COVID-19, health and labour market marginalisation . This project aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour market marginalisation in Australia. It seeks to generate new insights about whether the global economic shock had a disproportionately negative effect on the employment circumstances of working-age Australians with mental health and musculoskeletal/pain conditions, which are the leading causes of disability in Australia. The expected outcomes of this project includ ....COVID-19, health and labour market marginalisation . This project aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour market marginalisation in Australia. It seeks to generate new insights about whether the global economic shock had a disproportionately negative effect on the employment circumstances of working-age Australians with mental health and musculoskeletal/pain conditions, which are the leading causes of disability in Australia. The expected outcomes of this project include improved policy responses to direct effective support and assistance to those with the greatest need, and new resources for the research community. This should lead to significant benefits through reduced inequalities and improved social, economic and workforce outcomes for vulnerable Australians.Read moreRead less
Understanding recent Australian trends in alcohol consumption and harms. This project aims to provide critical insight into recent trends in alcohol consumption and related harm in Australia. Many indicators of harm from alcohol have increased dramatically in the past decade, while drinking behaviours appear largely unchanged. This project aims to investigate two potential explanations for these trends: that apparent increases in rates of alcohol-related harm are driven by operational or adminis ....Understanding recent Australian trends in alcohol consumption and harms. This project aims to provide critical insight into recent trends in alcohol consumption and related harm in Australia. Many indicators of harm from alcohol have increased dramatically in the past decade, while drinking behaviours appear largely unchanged. This project aims to investigate two potential explanations for these trends: that apparent increases in rates of alcohol-related harm are driven by operational or administrative practices rather than by increases in actual harm; and that stable per-capita consumption data obscures divergent drinking behaviours, with increases among heavy drinkers driving increasing harm rates. The project aims to inform alcohol policy debates, which rely on robust trend data.Read moreRead less
Welfare reform and welfare stigma : scroungers, slackers and bludgers? This project aims to build an evidence base of the prevalence, causes and consequences of welfare stigma in Australia. Welfare policies and proposed reforms aim to reduce welfare expenditure, increase workforce participation, and promote personal and family wellbeing. However, stigmatising attitudes and discrimination towards those receiving welfare benefits may undermine these policy goals: reducing employment opportunities ....Welfare reform and welfare stigma : scroungers, slackers and bludgers? This project aims to build an evidence base of the prevalence, causes and consequences of welfare stigma in Australia. Welfare policies and proposed reforms aim to reduce welfare expenditure, increase workforce participation, and promote personal and family wellbeing. However, stigmatising attitudes and discrimination towards those receiving welfare benefits may undermine these policy goals: reducing employment opportunities and causing poorer health and wellbeing. Through innovative experimental studies, the project plans to identify ways in which welfare policy can minimise stigma and promote employment. Project outcomes may provide an evidence base for the design of more effective welfare policy.Read moreRead less
Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss ....Assessing the national productivity impacts of chronic ill health. The project aims to address one of the biggest gaps in health and productivity research by designing a novel composite national metric that will rank lost productivity due to chronic illness The project brings together tax/transfer modelling, health modelling and epidemiological modelling specialists to develop a highly innovative microsimulation model: Health&WorkMOD to then quantify the costs of health-related productivity loss. The proposed model, an international first, will be a powerful tool to comprehensively model the cost impacts of illness and simulate policy options related to health and productivity. This will provide answers to critical policy questions for government with potential significant economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Genetic Identity Testing and the Family: the articulation between biotechnology and family relationships, politics and policy. Genetic identity testing cuts to the very nature of the family itself. For the first time in human history, it is possible to identify paternity - and misattributed paternity - with reasonable certainty. Parentage testing has become a vehicle for the fathers? rights movement, and is influencing the management of child support policy. Governments are currently developing ....Genetic Identity Testing and the Family: the articulation between biotechnology and family relationships, politics and policy. Genetic identity testing cuts to the very nature of the family itself. For the first time in human history, it is possible to identify paternity - and misattributed paternity - with reasonable certainty. Parentage testing has become a vehicle for the fathers? rights movement, and is influencing the management of child support policy. Governments are currently developing broad policy frameworks on this issue. Yet there is almost no social research on parentage testing. This study will provide scope for Australian leadership in an area of study that will become progressively more important with the rapid development of DNA chip technology. Read moreRead less
Inequality, Prosperity and the Australian Welfare State. This project aims to clarify contested understandings of Australian inequality and the role of economic and social policies in addressing policy challenges going forward. The objective of the project is to generate significantly improved knowledge of inequality in Australia using innovative approaches of data splicing, decomposition, simulation and backcasting to fill research gaps and resolve contested interpretations. We aim to provide a ....Inequality, Prosperity and the Australian Welfare State. This project aims to clarify contested understandings of Australian inequality and the role of economic and social policies in addressing policy challenges going forward. The objective of the project is to generate significantly improved knowledge of inequality in Australia using innovative approaches of data splicing, decomposition, simulation and backcasting to fill research gaps and resolve contested interpretations. We aim to provide a benchmark and robust framework against which policy development after the current crisis can be evaluated. This project aims to provide significant benefits, keeping Australia at the forefront of research on inequality and public policy, strengthening links between researchers and policy makers.
Read moreRead less
Child poverty, labour markets and social transfers. This project aims to discover how earnings and social transfers determine the living standards of disadvantaged families with children, and the constraints that wage rates and employment patterns place on social transfer structures. This project will compare the family incomes of disadvantaged children and how the interaction of wage rates, employment and social policies affect them. It will compare Australian outcomes to those in OECD and midd ....Child poverty, labour markets and social transfers. This project aims to discover how earnings and social transfers determine the living standards of disadvantaged families with children, and the constraints that wage rates and employment patterns place on social transfer structures. This project will compare the family incomes of disadvantaged children and how the interaction of wage rates, employment and social policies affect them. It will compare Australian outcomes to those in OECD and middle income countries. This project expects to understand which labour market and social policies combine to lead to the best economic outcomes for disadvantaged families and children.Read moreRead less
Social exclusion in adolescence: risks, assets, experiences and policy action. This project aims to investigate social exclusion among young people aged 8 to 17 including the risks of exclusion they face, the assets mobilised to support their inclusion and their life experiences in the context of these risks and assets. The project intends to investigate which risks, assets and experiences are most closely related to outcomes, and how these vary by age and gender. Expected outcomes include a new ....Social exclusion in adolescence: risks, assets, experiences and policy action. This project aims to investigate social exclusion among young people aged 8 to 17 including the risks of exclusion they face, the assets mobilised to support their inclusion and their life experiences in the context of these risks and assets. The project intends to investigate which risks, assets and experiences are most closely related to outcomes, and how these vary by age and gender. Expected outcomes include a new understanding of the relationship between social exclusion and outcomes in adolescence as well as entry points for policy intervention. Addressing social exclusion in adolescence will lead to improved outcomes in health, education and productivity, and a more socially-cohesive society.Read moreRead less
Developing the capacity to model the impact of interventions that target high-risk drinking among young Australians. Alcohol use is a major contributing factor to social and health problems among young Australians. The project will inform the development of effective policy by providing multidisciplinary research evidence and the capacity to model how various interventions impact on the prevalence of alcohol-related problems.
Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work. This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produc ....Understanding gender inequality in the post-pandemic future of work. This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis on the working futures of young women and men in three advanced market economies where the pandemic hit with varying degrees of severity. Young people have experienced the greatest upheaval of all workers, and the impact has been gendered. Recovery strategies will have lasting consequences for women’s and men’s working futures. The project will produce macro-level mapping of post-pandemic national work/care regimes, and micro-level survey data on young people’s experience of and attitudes to the future of work in Australia, the UK and Japan, to deliver insights on the gendered economic and social impact of the pandemic and inform a more inclusive global recovery.Read moreRead less