MAY 2022
In this issue we are pleased to welcome BSL’s new Executive Director, Travers McLeod. Travers joined BSL in April 2022 from the Centre for Policy Development, an independent Australian policy institute he led as CEO for eight years and remains connected with as a Senior Fellow.
Travers grew up in Exmouth and Perth in Western Australia. He began his career in public law, working for the State Solicitor’s Office in Western Australia and for Justice Michael Kirby in the High Court of Australia, and has studied and worked at the University of Oxford.
The issue also features BSL work on life chances and economic security, employment for people with disability, vocational education and training, and support for at-risk older people.
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UPCOMING WEBINAR: Tuesday 28 June 2022, 12 noon to 1 pm
Work, care and social security: making it work for children and families
Much has changed since Bob Hawke’s 1987 claim that no Australian child would live in poverty by 1990. Yet more than one in six children live in poverty, and those in sole parent families are more than three times as likely to do so as children in couple families. So, what needs to be done to tackle child and family poverty?
Dina Bowman will discuss with Professor Peter Whiteford, Emeritus Professor Bettina Cass and others the intersections of family payments with care, work and income support.
ARTICLE: POVERTY IS A POLICY CHOICE
Arriving at BSL just before the federal election, Travers McLeod wrote an opinion piece on why poverty is a policy choice, and why we need to make ending poverty a greater national priority.
Read the article Make no mistake, poverty is a policy choice published in the Age on 16 May.
WEBINAR: LIFE CHANCES AND INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY
Too often, generational equity issues are oversimplified as conflict between cashed-up boomers and avocado-eating millennials. This ignores the social, economic and cultural contexts and the policies that shape economic security.
Our webinar to explore these issues was hosted by Dina Bowman and featured
- Professor Roger Wilkins, Melbourne Institute
- Professor Liz Allen, demographer and social researcher
- Ruby Mountford, advocate, public speaker, writer and Life Chances participant
- Dr Ursula Harrison, Life Chances Research Fellow, BSL
- Janet Taylor, Life Chances researcher 1990 to 2015
View the webinar Not just boomers vs millennials: life chances and intergenerational equity
Read our latest report from the Life Chances study, Return to the family safety net? Economic security as Life Chances participants turn 30 (PDF, 522 KB)
POLICY: OPENING UP EMPLOYMENT FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY
Open employment offers better scope than Australian Disability Enterprises to promote the social and economic inclusion of people with disability. BSL argues that the Commonwealth Government must enable more workers with is disability to find secure, better paid jobs.
Read our submission to the Disability Royal Commission re Australian Disability Enterprises (PDF, 291 KB)
SYMPOSIUM: STRENGTHENING VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING
How can applied social policy research help to improve Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system?
At the national AVETRA conference, Kira Clarke, David Longley and Madeleine Morey explained how BSL has applied a systemic change approach to the role of training in addressing youth employment, through the National Youth Employment Body.
Access the recording Strengthening the role of vocational training for young people (52 mins)
View the presentation slides (PDF, 3 MB)
SNAPSHOT: CRITICAL TIMELY SUPPORT
Outreach to older people in vulnerable situations has enabled them to access aged care services before their health and living circumstances deteriorate.
Findings from the first year of the Critical Interim Support pilot show the underlying principles, barriers to care and positive outcomes for many clients.
Read the research snapshot by Amber Mills Critical Interim Support pilot year 1 results (PDF, 85 KB)
ON THE WEB: POLICY and RESEARCH
You can read more about our current work at www.bsl.org.au/research and also browse our policy submissions.
Mischa Barr joined the BSL Social Policy and Research Centre as Senior Manager, Policy, in 2022. She is working with the SPARC team and across BSL to strengthen and progress BSL’s policy agenda.
Mischa holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. She worked previously at Women’s Health Victoria, overseeing policy, advocacy and research across areas including sexual and reproductive health, prevention of violence against women, and women's equity. She has also held senior policy roles within the Victorian Government, including in public health, mental health, disability and child protection.
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Phone: (03) 9483 1183
Email: research@bsl.org.au
Web: www.bsl.org.au/research
© Brotherhood of St. Laurence 2022
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The Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) is a social justice organisation that works to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia. You are receiving this email as you have previously subscribed to the BSL Research and Policy Centre e-newsletter. To unsubscribe, please click on the link below.