Ministerial Advisory Committee on Women and Housing, Victoria: Role, Research and Future Directions

Abstract

The Victorian Ministerial Advisory Committee on Women and Housing (MACWH) was extablished in 1989 to advise the then Minister for Planning and Housing of the specific housing needs of women. The MACWH was an independent advisory group with no legal status, formal requirements or formal position in the Department other than direct access and advice to the Minister. It consisted of representatives from the community sector, various women's groups, banking corporations, real estate institutes, the academy, and private individuals, and was chaired by a female Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. As an independent body the MACWH provided alternative sources of information for policy making other than those already available within the bureaucracy. Its innovative research and critical analyses of current housing policies provided insights into gender-specific housing issues and raised concerns about research practice, policy analysis and policy making. These issues and concerns continue to be important in the urban policy field, despite the fact that the current Liberal Govenment in Victoria abolished this and other ministerial advisory committees in December 1992.