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Swinburne Institute for Social Research

Social Policy

New Research

Posted this week

10 September 2012 | This briefing presents historical and international precedents for higher mature-age labour force participation rates in Australia, summarising available data as well as looking at the public policy response so far and the potential for further intervention.

23 May 2013 | While Asia's population is expected to increase by one billion people in the next thirty years, the significant demographic story is the change in its age structure

23 May 2013 | Asia's general reliance on defined benefit schemes could potentially lead to unfunded liabilities similar to those experienced in some countries in Europe, once the tipping point is reached. 

23 May 2013 | With total health spending in the region worth over a trillion dollars in 2010 and demand for healthcare continuing to grow, Asian governments will have a tremendous challenge meeting and funding this demand.

22 May 2013 | This preliminary scan of the national and Victorian standards and of Victorian teacher training programs explored the extent to which course descriptions include the skills deemed essential for working with ‘at-risk’, disengaged students.

22 May 2013 | This report finds that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship is now in a stronger position in terms of its capacity to manage the immigration detention network and associated risks and issues, but has also found scope for further improvement and identified lessons that can be learned from challenges of the recent past.

22 May 2013 | This survey provides a snapshot of the impact of cost of living pressures and the extent of social and economic deprivation and disadvantage experienced by these individuals and their families.

11 May 2013 | Over the past decade, Australia’s migration program has evolved. This report outlines this evolution and explores the attitudes of both visa holders and employers under the program.

14 March 2013 | This lecture examines the pressure on philanthropic organisations to provide quantifiable short-term impact measurements.

20 May 2013 | Resurrection of the local economy is crucial to getting communities back on track after a natural disaster, but this is often overlooked in favour of rebuilding physical infrastructure and getting a town back to ‘normal’ although key economic drivers may have been permanently altered.

20 May 2013 | This paper examines the regulatory and non-regulatory institutions that frame the entrance to co-management arrangements of national parks and other protected areas by governments and Indigenous people.

30 April 2013 | As part of a series that attempts to re-position the perceptions and contributions of older people in contemporary Australian society, this paper examines the existing models and alternatives available to older adults and looks at the sweep of historical and cultural tradition.

30 March 2013 | This paper presents the results of a qualitative research project aimed to better understand the key elements of promising bicultural practice in the Northern Territory children and families sector.

13 May 2013 | This article examines the causes of child poverty in New Zealand and how child poverty rates might be reduced.

30 April 2013 | This paper focuses on the relationship between the idea of culture and the different ways it is talked about in the contemporary world including the media, the academy, the creative professions and in public policy.

20 May 2013 | Australia has a big culture of taking a punt. Life Matters spoke to researchers and a number of professed problem gamblers to find out why we do it.

09 May 2013 | The NT government’s abolition of the Banned Drinkers Register has divided opinion in Central Australia, writes Eleanor Hogan in Inside Story.

10 May 2013 | An interview with Helen Clark about the experience of being a woman in politics, and about moving from national to global policy.

VicHealth | VicHealth
13 November 2012 | This guide is one of ten outlining a range of evidence-informed actions that councils may consider when preparing their Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plans and other strategies.
05 September 2012 | This guide is for consumers and explains their rights in relation to mobile phone, landline, internet and pay TV services.
03 September 2012 | This guide encourages Victorian policy makers to consider the social and environmental determinants of mental health when developing or reviewing policy.
01 March 2013 | This talk asks whether Australia can reinvigorate its public institutions to better educate, support and care for those who will, before long, play a central role in shaping the future?

In 1974, the Arecibo Message was broadcast into space. Composed by the finest scientific minds of a generation, its mission was to give intelligent alien civilisations knowledge of the people of Earth. It was, quite frankly, embarrassing. Today a new intellectual explorer Dr Percival Bantam Sauváge has emerged to boldly carry humanity’s business card to the cosmos. takes a light-hearted look at culture in the 21st Century Watch in full
Michael H. Shuman argues that there are a number of initiatives communities must take to support local economies and small business – and that the knock-on effects of local investment are vast: building strong communities and fostering employment, food and industry growth and security.
08 May 2013 | Privatised neighbourhoods and lifestyle migration are a global phenomenon. Increasingly, it seems, middle class people with sufficient capital are choosing to 'opt out' of urban environments, or, at least, to shield themselves from their more 'dangerous' elements, namely the poorer residents.

28 April 2013 | The Whitlam government was full of reforming zeal when it was elected in late 1972. But while it couldn’t change the laws around abortion, it did create something much more complex: a Royal Commission on Human Relationships.

11 April 2013 | Arts and public policy - Is the current system working and does the Government’s recently released National Cultural Policy mark a step forward ? Leigh Tabrett and panel discuss.