Occasional Paper

Policy papers commissioned and printed by the Academy (about the Occasional Papers):

2007
Learning to Read in Australia
Max Coltheart and Margot Prior

2006
Income Contingent Loans as Public Policy
Bruce Chapman
Wages Policy in an Era of Deepening Wage Inequality
Chris Briggs, John Buchanan and Ian Watson

2005
Uncertainty and Climate Change: The Challenge for Policy
John Zillman, Warwick McKibbin & Aynsley Kellow

2004
Social Science Research and Public Policy: Narrowing the Divide
Meredith Edwards
The Case for Increased Taxation
Michael Keating

Policy e-Papers

Summaries of social science research findings from Academy sponsored projects that open up policy options and debate, and in some instances, make useful policy recommendations (see Workshop Program):

• Developing a multi-disciplinary and contemporary understanding of ANZAC Day in the new millennium
  The workshop brought together experts from a range of disciplines, including history, anthropology, political science, museology, theology, management, tourism and marketing. Representatives from the Australian War Memorial, The Shrine in Melbourne, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Returned Services League, and the New Zealand Retired Services Association also participated in the workshop. Their contribution to the workshop was invaluable, as it grounded much of the theory of Anzac Day in the real world.

• Childcare: A Better Policy Framework for Australia
  The workshop brought together twenty-one Australian and international researchers on early childhood education and care and related policy perspectives, from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds, including economics, sociology, pediatrics and child health, early childhood, political economy, psychology, government and working life. Five experts from the community sector and governments also attended. This group of experts discussed the current research evidence about early childhood education and care in Australia and internationally.

• Issues in the Research and Application of Chemo-prophylactic Drugs for the treatment of Traumatic Stress
  By bringing together different practitioners, philosophers and potential consumers, this workshop aimed to gain a broad understanding of the empirical, ethical and pragmatic issues connected to the development and potential uses of Chemo-prophylactic drugs for the treatment of Traumatic Stress. The aim of the workshop was to consider whether the research and development of these drugs should be pursued.

• Aborigines, culture and economy
  The project was to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, anthropologists and other social scientists in the discussion of rural and remote Aboriginal communities.
  

• Publicising performance data on individual surgeons: The ethical issues
  Examines various ethical issues that arise as a result of publicising surgeons performance data, and to consider whether Australia should adopt disclosure processes in medicine similar to those recently adopted in parts of the United States and in the United Kingdom.
  
  
• Portrait of a Nation 2003: Reporting on the inaugural Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (AuSSA)
  AuSSA is Australia's major general social science survey linking attitudes, behaviour, and demographic characteristics, with implications for policy, social science, and Australia's self-understanding. Papers presented cover a wide range of topics including attitudes to government taxing and spending, family life, work, and uses of genetic information.

• Australian Women Facing the Future: Is the Intergenerational Report gender neutral?
  The recent Federal Government's Intergenerational Report has provided a background for discussions about the socio-demographic future of Australia. Predictions for an ageing population and the economic impact of these changes have been accompanied by strategies for developing economic sustainability. These issues have so far largely ignored the differential impact on women. Australian Women Facing the Future examined the effects of these issues on Australian women across the lifespan, and the need for appropriate research and policy strategies to maintain well-being.

• Evidence into Policy: What Works in Ageing
  Despite the recent development of strategies, frameworks and policies to address demographic ageing at the national and state level in Australia, it is nevertheless unclear how much research evidence is considered as part of the policy making process and whether research priorities are actually derived from a systematic appraisal of the existing evidence. Less attention has been paid to the level and use of evidence to inform macro-decisions by government and other policy makers.

Dialogue

Policy papers encouraged by the Editor and printed in the Academy journal and newsletter Dialogue (about Dialogue):

• A critical appraisal of the new Higher Education Charges for students [vol. 23, 1/2004] (pdf - 103kb)
  Professor Bruce Chapman examines the current HECS charges and suggests 'a preferred model'.

• Fundamentals of the ABC [vol. 22, 3/2003] (pdf - 103kb)
  A follow up to the article below (Dialogue 2, 2003), Professor Glenn Withers examines the issues of commercial media, public broadcasting, Australian culture and the implications for policy.

• Does the Australian Government have a cultural policy? [vol. 22, 2/2003] (pdf - 430kb)
  An article by Professor David Throsby.