers and participants negotiate funded supports across the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and mainstream services and systems interfaces by taking a street-level perspective. The project intends to generate knowledge about self-governing arrangements and adaptive practices that encourage coordinated planning using case study methodology and novel ....Making complex interfaces work for the national disability insurance scheme. This project aims to examine how organisations, frontline workers and participants negotiate funded supports across the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and mainstream services and systems interfaces by taking a street-level perspective. The project intends to generate knowledge about self-governing arrangements and adaptive practices that encourage coordinated planning using case study methodology and novel digital research tools. Expected outcomes include the identification of optimal organisational approaches and models of sector governance that mobilise and embed interface efficiencies. This project should significantly benefit the sustainability of the NDIS and ensure the system works effectively for participants.Read moreRead less
Growing unequal: diverging childhood outcomes in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. How and why do the outcomes of children from rich and poor families differ in the early and middle school years? This study will compare Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States and help to explain why mobility between generations is greater in some countries than others.
Improving health equity of young people? The role of social enterprise. This project aims to explain the effects of social enterprise on the social determinants of health inequities among young people. During the transition to adulthood, health inequities may become entrenched, and young people in disadvantaged areas experience relatively poorer health than the wider population. Addressing health inequities upstream is critical to reducing them, with social enterprise gaining recent attention as ....Improving health equity of young people? The role of social enterprise. This project aims to explain the effects of social enterprise on the social determinants of health inequities among young people. During the transition to adulthood, health inequities may become entrenched, and young people in disadvantaged areas experience relatively poorer health than the wider population. Addressing health inequities upstream is critical to reducing them, with social enterprise gaining recent attention as one vehicle for doing this. The project will examine if, and how, social enterprises redress the root causes of health inequities. Intended outcomes include innovation in social policy, health promotion and social enterprise design to improve health equity for disadvantaged young people and their communities.Read moreRead less