Commentary

The Prevalent and Preventable Conference was held in Adelaide, in September 2016. It was organised by Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA) and Our Watch, with support from the Women’s Service Network (WESNET). Over 300 people attended including emerging and established prevention practitioners, students, academics and government representatives. Writing of the Conference Reflections report was led by Our Watch, with support from Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand’s Women’s Research Advocacy & Policy (WRAP) Centre and AWAVA.

International Conference on Practice and Policy in the Prevention of Violence against Women and their Children Adelaide, 19-22 September, 2016 - Reflections

In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre's Susan Maury examines the intersection between social isolation and flourishing, particularly for young people. Australians report feeling increasingly lonely, which has alarming cognitive, social and health consequences across the lifespan. It is time to incorporate a proactive, universal approach to ensuring young people know how to create and sustain positive social relationships.

One is the loneliest number: mitigating the effects of social isolation

In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre's Tanya Corrie highlights how services can use the latest brain science on stress and trauma in both delivering services and influencing systemic change. 

Economic mobility, brain science and systems of support

Intersectional theory is by no means new, however its more centralised inclusion in the violence against women discourse is. Many feminist and critical race theorists have long suggested and warned that 'culture talk' in relation to violence against women is a double-edged sword - whilst it may obscure gender-based domination within communities, it also highlights the importance of cultural considerations for contextualising oppressed groups' claims for justice, for improving access to services, and for requiring dominant groups to examine the invisible cultural advantages they enjoy. 

In this Storify post, our WRAP Centre's Yvonne Lay reflects on the intersectionality stream at the 2016 Prevalent and Preventable Conference, organised by the Australian Women Against Violence Alliance (AWAVA) and Our Watch. 

Intersectionality: tackling privilege, colonisation, oppression and the elimination of violence against all women

As an egregious abuse of human rights and an often hidden form of violence against women and children, forced marriage needs very specific policy responses. Currently, the major response is a legal one, requiring police intervention. In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre's Kathy Landvogt explains why a criminal response, while important, is not adequate.

Forced Marriage: more than a crime

Our WRAP Centre's Tanya Corrie gave this presentation at the 2016 Power to Persuade Women's Policy Forum, launching her research into understanding and measuring economic security for survivors of domestic and family violence. 

Economic Security for Survivors of Domestic and Family Violence - report launch presentation slides

This presentation, by WRAP Centre's Lanie Stockman at the 2016 Doing Schools Differently Conference in Melbourne, outlines the findings of an evaluation of Good Shepherd's Waranara Centre.

Distance Travelled: Findings of an evaluation of the Waranara Centre presentation slides

In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Lanie Stockman questions how outcomes would be identified and measured if social services were funded based on 'success'. 

As Simple as 'Three Words'? Why caution is needed with a ‘pay for success’ approach to ending homelessness

In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, Peter Ninnes analyses the New South Wales Government's data to refute their claims that the Gonski recommendations have been fully implemented through the Resource Allocation Model (RAM). 

Is this the Full Gonski? Equitable Funding of NSW Government Schools

In this Scorecard on Women and Policy (SWAP) post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Yvonne Lay analyses women's policy statements and reveals a failure by both parties to address the deep-rooted social structures that reinforce our male-defined society.

Bold leadership needed for transformational change

Gender-Responsive Budgeting improves targeted and effective social change. Despite being an early leader in this area, Australia abruptly ceased issuing a Women’s Budget Statement (WBS) in 2013. In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Yvonne Lay argues that the WBS ought to be resurrected as an integrated analysis of the budget process itself.

Why the Women’s Budget Statement needs to be reintroduced

Despite girls' higher academic performance compared to boys' - including in science and math subjects - there is a 'leaky pipeline' when it comes to keeping women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. In this scorecard on women and policy (SWAP) post for the Power to Persuade blog, Peter Ninnes provides a comprehensive breakdown of policy statements from the coalition, Labor and The Greens regarding keeping girls and women in STEM.

Promoting girls’ and women’s participation in STEM education and careers 

When a gender lens is applied to government policy, it becomes clear that women experience the consequences of policy differently to men. In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Susan Maury introduces the Women’s Policy Action Tank and why there is a need for highlighting women’s needs in the policy arena.

Action and inaction on policy that benefits women

The community legal sector is well positioned to identify need for systemic change, to act upon that need and to generate policy improvements with significant public impact. In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Jacki Holland discusses how, by engaging in strategic legal advocacy, community lawyers can venture beyond traditional case by case approaches to tackle systemic and common legal problems through novel means generating broad community benefit. 

Stemming the revolving door phenomenon: the importance of strategic advocacy in the community legal sector

Both the acknowledgement that domestic violence occurs at high rates in Australia and the increased Federal funding for tackling this issue are to be lauded. In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Yvonne Lay makes a distinction between adequate funding and supporting best practice. For women experiencing violence, the choice of service model is critical. Funding must support best practice to ensure the safety of women and children. 

Women experiencing domestic violence need expert first contact

Much has been made of both the legitimacy and the high maintenance cost of the 'welfare state'. In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Tanya Corrie argues that reducing or eliminating income support leads to higher economic and societal costs through the entrenched disadvantage for people who rely on it, particularly women and their children.

The ‘Preferably Unheard’: Women and the income support system

In this presentation at the Queen Victoria Women's Centre, the WRAP Centre's Magdalena McGuire provided an overview of her One Foot in each World research project.

Support for Children and Young People in their Middle Years: Gaps, Challenges and Opportunities presentation

In this presentation at the ‘Children and families across borders’ ISS Australia Conference 2016, the WRAP Centre's Kathy Landvogt outlines Good Shepherd's research and advocacy around forced marriage. 

Forced Marriage presentation

In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre's Lanie Stockman, asks us to consider the power dynamics behind the ‘results mantra’ in social service provision.

Considering politics of evidence

Positive psychology is the emerging field that examines what allows people to thrive. In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre's Susan Maury makes a case for considering self-efficacy when designing or evaluating government policy.

When policy limits self efficacy

In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, the WRAP Centre's Kathy Landvogt summarises an International Women's Day event organised by the Member for Bentleigh, Nick Staikos. Reflecting on two questions: "What took you into a career in politics?" and "What do we need to do next to further women's equality?", three eminent former politicians – Kay Setches, Janice Munt and the late Joan Kirner – take us back to darker days when many of the gains for women's equality were yet to be won, and urged us to keep working for equality.

Biography, politics and passion: women who change policy
  

In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, Communications Specialist Ina Mullin tracks the change in public perception on the government’s asylum seeker policies which has culminated in the high-profile #LetThemStay campaign.

When an informed public has had enough: public protests and policy persuasion

The highly-publicised gender pay gap matters for reasons of equity and fairness, but also because women are disproportionately disadvantaged as a consequence. In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre's Susan Maury unpacks some of the reasons for gendered disparities as well as some actions that can be taken to mitigate them.

The girl effect, or why being smart just isn’t enough

Government policy ought to be designed to help its citizens flourish in a sustainable environment (in all its manifestations). When considering policy changes, it’s helpful to use evidence from a range of disciplines. Psychology tends to be an under-utilised area, yet it is rich with explorations into human motivation. In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre’s Susan Maury discusses why policy should be crafted to support creative thinking – particularly for those who struggle.

Why wellbeing matters in the policy debate

In this presentation at Movelle Primary School in 2015, Susan Maury discussed the effects of poverty on children’s learning and outlines strategies and resources to improve support.

The effects of poverty on children’s learning

There is plenty of debate about outcomes in the social services sector at the moment: how to identify them, how to measure them, how to use them for continuous improvement, and how to report back on them. After presenting on an unusual approach to developing outcomes at the Measuring Social Outcomes conference, Susan Maury expands on the possibilities in this post for the Power to Persuade blog.

Outcomes – who decides?

In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, Susan Maury argues that, as the least-understood form of family violence, economic abuse needs to receive significant attention.

The economics of abuse

In this presentation to the 2015 Measuring Social Outcomes conference, Susan Maury provided an overview of her Uplift research into an empowerment approach to parent engagement in schools, and its lessons for outcomes measurement.

An empowerment approach to achieving and measuring outcomes presentation

Supporting people into paid work has many positive benefits, but are current ‘earn or learn’ policies in regards to young people going to help or hinder their economic participation? In this post, our WRAP Centre’s Tanya Corrie and Susan Maury discuss what the evidence says and ways policy can be built to enable better outcomes.

Welfare reform and young people: policy v evidence

In this presentation to Catholic Social Services Victoria in 2014, Kathy Landvogt provided an overview of economic abuse as a form of violence against women.

Economic abuse in the household presentation

Susan Maury gave this presentation on Yarra Community Friends, a community based mentoring program that matches adult volunteers to disadvantaged and isolated young people living in the City of Yarra, in 2014.

Yarra Community Friends presentation

In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, our WRAP Centre’s Susan Maury suggests using the lens of motivational psychology in government reform agenda, to design effective responses to complex social problems. Policies such as ‘work for the dole’ have not proven nearly as effective as holistic support such as Youth Connections, which had 94% of participants still engaged in employment or education six months after completing the program. There is a wealth of evidence about what motivates people to change their behaviour that does not seem to be part of the current policy debate.

Carrots or sticks? How policies stack up to the evidence on motivating behaviour change

In this post for the Power to Persuade blog, head of our WRAP Centre, Dr Kathy Landvogt shares her views on working on the process (not just the issue or topic) and how Power to Persuade has extended the work of the WRAP team, while strengthening their original mandate.

Keeping it civil – difference, tradition and morality in policy conversations

It is vital that those impacted by policies are given the opportunity to express their needs and have a voice in the policy process. This is often easier said than done. 

In this post on the Power to Persuade blog, WRAP Centre's Tanya Corrie reflects on what this means for those who are financially excluded and who access the fringe lending market. While regulation is imperative, Tanya also notes it is important to understand the underlying, cultural reasons that people prefer to 'pay their own way' rather than 'accept charity' and why this is such an emotive proposition.

A deeper problem: 'paying their own way' not accepting charity

In this presentation to a Brotherhood of Saint Laurence in 2013, our WRAP Centre's Kathy Landvogt explored service integration and social network analysis in the community sector.

No Wrong Door? Presentation slides and notes.