Australian Policy Research Articles

Distributed agency: Care, human needs, and distributive struggles in Portugal

Austerity policies in Portugal unleashed a violent crisis of well-being and social reproduction which intensified the ‘triple burden’ placed upon women, making them the primary ‘shock absorbers’ of the crisis. This article addresses the critical role of working-class women’s various forms of paid and unpaid care work in responding to the material and immaterial needs of impoverished individuals and working-class households. It is shown that women’s care-based responses and distributive struggles sought to minimise the risks that the agency of those they cared for could be compromised in the present and the future. Expanding feminist approaches and broader contributions decentring agency from the ends of individual choice and freedom, the article argues that agency is a distributed capacity and potentiality produced by, and productive of, embedded interdependent caring practices, relationships and investments across space and time to define, fulfil and negotiate the inescapable existence of fundamental needs.

Australia, Indonesia, and East Timorese Family Reunions

Abstract In 2002 East Timor, following over 20 years of Indonesian occupation, became the world’s youngest sovereign state. The violent nature of Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999 led to the displacement of many East Timorese who sought asylum in countries such as Australia and Portugal. This article argues that by trying to seek asylum in Australia, East Timorese refugees complicated Australia’s bipartisan desire to pursue strong diplomatic relations with Indonesia. A hesitancy to recognise East Timorese arrivals as refugees, as a result of these priorities, was reflected through immigration schemes operating in the 1970s and 1980s such as the Family Reunion Program and Special Humanitarian Program. This impacted Australia’s ability to balance its national interests in the Indo-Pacific and its humanitarian obligations, outlined in international legislation such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Refugee Protocol. It also reflected broader diplomatic challenges Australia faced when addressing the situation in East Timor. Exploring this turbulent period in Australian foreign policy through the lens of immigration, this article contributes to research examining the role Australia played in the occupation of East Timor. It also investigates the meanings of dual representations of refugees as both victims and agents within migrant-centered historical accounts.

New development: From blanket coverage to patchwork quilt—rethinking organizational responses to fraud in the National Health Service in England

IMPACT This article will be of value to those working across the National Health Service (NHS) and particularly to those engaged in counter fraud activities across the public sector. As well as having national value, this article will be of international relevance as it speaks to the responsible guardianship of public funds. This article evidences the ways in which counter fraud services across the NHS in England are disjointed and some of the causes for such disjointedness. Official reports estimate that at least £1.2 billion, approximately 1% of the NHS budget, is annually lost to fraud. At a time when the NHS is facing unprecedented demand on its resources due to austerity policies, Brexit and the global pandemic, and with no clear indication of significant additional investment, any loss of NHS funds could have significant impact on patient care and so a better understanding of counter fraud responses in the NHS is potentially pivotal to future responsible handling of public money.

In Loco Parentis: Informal Kinship Care in Australia—Social Benefit and Material Poverty

Informal kinship care families in Australia are a large, hidden population. This article provides an overview of international research and policy developments regarding informal kinship care and considers their relevance to Australia. The benefit to children is identified along with the severe economic burden of care falling on caregiving families. Australian Federal and State policy settings are described in relation to the recognition and support of informal kinship care families, and an overwhelming need for better financial and social support is identified. Ways forward to improve the circumstances of these families are considered, together with areas for future research.

Community-centred yet little community health: The paradoxes of the German health system

Abstract Due to its history of development since the middle of the 19th century, the German health care system is almost exclusively dominated by pathogenesis and the resulting reactive treatment. Insiders dub it “repair medicine”. The situation of community health in Germany is very heterogeneous: On the one hand, the community is referred to as the ‘mother of all settings’. In health services research, it is also referred to as the third pillar of the health care system, alongside inpatient and outpatient care. On the other hand, it cannot and must not be ignored that public budget cuts hit public health structures very hard. Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the deficits caused by thirty years of consistent austerity policies. National surveys shows that the already weak public image of the community health structures has once again suffered a massive loss of confidence among the population during this period. The OECD points out that the health behaviour of the population in Germany deteriorated significantly more during the pandemic than was the case in countries which have had strong health promotion structures for decades. The municipality as the ‘mother of all settings’ could and should have intervened here - but did not. In the context of the ‘Public Health Service Pact’ the German government is currently implementing nationwide so-called ‘health stores’ with a focus on socio-economic hotspots in large cities. Concerned here are low-threshold offerings across the entire spectrum of health promotion and prevention. In this regard, we are also currently involved in an Erasmus KA 203 project with the title ‘Family Health Advisor’. From the German perspective, the project sustainability will depend on the extent to which we manage to transfer the project contents into community health structures, which the ‘Public Health Service Pact’ will bring with it in the next few years.

Scaling beyond north and south: local agency of Finnish municipalities in European structural funds

ABSTRACT Increasing regional differentiation and discontent in Europe have directed critical attention to European territorial cohesion policy and the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI Fund) mechanism. There is wide literature investigating macro-level processes of regional differentiation and cohesion as well as the efficiency of multi-level governance in the implementation of the funding mechanism. This study contributes to the existing multidisciplinary literature on cohesion policy and structural funds by extending an understanding of the ESI Funds system to a local agency perspective with a specific focus on Finnish municipalities and the programme period 2014–2020, characterized by austerity policies, regional discontent and disagreement between the ESI programme regions. The examination offers a new understanding of local agents and beneficiaries’ differential access in the ESI Funds, showing that the agency of municipalities in the ESI Funds is simultaneously enabled and constrained by the multilevel Structural Funds programme’s areas of specialization, national regional policies, partnerships and the local environment. The findings indicate that generating inclusive and equal possibilities for all municipalities would necessitate more attention to the allocation of ESI Funds within the programme regions, not just between them.

Unfit to Bounce Back: On the Martial Politics of Resilience in WWI-Weimar Germany and Austerity Britain

Abstract Resilience discourse, with its implicit assumption of a return to health and productivity following a crisis, is often mobilized to target disabled people. Yet while resilience scholarship has rapidly expanded and become prevalent in various fields over recent decades, it has largely failed to analyze the multiple connections between resilience, disability, and eugenics. This article argues that resilience discourse is a form of martial politics, wielded against disabled people to protect the health and prosperity of the political community. A martial politics of resilience works through three registers, responsibilizing disabled subjects by withdrawing state support, dehumanizing them as unproductive and a burden, and exposing these subjects to abandonment/death through medical and policy interventions. I use the lens of martial politics to think through relationships between resilience, disability, and security in Germany and Britain in the early twentieth and twenty-first centuries, respectively, focusing on psychiatric treatment of trauma in the former and the implementation of austerity policies in the latter. The article thus expands our understanding of relationships between resilience, subjectivity, and security by highlighting the ableist and lethal contours of resilient subjects, polities, and economies.

The Political Economy of Australian Militarism: On the Emergent Military–Industrial–Academic Complex

Abstract Australia is undergoing a process of substantial militarization. This article argues that one of the key forces underpinning Australia’s militarization is an emergent military–industrial–academic complex (MIAC), comprised of increasingly close relationships between universities, defense, and defense industry. The connections between the three have rapidly intensified since 2016 due to changes in defense industry policy, pessimism regarding the strategic environment, the ongoing malaise of the neoliberal university, and the motivations of key individuals. This article demonstrates that each of the three groups is actively seeking closer relationships with the other, driven by a patchwork of competing economic and strategic motivations, and powered by ideals of innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. Each needs the other—for military advantage, for profits, and for survival. Australia’s emergent but rapidly expanding MIAC raises concerns about the pace, nature, and necessity of Australia’s militarization, the impact on the role of the university in society, and the hollowness of Australian strategic policy. Furthermore, it has substantial implications for strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, Australia’s alliances, and the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) partnership.

Reflecting on research at the interface of knowledge and the importance of decolonising transformational unlearning for non-Indigenous researchers

ABSTRACT Decolonising methodology requires that researchers engage in a process of learning and unlearning. This research on the inconsistent recognition of Indigenous rights and social determinants of Indigenous health in Australian policy implementation was positioned at the interface of knowledge systems and drew on a weaving metaphor to guide reflection on learning and unlearning. The aim of this paper is to share a reflection on this research methodology from a non-Indigenous standpoint. Reflexivity, deep listening, peer mentoring and supervision are identified as essential components of decolonising methodology. Through the process of weaving, both practically and philosophically, the significance of transformational unlearning is discussed. This reflection is offered as an example to other non-Indigenous researchers who are open to the challenge of decolonising research at the interface of knowledge.

Resistance and the delivery of healthcare in Australian immigration detention centres

There are few issues that have been as vexing for the Australian healthcare community as the Australian governments policy of mandatory, indefinite, immigration detention. While many concepts have been used to begin to describe the many dilemmas faced by healthcare professionals and their resolution, they are limited, perhaps most fundamentally by the fact that immigration detention is antithetical to health and wellbeing. Furthermore, and while most advice recognises that the abolition of detention is the only option in overcoming these issues, it provides little guidance on how action within detention could contribute to this. Drawing on the work of political theorists and the broader sociological literature, we will introduce and apply a form of action that has not yet been considered for healthcare workers within detention, resistance. We will draw on several examples from the literature to show how everyday resistance could be enacted in healthcare and immigration detention settings. We argue that the concept of resistance has several conceptual and practical advantages over much existing guidance for healthcare workers in these environments, namely that it politicises care and has synergies with other efforts aimed at the abolition of detention. We also offer some reflections on the justifiability of such action, arguing that it is largely consistent with the existing guidance produced by all major healthcare bodies in Australia.

The built environment and child obesity: A review of Australian policies.

Child obesity is a serious public health challenge affected by both individual choice and societal and environmental factors. The main modifiable risk factors for child obesity are unhealthy eating and low levels of physical activity, both influenced by aspects of the built environment. Coordinated government policy across jurisdictions, developed using strong research evidence, can enable built environments that better support healthy lifestyles. This study reviewed current Australian and Western Australian government policies to understand if and how they address the impact of the built environment on child obesity, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet. Current government policy documents related to the built environment and child health were analyzed using the Comprehensive Analysis of Policy on Physical Activity framework. Ten Australian and 31 Western Australian government policy documents were identified. Most referred to the role of the built environment in supporting physical activity. Very few policies mentioned the built environment's role in reducing sedentary behaviors, supporting healthy eating, and addressing obesity. Few recognized the needs of children, and none mentioned children in policy development. Future government policy development should include the voices of children and child-specific built environment features. Inter-organizational policies with transparent implementation and evaluation plans are recommended.

Are Australian regulatory and policy frameworks ready for a distributed‐energy‐resources‐led energy transition?

AbstractElectricity markets are facing innovation disruptions at levels never seen before. One of the major drivers is the introduction of distributed energy resources (DERs) technologies, especially those that apply to rooftop solar power. This has called into question established regulatory practices and brought new challenges to system operations. In this context, this article seeks to provide a comprehensive investigation of potential policy options for Australia's energy markets from two perspectives. We first examine recent and proposed reforms in this area, and then proceed to review the challenges for Australian regulators that will have major implications for the future, affecting policymaking, regulation, and market design.Points for practitioners The Australian energy framework is complicated, reflecting its regulatory history, geographical complexity, and federal governance structure. As a force for creative distraction, the penetration of DERs has created challenges for the electricity system and requires careful regulatory treatment. Topical themes in the regulation of DERs include, amongst others, technical standards, metering access, reserve capacity, new business models, network stability, the role of regulated utilities, and support for low‐income households. The necessary regulatory transition is accepted as being evolutionary rather than revolutionary in nature so as to enable the existing major stakeholders to adapt to the new environment.

Fifty years of open education policy and practice in Australia

This article considers selected Australian and international theories, policies, and practices of open and distance education, since ODLAA (formerly the Australian and South Pacific External Studies Association) was formed in 1973, through to the current post-pandemic period. It considers the shifting conceptualization of open education as Australian institutions responded to social and political challenges, particularly the Dawkins Reforms. Open education is discussed as a concept that emerged during the formation of the United Kingdom’s Open University and which spread with the establishment of other open universities internationally, but not in Australia. It is argued that, alongside the rise of open university education, there were important developments in distance education theory. The article reviews the work of Börje Holmberg, Michael Moore, and Otto Peters and their influence on the policies and practices of distance education. More recent scholars’ theoretical interpretations and adaptations are discussed alongside changes in Australian higher education policy and their effects on open and distance learning.

Assessment of COVID-19-related medical device regulator policies on entry to market for prioritised devices: a case study

Background/Aims In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, medical devices were given exceptional use authorisations. Medical device regulators around the world modified their administrative approach to medical device approval to ensure that relevant devices and personal protection equipment would be available to healthcare professionals and patients. Using data from medical device regulators in the US and Australia, this study assessed the impact of COVID-19-related regulatory modifications implemented to allow quick market entry of relevant equipment, and how data science techniques can help to inform future policy. Methods Data from the US Food and Drug Administration's Global Unique Device Identification Database and the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration's Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods were used as case studies to explore the effects of policy changes. All COVID-19-related devices and personal protective equipment were identified in the data using the Global Medical Device Nomenclature system and device descriptions. A 10-day and 20-day moving average was applied to assess how many of these devices reached the market between 30 July 2019 and 24 June 2020. Results In both the US and Australian datasets, the number of market entries increased after the pandemic began. However, the impact of the Australian policy appeared to be greater than that of the US, as there was a considerable increase in the number of personal protective equipment and COVID-19-related device registrations following the declaration of the pandemic in Australia, while the impact on the US data was relatively minimal. Conclusions In general, market entry of relevant equipment increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating the possible impact of policy changes. The kind of data captured in national databases greatly influences the ability to accurately track performance of regulatory policy changes. This work shows the potential of using data science in a regulatory context to assess if a policy change creates the desired effect.

Вплив міжнародних економічних суб’єктів на державне регулювання економіки

Based on the concept of jointly-divided activities, the paper reveals the essence of the government’s regulation of economy as a sub-function of state’s economic functions, where the government is a bearer of society’s general economic interests. The work substantiates the positive and negative sides of the influence of international economic entities on economic policy by splitting up state’s own functions and state’s applied functions, so that the latter may contradict the former and be not corresponding to the essence of state. The author reveals the main interests of the triad of globalizers – TNCs, international organizations and developed countries. The study shows the asymmetric nature of the interaction between the open economies and the main international economic entities – international organizations and TNCs, which is due to the difference in their interests and opportunities to influence each other. The paper outlines the main causes and consequences of the negative influence of international organizations and TNCs on the government’s economic regulation in developed countries and other open economies. Revealed the problems of imposing unified rules on economic policy in transition economies by international organizations, of setting requirements for crediting, and of promoting the neoliberal concept and the austerity policy. The work analyzes the negative consequences of the influence of TNCs on state economic regulation, namely: the weakening of employees’ bargaining power and the fall of their incomes, the growth of inequality, the reduction of the tax burden on corporations, offshorization, the hypertrophied development of the financial sphere, etc. The study shows various methods to mitigate the consequences of the negative influence of TNCs on open economies. The paper highlights the main mechanisms of influence of international economic entities on state economic regulation. Revealed the main challenges of state economic regulation caused by the increasing influence of international economic entities and globalization in general. Based on these challenges, the paper highlights the following main necessary transformations of state economic regulation: (1) increasing the level of subjectivity of the state as a bearer of national interests, (2) ensuring institutional foundations for inclusive global development based on the principles of equality, justice and transparency, and (3) neutralizing the negative impact on national socio-economic security exerted by international actors.

Making the case for policy interventions in disaster governance and management in Australia to better support internally displaced people

PurposePolicy is key for effective displacement governance in times of crises and in response and recovery. Therefore, this study assessed if Australian climate, disaster and emergency management policies provide effective mechanisms for governing displacement crises and areas where current approaches could be improved.Design/methodology/approachThis study assessed 18 national and state-level disaster, emergency and climate change management frameworks to determine if best practice displacement governance themes were reflected in policy documents. Deductive thematic analysis was undertaken using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase method.FindingsIssues of displacement are reflected in policies analysed in this study. However, current policy frameworks need to be equipped to comprehensively address the housing requirements of displaced people or provide long-term initiatives. Approaches are focused on crisis management rather than pre-emptively planning for displacement response and recovery. Therefore, Australia has not exercised national responsibility for displaced people appropriately.Research limitations/implicationsDisaster displacement is an under-researched area of Australian scholarship and disaster management policy and practice. Therefore, this paper has practical implications in so far as it draws attention to the issue of displacement in Australia. A limitation of this paper is that it only analysed policy frameworks specific to disasters. While broader engagement was outside the scope of this study, this limitation provides opportunities for further research from disciplinary perspectives of public housing and homelessness to examine displacement policy challenges in these fields. Furthermore, this study is limited to a theoretical inquiry into this topic through a desktop review of policy documents. While this is a necessary first step, empirical studies are required to determine accurate displacement rates, drivers and people’s experience of being displaced.Practical implicationsThis research aims to inform policy by presenting recommendations for policy interventions for disaster displacement governance. Therefore, this research has practical implications as policy and disaster risk reduction (DRR) professionals can draw from the findings of this research when planning and initiating disaster response for displaced persons.Social implicationsThis research draws attention to an area of disaster management practice and policy that has not been adequately accounted for. Highlighting gaps in current policy can assist in developing targeted strategies and solutions for internally displaced people, which protect their rights and meet their needs.Originality/valueDisplacement is a growing climate change issue. This research aims to help address this problem by drawing attention to areas where Australian disaster management approaches fail to account for displaced populations. Therefore, this research has practical implications for addressing future issues of disaster injustice that may arise if displacement continues, unacknowledged in disaster management.

Living in Limbo: The Experiences of People Seeking Asylum in Australia

Over the past two decades, the Australian policy environment has become increasingly focused on deterring asylum seekers. For people who arrived by sea between August 13, 2012 and January 1, 2014 (legally considered the “legacy caseload”), policy measures include border excision, the removal of permanent protection and family reunion, and restrictions on economic and social rights. This research reports the results of 15 In-depth, semi-structured interviews, with legacy caseload asylum seekers to explore how policy instruments affected and governed their lives. This research found that the prolonged refugee determination process excludes people seeking asylum from meaningful support. This research contends people seeking asylum in Australia exist in a liminal space—in a state of exclusion enforced by the government.

Tools and resources used to support implementation of workplace healthy food and drink policies: A scoping review of grey literature.

This study aimed to identify and evaluate tools and resources used to support the implementation of workplace healthy food and drink policies, primarily in Australia and New Zealand. A scoping grey literature review included searches of government agencies and non-governmental organisations' websites in six English-speaking countries, public health nutrition intervention databases and Google search engine queries. Paper-based and digital tools were included if they were written in English, referred to within a policy or on a policy's website, and primarily targeting supply-side stakeholders. Tools were evaluated on two domains: 'Features' (summarised descriptively) and 'Usability and Quality' (with inter-rater reliability scores calculated using an intraclass correlation coefficient). Twenty paper-based tools were identified relating to Australian (n = 14) and New Zealand (n = 6) policies, and a further six digital tools were identified from Australia (n = 3) and Canada (n = 3). Target audiences included workplace managers, food providers and suppliers. The paper-based tools focused on general implementation guidance. In contrast, digital tools tended to support specific elements of policy implementation. 'Usability and Quality' scores ranged from 2.9 to 4.5 (out of 5.0) for paper-based tools, and 3.9 to 4.2 for digital tools, with a moderate agreement between reviewer scores (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.523, p = 0.010). A range of tools have been developed to support the implementation of workplace healthy food and drink policies. Understanding the strengths and limitations of current tools will assist in developing improved aids to support policy implementation.

Structural Transformations and Everyday Spatial Consequences in Austerity Ireland: An Embedded Comparative Approach

Urban research often focuses on aggregate characteristics of macroeconomic performances or in-depth case studies of everyday urban phenomena. However, this dichotomy risks alienating two perspectives that can constructively illuminate spatial developments together. This article extends the “political economy of everyday life” approach, borrowed from political economy, to connect the local and everyday to global structures. The aim is to make this perspective sensitive to geographic differences and develop a “spatial political economy of everyday life.” To operationalise this approach, I discuss the multi-scale analysis employed in a comparative project on austerity and urban youth in Ireland that sought to ground everyday consequences in a structural context. This project combined three methods: (a) a theoretical analysis of the global structures of the 2008 financial crisis, (b) a policy analysis of the impact of Irish austerity policies on youth, and (c) a comparative qualitative analysis of the everyday consequences of crisis and austerity on youth from disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Cork and Dublin. This embedded comparative approach identified how the global financial crisis shaped national policies and how geographic differences shaped everyday spatial and personal consequences. This embedded comparative approach conceptualises cities as places where the structural and everyday constitute each other. It illuminates how this mutual interaction creates spatial particularities and common trends. In doing so, an embedded comparative approach contributes to developing a “spatial political economy of everyday life.”

Business politicians and fiscal consolidation

AbstractWhat explains the variation in countries’ propensity to engage in austerity policy? Economic and political country-level factors are the paramount explanations in the literature. Nevertheless, variation in fiscal preferences at the executive level remains underexplored, except for ideology. Moreover, budget decisions are endogenous to the state of the economy, thus casting doubt on standard measures based on the debt and/or deficit ratio. This article contributes to the literature in two ways. First, I turn to the individual level of analysis and suggest that leaders with business experience are more likely to pursue a balanced budget and tend to implement fiscal consolidation policies based on spending cuts. Second, I ease concerns about individuals’ self-selection into office by relying on fiscal adjustments that are weakly orthogonal to the economic cycle. The statistical analysis of a panel of 17 OECD countries between 1978 and 2014 confirms the theoretical expectations. The results are robust to a variety of specification and statistical methodologies and hold for a subset of as-if random leadership transitions following close elections. A case study of Brian Mulroney's governments in Canada (1984–93) further illustrates the argument.