APRIL 2025
We are delighted to bring you the latest update from the BSL Social Policy and Research Centre (SPARC).
In this issue you can register to hear experts talk about their experience of inequality in Australia; watch our BSL Talks event for International Women’s Day; read about our evaluation of the Critical Interim Support program pilot; learn about the Foundational Capabilities Pathway; and much more.
You can read more about our current work at www.bsl.org.au/research and also browse our policy submissions.
Please share this update with your colleagues and encourage them to subscribe.
BSL Talks:
TACKLING INEQUALITY: HEARING FROM EXPERTS WITH EXPERIENCE
Wednesday 30 April, 12 pm AEST
online
Inequality often remains unseen, yet, 1 in 7 people in Australia are living in poverty*. This is the highest estimated level since 2001.
We invite you to hear directly from the experts – those with personal experience of inequality – who will share their challenges, insights and stories of resilience. Panelists will help highlight the importance of listening to those directly affected by disadvantage in creating systemic change. Led by SPARC’s Director, Dr Nicole Bieske, this conversation will provide insight into living with poverty. Hear from those who know the issues and solutions best.
Please register below.
*Productivity Commission 2024
RECORDING: WOMEN MARCHING FORWARD?
2025 marks fifty years since the release of the Henderson Commission of Inquiry into Poverty’s first major report, Poverty in Australia.
No women were members of the Inquiry into Poverty when appointed by Prime Minister Billy McMahon in 1972. Nor were any women authors of the final report to the Whitlam Government in 1975.
Since then, there has been much to celebrate, with hard-won policy changes designed to support women’s economic security and independence. But progress has not been smooth or easy. Low pay, unpaid care work and gendered violence are just some of the factors that contribute to women’s poverty and disadvantage.
Hear from Dr Dina Bowman, Principal Research Fellow at BSL’s Social Policy and Research Centre in conversation with Emeritus Professor Bettina Cass (University of NSW), Professor Kay Cook (Swinburne University of Technology) and Farah Farouque, (Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria).
PILOT: CRITICAL INTERIM SUPPORT
The Critical Interim Support (CIS) program was devised to provide immediate case management services to vulnerable and socially isolated older people in Melbourne. BSL has run the philanthropically funded pilot since 2020. It ran in parallel with the government’s Care Finder program, the mainstream case management system for older people so differences and gaps could be identified.
Our evaluation found that CIS addresses the risks faced by older people experiencing deep disadvantage by providing early intervention before people’s health deteriorates. This reduces greater demand on health systems and enables participants to stay at home longer. In short, CIS is a short-term investment to prevent long-term dependency.
Read Critical Interim Support evaluation research summary (266 KB)
PRACTICE GUIDE: FOUNDATIONAL CAPABILITIES PATHWAY
Collaborative workforce innovation: a practice guide for developing a Foundational Capabilities Pathway built on lessons from the AgFutures initiative outlines an approach to skilled workforce development through the Foundational Capabilities Pathway (FCP). The FCP is a model and a practice approach for the collaborative design and delivery of an entry-level employment-based training pathway that gives jobseekers a set of core technical skills they need to enter an industry.
This practice guide was developed using insights from an FCP demonstration project – the AgFutures initiative – which tested the application of the model and practice approach in the agricultural sector in Victoria’s Barwon South West region from 2022–25. Insights from testing the FCP model through the AgFutures initiative are used throughout this practice guide as examples of the model and practice approach in action.
The primary audiences of this guide are workforce development practitioners, Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector stakeholders, youth and social service providers and employers, and industry bodies engaged in localised workforce development solutions.
POLICY: EMPLOYMENT SERVICES COMPLAINTS
While BSL is pleased that the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (the Department) is making improvements to the complaints service, we note that this is a small part of a large system in need of urgent and major reform to move towards a more collaborative, people-centred, place-based and industry-focused approach (as detailed in our submission to the Inquiry into Workforce Australia Employment Services). We have urged the Department to prioritise reforms that build human capability and support long-term economic security and wellbeing.
We submitted 10 recommendations to the review including using complaint data to inform system reform; establishing an independent commission to manage complaints; communicate policy-related complaints to the relevant ministers; establish joint accountability across all employment services; foster a culture of feedback and communication to enable continuous improvement.
Read Employment Services Complaints Service: submission to DEWR (223 KB)
POLICY: ELECTRIFYING VICTORIA
In February and March, BSL made a submission to the Victorian Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action on the Building Electrification Regulatory Impact Statement, and the Victorian Energy Upgrades strategic review. We argued for measures to ensure greater equity in their approach to electrification. Our joint submission to the Victorian Default Offer review was quoted numerous times by the Essential Services Commission (ESC) and contributed to a very low increase in electricity bills (average 1%) in the draft decision benefiting low-income consumers and renters.
Read Submission to the Building Electrification Regulatory Impact Statement (260 KB)
Read Submission to the Victorian Energy Upgrades strategic review (477 KB)
EVENT: COMMUNITY TAX SUMMIT
Alongside other organisations, BSL recently partnered with Per Capita recently to hold the annual Community Tax Summit. This year’s theme was ‘Bringing together leading experts, community advocates, policy makers and the Australian people to kick off a big, national conversation about meaningful tax and transfer system reform’. BSL Executive Director Travers McLeod spoke on a panel about welfare and social assistance and SPARC Director Nicole Bieske moderated a discussion on lived experience.
PRESENTATION: FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Dr Emily Porter, Senior Research Fellow in SPARC’s Work and Economic Security team presented on Saver Plus at 21 in the ‘Building financial resilience: empowering conversations and lasting solutions’ session at the 5th Financial Inclusion Conference of the NSW Financial Inclusion Network.
The Saver Plus evaluation found that financial wellbeing is essential for overall wellbeing, with 92 per cent of respondents saying they had gained confidence across their life. After the program, participants felt more confident with money, were able to sustain long-term savings and proved more able to withstand financial shocks.
RESOURCE: HENDERSON FOUNDATION ARCHIVES
The BSL Library is home to the Henderson Foundation Archives collection. This collection includes Henderson Foundation research output (authored by the foundation fellows); governance documents tracking the establishment of the Foundation; and the foundation’s research administrative documents.
Ronald Frank Henderson (1917–1994) was an economist, academic and social reformer, among other achievements. He researched and co-authored seminal work on the living conditions and the extent of poverty in Melbourne. Henderson led this work as Director of the University of Melbourne’s Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (IAESR). The resulting book, People in Poverty: A Melbourne Survey (1970), led to the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty in 1972, with Henderson as chair. The Commission sought to establish the minimum income required for an adequate standard of living, which became known as the Henderson Poverty Line.
Henderson retired from the institute in 1979, but continued to work in social policy with the Victorian Council of Social Service and BSL. He was appointed AO in 1988. Following his death in 1994, the University of Melbourne created the Ronald Henderson Chair at the Melbourne Institute, and a foundation in his name supporting applied social and economic research among younger specialists.
Contact the team at library@bsl.org.au
Timoci O’Connor joined SPARC’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team in 2024, bringing two decades of expertise in monitoring, evaluation, research and learning across public health, education and community development. Of Tungaru (Kiribati) and Itaukei (Fijian) heritage, Timoci is deeply committed to integrating MEL systems, evaluative thinking, and cultural wisdom to strengthen decision-making within community organisations and among practitioners. His extensive experience includes teaching in the University of Melbourne’s Masters of Evaluation program, and providing MEL technical consultancy for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), New Zealand Aid, and the World Health Organization. He has also worked to embed MEL systems in community-based organisations such as the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA), Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCAC), the Victorian Kiribati Association (VKA). Timoci continues to dedicate his time to mentoring emerging First Nations students at the University of Melbourne. At BSL, he is leading the evaluation of the Thrive Hubs pilot in Broadmeadows and Frankston.
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Email: research@bsl.org.au
Web: www.bsl.org.au/research
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