New Research

Human development report 2011

Human development report 2011

04 November 2011Arguing that the urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together, this report identifies policies on the national and global level to spur progress towards these interlinked goals. 

Mapping social cohesion 2011

27 September 2011Exploring attitudes towards immigration, racial tolerance, asylum seekers, and trust in government, this study reveals that while Australia continues to be a cohesive multicultural society, some indicators raise concern.

Social exclusion monitor bulletin

Social exclusion monitor bulletin

09 September 2011In order to monitor social progress and the effectiveness of government policies, this paper argues that it is essential that we have a rigorous measure of the number of people experiencing exclusion.

Religion and development: Australian faith-based development organisations

Religion and development: Australian faith-based development organisations

30 August 2011Faith plays a crucial role in development, yet 'faith-based' organisations continue to face ambivalence towards their religiosity and how it may impact upon the development work they do.

Perspectives on education and training: social inclusion

15 August 2011Cultural and linguistic diversity is associated with higher educational attainment and participation according to this article.

Social capital among school students in disadvantaged communities

Social capital among school students in disadvantaged communities

15 August 2011 

The Benevolent Society and the University of Western Sydney recently carried out research to measure social capital in schools in two disadvantaged communities in New South Wales.

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Families & households

Past and present adoptions in Australia

09 February 2012This Facts Sheet provides a summary of the ways in which adoption currently operates, past adoption practices, and the potential impacts adoption has on those involved.

State Trustees Limited: management of represented persons

08 February 2012This audit found that State Trustees is not able to clearly demonstrate that it is fulfilling its obligations to represented persons.

Family violence and Commonwealth laws - improving legal frameworks: final report

08 February 2012This report contains 102 recommendations for law reform to address family violence.

Social inclusion

Teaching with social media in classroom settings: Top ten practices from teachers around Europe

05 February 2012The “Teachers’ competition for social media use in formal language learning contexts” was created within the framework of the EU-funded network “Language learning and social media: 6 key dialogues”.

Service costs in modern residential aged care facilities

31 January 2012This paper presents the results of a national study of the cost of delivering residential aged care services in modern and efficient facilities.

Commentary

Can nations measure well-being?

09 December 2011The attempt to measure quality of life over time and between places is still in its infancy, writes Peter Shergold for the Centre for Social Impact.

Stand up, and be counted and challenged

27 November 2011

Religious groups respond differently to increasing diversity, writes Charlotte Baines.

Why we need social science

16 September 2011The social sciences produce a kind of knowledge that has become vital, writes Raewyn Connell in this edited extract from her new book, Confronting Equality.

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Topic Guides

NBN: Guide for Consumers

  • Australian Communications Consumer Action Network & Internet Society Australia

09 June 2011The Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), have developed NBN: A Guide for Consumers, designed to offer all Australians information about the National Broadband Network.

Homelessness

  • Public Policy Institute - Australian Catholic University

12 December 2011Despite numerous reports, reviews and initiatives over many years, homelessness remains a policy issue in search of a solution.

Equity and education

  • Public Policy Institute - Australian Catholic University

12 December 2011In the international testing stakes, Australian school students are mostly high achievers. However, there is a significant equity problem in education.

Audio

Multiculturalism, migration and a sustainable Australia

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10 November 2011 Australia's brand of multiculturalism is admired by other nations, but it still has its sticking points, and future challenges as discussed in this Social Policy Research Centre forum.

Who counts? A history of the census

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04 August 2011Next week Australia holds its census, and so Rear Vision traces the recent history of this ancient institution, to make sense of who counts, and who does the counting.

Immigration & refugees

Inclusive education for students with refugee experience: whole school reform in a South Australian primary school

25 January 2012In recent years, there has been an increase in students with refugee experience in the UK, the US, Europe and Australia.

Immigration detention in Australia

23 January 2012The policy of mandatory detention in Australia (that is the legal requirement to detain all non-citizens without a valid visa) was introduced by the Keating (Labor) Government in 1992 in response to a wave of Indochinese boat arrivals.

Australian Government spending on irregular maritime arrivals and counter-people smuggling activity

23 January 2012There has been much discussion in both the media and political debate in recent times about the substantial and rising costs to the Australian Government of intercepting, detaining and processing asylum seekers arriving by boat.

Video

Immigration and Islam

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10 May 2010A panel organised by the Graduate Centre at City University in New York, discuss problems raised by increasing global migration, especially as it relates to Muslims entering the west. 

The politics of the Hijab

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30 April 2010Bronwyn Winter has better part of two decades thinking and writing about the politics of the hijab, and here in conversation with Shakira Hussein at Gleebooks they explore the issues surrounding this highly politicised garment, which are very far from simple.

Youth

Juvenile detention population in Australia 2011

09 February 2012This report presents information on the number of young people in detention in 2011 and describes recent trends in the detention population.

Early childhood, education and training; justice; emergency management

08 February 2012Volume one of the report focuses on early childhood, education and training as well as justice and emergency management sectors.

Websites

Commissioner for Children and Young People Western Australia

30 August 2011Commissioner for Children and Young People WA Michelle Scott has released a new online resource that provides a socio-demographic profile of Western Australia’s 500,000 children and young people.

Census of Population and Housing

04 August 2011This is the official website for matters concerning the 9 August 2011 Census of Population and Housing in Australia.

Australian Social Policy Association (ASPA)

18 July 2011Established to promote debate and to increase understanding of social policy in Australia, the ASPA enables productive collaborations between those working and researching in social policy locally, across the Asia-Pacific region and internationally.

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Books

Speechwriting for government in Australia

Speechwriting for government in Australia

  • James Groves
  • James Groves & Associates
"...an indispensible book...excellent practical guide to the art of effective oral communication" from the Foreword by Malcolm Hazell CVO AM, former Official Secretary to the Governor-General
Digital futures for cultural and media studies

Digital futures for cultural and media studies

  • John Hartley
  • Wiley-Blackwell
As they play with their digital devices and online games, children may unknowingly be making up the kind of democracy we will have tomorrow.

Noticeboard

Topic Guides

NBN: Guide for Consumers

  • Australian Communications Consumer Action Network & Internet Society Australia

09 June 2011The Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) and the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), have developed NBN: A Guide for Consumers, designed to offer all Australians information about the National Broadband Network.

Topics

APO