Waithood: The experience of being on the social housing waiting list. This project aims to investigate the circumstances of people on the social housing waiting-list and how they manage their everyday lives while waiting for a social housing property to become available. It also aims to conduct a review of how social housing waiting list assessments are done and profile the waiting list population. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the study expects to generate new knowledge on different groups o ....Waithood: The experience of being on the social housing waiting list. This project aims to investigate the circumstances of people on the social housing waiting-list and how they manage their everyday lives while waiting for a social housing property to become available. It also aims to conduct a review of how social housing waiting list assessments are done and profile the waiting list population. Drawing on in-depth interviews, the study expects to generate new knowledge on different groups of applicants. Expected outcomes include an enhanced understanding of the impacts of being on the waiting list for extended periods. This study will provide significant benefits as the high quality evidence produced should enhance policymakers’ understandings of applicants' circumstances and lead to better outcomes.Read moreRead less
Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care. This project aims to investigate why children and young people in Out-Of-Home-Care in Australia are absent from school far more than their peers. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the reasons for their absences and to develop solutions to improve attendance through: children’s own voices; detailed absence data; policy audit; and case studies of promising practice. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive conceptuali ....Fostering school attendance for students in Out-of-Home Care. This project aims to investigate why children and young people in Out-Of-Home-Care in Australia are absent from school far more than their peers. The project expects to generate new knowledge about the reasons for their absences and to develop solutions to improve attendance through: children’s own voices; detailed absence data; policy audit; and case studies of promising practice. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive conceptualisation of absences including those triggered by schools or the care context; and an evidence-informed, child-centred framework to enable attendance and, thereby, improved educational outcomes. This should provide significant social and economic benefits both for children in care and for the community. Read moreRead less
Challenges, Possibilities and Future Directions: A National Assessment of Australia's Children's Courts. Children's Courts occupy a unique position in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in responding to often marginalized delinquent youth and vulnerable children and families. Philosophical and structural shifts in Australia and overseas suggest community and legal system responses are often ineffective and contribute to longer-term problems, creating social challenges for governments ....Challenges, Possibilities and Future Directions: A National Assessment of Australia's Children's Courts. Children's Courts occupy a unique position in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems in responding to often marginalized delinquent youth and vulnerable children and families. Philosophical and structural shifts in Australia and overseas suggest community and legal system responses are often ineffective and contribute to longer-term problems, creating social challenges for governments and communities alike. This national study will examine how key stakeholders, including, significantly, judicial officers, view the Children's Court's contemporary responses and challenges, their preferred alternatives responses and the viability of suggested reforms, thus offering a unique contribution to informing legal and social policy change.Read moreRead less
Catching capital: Understanding and influencing corporate tax strategy. This project aims to analyse the factors which influence the tax strategies of large multi-national corporations, and explain variations in behaviour between firms and industry sectors. Identifying reforms that exert the greatest influence over corporate behaviour will enable reforms which refine and improve the efficacy of international tax regimes. The expected outcomes will provide an evidence base for policy makers to ev ....Catching capital: Understanding and influencing corporate tax strategy. This project aims to analyse the factors which influence the tax strategies of large multi-national corporations, and explain variations in behaviour between firms and industry sectors. Identifying reforms that exert the greatest influence over corporate behaviour will enable reforms which refine and improve the efficacy of international tax regimes. The expected outcomes will provide an evidence base for policy makers to evaluate and refine corporate tax reform initiatives.Read moreRead less
Mapping the effect of social enterprise on regional city disadvantage. This project aims to explore how social enterprises affect wellbeing and community capacity in disadvantaged areas of regional cities. Governments increasingly invest in social enterprise to benefit individuals and places. This project will use a spatial methodology to map where and how benefits are realised. To date, robust evidence about how social enterprise affects disadvantage is lacking, partly due to inadequate researc ....Mapping the effect of social enterprise on regional city disadvantage. This project aims to explore how social enterprises affect wellbeing and community capacity in disadvantaged areas of regional cities. Governments increasingly invest in social enterprise to benefit individuals and places. This project will use a spatial methodology to map where and how benefits are realised. To date, robust evidence about how social enterprise affects disadvantage is lacking, partly due to inadequate research methodology. This project expects to provide web-based design tools and applications to assist regional city communities and councils in the development of social enterprises that can help disadvantaged people and places.Read moreRead less
Sustainable fiscal federalism and reform of the GST distribution system. The primary source of funds for Australian States and Territories is GST revenue distributed by the Commonwealth using an equalisation formula that has proved to be politically unsustainable and in recent times manifestly inadequate to provide the revenue needed in response to crises and natural disasters. A tipping point has been reached and reform is urgently needed. Drawing on international experience with GST distributi ....Sustainable fiscal federalism and reform of the GST distribution system. The primary source of funds for Australian States and Territories is GST revenue distributed by the Commonwealth using an equalisation formula that has proved to be politically unsustainable and in recent times manifestly inadequate to provide the revenue needed in response to crises and natural disasters. A tipping point has been reached and reform is urgently needed. Drawing on international experience with GST distributions specifically and fiscal federalism more generally, the project aims to develop a reform blueprint for a sustainable and equitable fiscal federalism regime in Australia that best aligns with Australia’s current and long-term fiscal needs.Read moreRead less
Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisati ....Enabling social innovation for local climate adaptability. Climate variability and change is likely to be felt most acutely at the local scale in Australia. This is where inter/national and State policies are translated into practices to prepare for, and adapt to, anticipated impacts of heatwaves, bushfires and floods. This project will investigate tensions and potentialities between risk-based assessments by local governance agencies and innovations by local groups and Non-Government Organisations. The research will utilise an innovative mixed-methods approach to investigate and to analyse the strategies and experiments of adaptation practices. It aims to develop new ways of identifying and implementing practical, local, adaptive responses that are contextually relevant, socially innovative and capacity building.Read moreRead less
Neo-liberalism and the Decline of Democratic Governance: A Problem of Institutional Design? How well Australia's democracy is working is critical both for national policy making and for citizenship. Many scholars argue that populism is in the ascendant, political parties have weakened and that public confidence in political leaders has diminished. This project will provide an authoritative test of these propositions. If they are established, it will identify the ways democratic governance can be ....Neo-liberalism and the Decline of Democratic Governance: A Problem of Institutional Design? How well Australia's democracy is working is critical both for national policy making and for citizenship. Many scholars argue that populism is in the ascendant, political parties have weakened and that public confidence in political leaders has diminished. This project will provide an authoritative test of these propositions. If they are established, it will identify the ways democratic governance can be renewed.Read moreRead less
Assessing and addressing tax system complexity in Australia. Tax reform and simplification are highly topical in government, business and the wider community, with many initiatives proposed or under way. This project will identify the key factors in tax system complexity, measure the costs it imposes upon taxpayers and develop complexity indices that can test new policy measures and monitor improvements.
Shifting the Culture of Out-of-field Professional Education for Teachers. This project aims to model an education system that would diversify the expertise of teachers as part of attending to long-term teacher shortage. It responds to a pressing national need for a system of valued and accessible professional education (PE) for out-of-field teachers. The project draws on perspectives from schools, governments and PE providers to expose current practices, cultural norms, and policies; propose an ....Shifting the Culture of Out-of-field Professional Education for Teachers. This project aims to model an education system that would diversify the expertise of teachers as part of attending to long-term teacher shortage. It responds to a pressing national need for a system of valued and accessible professional education (PE) for out-of-field teachers. The project draws on perspectives from schools, governments and PE providers to expose current practices, cultural norms, and policies; propose an 'ideal' PE ecosystem that values re-specialisation in the core subjects; and develop principles to inform policy and practice needed to attain this ideal. The evidence-based framing of PE will inform efforts by schools, PE providers and policy makers to sustain a highly capable, adaptive and specialised teaching workforce.Read moreRead less