The Policy Shop: Recent Episodes
Professor Glyn Davis
A podcast series which ran between 2016 and 2018 about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
The issue of Australia becoming a republic has been in a political deep freeze for close to twenty years.
Recently however there have been attempts by the Australian Republican Movement to reignite a national conversation and, with members of the Royal Family due to visit Australia later this year, perhaps the question of Australia becoming a republic might slowly begin its long thaw.
In this episode of The Policy Shop, policy lessons from Australia’s previous fractious republican referendum in 1999 are discussed, while some models of what a possible Australian republic could look like are examined.
Episode recorded: 17 September 2018
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixababy
The right to Indigenous self-determination and recognition feature prominently in debates in Australia and indeed around the world.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart: Why I have hopeRead moreIn this episode of the Policy Shop, New Zealand Māori constitutional lawyer, Dr Moana Jackson and Dr Shireen Morris, a McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Melbourne Law School, consider questions about treaties versus constitutional recognition and ask how we might move beyond rhetoric on community engagement.
Episode recorded: 25 July 2018
Producer: Ruby Schwartz
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Banner image: Getty Images
Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are accepted as a furnace of innovation that can drive the growth of economies. Yet female participation in STEM careers globally, and in Australia, is low.
In Australia at school level, boys outnumber girls studying maths 2 to 1 – a ratio that has remained unchanged since 1991. Only 16 per cent of Australians in STEM professions are women. And where women do participate, there is a wide gender pay gap.
Why does gender matter when it comes to STEM research? And what can we do to improve female participation in disciplines deemed vital to the growth of our economies and society?
We tackle these issues with one of the world’s leading experts; Professor Londa Schiebinger.
Episode recorded: 9 August 2018
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Research: Eugene Toh & Ruby Schwartz
Banner image: Pixababy
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Attacks on academic freedom have been making headlines.
The suppression of academic freedom has been called a “global crisis” by some, while others complain the academy is not challenged enough by different thinking. Yet the concept of academic freedom is complicated – what does it mean, and who exactly is under attack?
This episode of The Policy Shop explores academic freedom, using a classic approach – the five Ws – the what, why, who, where and when of academic freedom.
To explore these questions with host, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne Professor Glyn Davis, is Professor Adrienne Stone from the Melbourne Law School and John Roskam, Executive Director of the free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs.
Episode recorded: 28 June 2018
Produced by: Ruby Schwartz
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Series producer: Eoin Hahessy
Banner image: Jirka Matousek via Flickr
It is the eternal struggle of governments to ensure the taxpayer gets value for money and that services are delivered effectively and fairly.
Does government get the right advice?Read moreIn this episode, The Policy Shop considers how we can improve public policy in Australia, examining a proposal for a new model for evidence-based policy.
Patricia Rogers, Professor of Public Sector Evaluation at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) and Nicholas Gruen, CEO of Lateral Economics join host, Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Episode recorded: 5 June 2018
Series producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixabay
From India to Turkey and Poland to the United States, authoritarian populists have seized power, as the rule of law and the respect for democratic institutions and processes becomes ever more frayed.
Are universities part of the populism problem?Read moreIs the survival of liberal democracy, the system that helped spread peace and prosperity, at risk?
Yascha Mounk, lecturer on political theory at Harvard University, and author of The People versus Democracy– why our freedom is in danger and how to save it - joins Professor Glyn Davis to discuss whether democracy is wilting and what we can do to reverse this worrying trend.
Episode recorded: 18 May 2018
Series producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixabay
Based on per capita spending, Australians are the world’s most prolific gamblers.
For the love of the puntRead moreLast year we lost nearly 24 billion dollars to gaming, more than half poured into pokie machines at pubs and clubs across the country.
Tis episode of The Policy Shop takes a closer look at Australia’s relationship with gambling, with Stephen Conroy, the Executive Director of Responsible Wagering Australia and Dr Charles Livingstone, senior lecturer in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, at Monash University.
Episode recorded: 5 March 2018
Series producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Shutterstock
The world’s population is ageing, with virtually every country experiencing growth in the number and proportion of older people.
It's a fact: Women get better with ageRead moreHow do we as a society view ageing, and how does this colour the policies we develop for the elderly?
On this episode of The Policy Shop, Professor Martha Nussbaum and Professor Saul Levmore consider how we should support this often forgotten community, as discussed in their new book Aging Thoughtfully: Conversations about Retirement, Romance, Wrinkles and Regret.
Episode recorded: 14 February 2018
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixababy
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The professions are being transformed by new technologies like artificial intelligence. Lawyers, academics, journalists, the medical professions and more are already seeing significant changes in their fields, and more is on the way.
Rise of the robotsRead moreWe already know robots are replacing many blue-collar jobs, but are the professions safe from the march of the machine?
Professor Richard Susskind discusses what the future might hold for our professions.
Episode recorded: 8 December 2017
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixababy
This episode of The Policy Shop takes a closer look at youth unemployment in India, a nation sometimes forgotten in Australia’s focus on Asia. With two thirds of its 1.2 billion people under the age of 35, India has the world’s largest youth population, something that’s both an advantage and a challenge.
Over 30 per cent of youth aged between 15 and 29 in India are not in employment, education or training. That’s more than double the OECD average.
Professor Craig Jeffrey, Director of the Australia India Institute and Dr Jane Dyson who has worked for thirteen years in the high Himalayas, discuss this issue with host, Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Episode recorded: 9 October 2017
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: iStock
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is the largest social reform Australia has seen in decades. It aims to provide support to about 460,000 Australians living with disabilities. At full operation, disabilities services funding will more than double under the NDIS, to $22 billion a year – almost the cost of Medicare.
Measuring the value of Australian volunteersRead moreThis new scheme hopes to reverse Australia’s poor track record on disability rights, once ranked last in an OECD study of quality of life of people with disabilities.
In this episode, former Chair of the NDIA, Bruce Bonyhady and Associate Professor at UNSW, Helen Dickinson discuss how this policy came to be, the scheme’s rollout, and whether the NDIS will in fact improve the livelihood of people living with disabilities in Australia.
Episode recorded: 6 December 2017
Producers: Ruby Schwartz and Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: The National Disability Insurance Agency
For close to two decades, performance in Australian schools in reading, maths and science has steadily declined. As other countries improve, we are being left behind.
In higher education - 1.4 million students, 120,000 staff and over $20 billion in exports - point to a remarkable Australian sector, which finds itself relentlessly in the political cross hairs.
And recent reports have continued to question the efficacy of Australia’s vocational education system.
In this episode, the Secretary of the Australian Department of Education and Training, Dr. Michele Bruniges, discusses Australia’s schooling and higher education systems, and how we might ensure students and graduates receive the best possible education.
Episode recorded: 20 November 2017
Producers: Eoin Hahessy and Ruby Schwartz
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Wikimedia Commons
The Australian Public Service was established at the Federation of Australia in 1901 as the Commonwealth Public Service. Its name may have changed but its role has not – to provide efficient, effective, professional and impartial support.
In this episode of the Policy Shop podcast, the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr. Martin Parkinson reflects on his notable career, covering Australia’s major economic reforms of the 80s and 90s, establishing the first Department of Climate Change and forming policy amidst today’s 24 hour news cycle.
Episode recorded: 8 November 2017
Producer and editor: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixababy
After heart disease, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world - 8.8 million people lost their lives to cancer in 2015.
A generation ago, one in three people in the developed world were diagnosed with cancer; in some countries it is now approaching one in two. Low- and middle-income countries are also severely affected - with the majority of cancer cases now presenting themselves in these countries.
Gene genies: Meet the researchers mapping our DNA to combat cancerRead moreWhy despite the great strides in medical knowledge, does the world continue to struggle in finding a cure for cancer? This episode of The Policy Shop addresses this question with two world leading experts.
Nobel Laureate, Dr Harold Varmus, currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, who formally served as the Director of the National Institute of Health and as the Director of the National Cancer Institute in the United States and Associate Professor Sherene Loi, head of the Translational Breast Cancer Genomics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne join the host Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Episode recorded: 1 November 2017
Producer and editor: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixababy
Productivity has lifted incomes across the globe for decades, but is now in decline in the developed world. But what is productivity and should Australia be worried about it?
In this episode of the The Policy Shop, Chairman of the Productivity Commission, Peter Harris AO, discusses the release of Shifting the Dial, the commission’s first five-year review, and the challenges of maintaining Australia’s high standard of living.
Episode recorded: 27 September 2017
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineers: Eric Van Bemmel & Russell Evans
Banner image: Pixababy
In this episode of The Policy Shop the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, calls for a re-introduction of moral and ethical considerations into economic thinking, questioning the dominance of neoliberalism and the privileging of economic management over human needs.
The University of Melbourne, home to the Gerry Higgins Chair in Irish Studies, bestowed an honorary doctorate on Ireland’s ninth President, while he was on a State visit to Australia.
Episode recorded: 13 October 2017
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Drew Echberg
For the first time in human history, most of us live in cities. By 2050 the world’s population is expected to grow to over 9 billion, and 6 billion of those people will live in cities.
Podcast: How do we become an ecocity?Read moreAs our cities become our predominant societies, how do we develop them so that they sustain our environment, empower our communities and drive our economies? In essence, can cities save us all?
In this episode of The Policy Shop, Deborah Bull, Assistant Principal at King’s College London, Derek Douglas, Vice-President for Civic Engagement and External Affairs at the University of Chicago and Chief Executive Officer of the City of Melbourne, Ben Rimmer join Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne to discuss the role of cities and universities in the face of rapid urbanisation.
Episode recorded: 21 September 2017
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixabay
Professor Marcia Langton is one of the most important voices in Australian Indigenous policy. In this episode she discusses the positive economic impacts of land rights legislation, why meeting the Queen was an important step for Aboriginal activism and her thoughts on whether the Australia Day debate is a distraction.
From hunting to contractingRead moreThe longtime holder of the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies and Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne, she is a well-known commentator on economic and social rights for Aboriginal Australians. She recently delivered the 2017 Dungala Kaiela Oration in Shepparton, Victoria, where she squarely addressed the major economic hopes and challenges facing Indigenous Australians.
‘From the margins to the mainstream: Indigenous recovery in rural Australia’ was her theme, and on this episode of The Policy Shop she joins the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis to explore some of the issues it raises, and to discuss her personal journey in the Indigenous rights movement.
Episode recorded: 23 August 2017
This episode produced by: Paul Gray and Ruby Schwartz
Series Producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixabay
The world of work is changing - fast.
Economists predict that in the coming years, many traditional jobs and trades will be rendered obsolete as a result of automation and robotics.
Will a robot take your job?Read moreEstimates show that around 45 per cent of workers currently perform tasks that could be automated in the near future. As the trend gathers pace, more than half of all existing jobs will be automated within 20 years.
For Australia, this means up to 5 million jobs lost.
To discuss what the future of work might look like, former economic advisor to President Bush and President Obama and co-founder of H-Robotics, Dr Pippa Malmgren, and former advisor to the Prime Minister and director of AlphaBeta consultancy, Dr Andrew Charlton join the host, Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Episode recorded: 16 August 2017
The Policy Shop producers: Ruby Schwartz and Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Wikimedia Commons/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL)
Democracy in Australia in drowning in distrust, and the system of parliamentary sovereignty evolved over centuries has effectively become a sham. So argues one of Australia’s most distinguished judicial officials, former Queensland Royal Commissioner and retired Supreme Court Judge Tony Fitzgerald QC.
Decades of domination by the executive arm of government over a notionally supreme parliament has led to a major disconnect between the values of most Australians and the interests of the major parties.
A set of institutional reforms including a national anti-corruption watchdog are urgently required.
The need for these reforms is discussed in detail in this exclusive interview between Tony Fitzgerald QC and the host of The Policy Shop, University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis.
Episode recorded: 6 July 2017
The Policy Shop producers: Paul Gray and Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Wikimedia Commons
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet - Google’s parent company - are the five most valuable listed firms in the world, collectively taking in over $25 billion US dollars in the first quarter of 2017.
Whether you are going for a run, watching TV, browsing online or even just sitting in traffic, virtually every activity creates a digital trace. Our connected, always ‘on’ world has generated huge volumes of data but also heightened concerns.
At the cost of our privacy this data economy brings opportunities, particularly in the area of public policy. Big Data is now being used to fight obesity, predict crime hot spots and to even help NASA map Dark Matter.
In this episode of The Policy Shop, alumnus of the University of Melbourne and Founder and CEO of the data analytics company, Kaggle, Anthony Goldbloom joins Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, to discuss the potential and challenges of big data for public policy.
Episode recorded: 15 June 2017
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixabay
A target to achieve 30 per cent female representation on the boards of Australia’s largest companies is ‘slipping out of reach’, a recent report by the Australian Institute of Company Directors warns.
In the first six months of 2017, the percentage of women appointed to the boards of ASX 200 companies has fallen, with just 17 appointments, compared to 40 male appointments, the report reveals. In Australia today 13 of the largest companies have no women at all on their board, as the target due to be met by the end of next year falters.
With the captains of industry failing to appoint women to the top table - The Policy Shop asks - should gender quotas in the workforce be mandatory?
Addressing this question is business leader and ANZ Chairman, David Gonski, RBA Board Member and Women’s Leadership Institute Australia founder, Carol Schwartz, and author and University of Melbourne Professor, Cordelia Fine who join host, Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Episode recorded: 2 June 2017
The Policy Shop producers: Ruby Schwartz and Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Shutterstock
The 2017 Australian Federal Budget announced increases in maximum student contributions for government-supported places, along with lower income thresholds for repaying student debt.
To examine these changes the Policy Shop podcast and the Grattan Institute co-hosted a special Policy Pitch event at the State Library Victoria with Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Sophie Johnston, President of the National Union of Students, Andrew Norton, Higher Education Program Director at the Grattan Institute with the moderator, broadcaster Jim Middleton.
This recording has been edited for duration. The full event is available on video and audio at the Grattan Institute.
Episode recorded: 6 June 2017
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: University of Melbourne
Working class middle aged white Americans are killing themselves, and in large numbers. An epidemic of overdoses, suicides and alcohol related illness has caused a surge in in deaths since 1999 - and Australia might be next.
In the Policy Shop podcast Nobel prize winner Professor Sir Angus Deaton discusses his groundbreaking co-authored research which paints a stark and sobering picture within the world’s most developed nation.
He considers the influence of lobbying on the US medical profession, the reasons why the US did not develop a welfare system, the death of the American Dream and the narratives being used to explain the election of US President Donald Trump.
Episode recorded: 24 May 2017
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Pixabay
The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest has become a symbolic battleground between liberal internationalism and a rising tide of populist nationalism.
Are universities part of the populism problem?Read moreIts future is under threat after the Hungarian government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, announced new higher education laws, which the University says are a “premeditated political attack on a free institution”.
President and Rector of the Central European University, Professor Michael Ignatieff, joins Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, on The Policy Shop podcast to examine the CEU’s fight for survival.
The Policy Shop is a podcast where public policy subjects are examined by global and Australian experts.
Episode recorded: 10 May 2017
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: The Hungarian Parliament at night/Pixabay
For over a quarter of a century Australia has escaped recession. It is a remarkable achievement, close to a global record. Yet despite continuous growth, Australia scrambles to make ends meet. This is the eighth year of a national budget deficit.
Sleepwalking into a deficit experimentRead moreSo with a federal budget due on May 9th - The Policy Shop podcast asks - why does this wealthy nation find it so hard to balance the books, and what economic policies should Australia consider?
Australian Laureate Fellow in Economics at the University of Queensland, Professor John Quiggin and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne, Professor Judith Sloan join the host, Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Episode recorded: 24 April 2017
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: Shutterstock
Watch the videoThe Policy Shop podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher and Pursuit Hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, The Policy Shop is a podcast where public policy subjects are examined by global and Australian experts.
On average, at least one woman a week is killed by a partner of former partner in Australia. One in three women in Australia have experienced physical violence since the age of 15. Worldwide in 2012, of all women who were victims of homicide, almost half were killed by intimate partners or family members.
Stepping up to the challenge of domestic violenceRead moreThis episode of The Policy Shop podcast examines the issue of domestic violence, with literary scholar, performer, journalist and author, Professor Germaine Greer, Mary Polis, former Chief Executive Officer of Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence and Joanna Fletcher, CEO of Women’s Legal Service Victoria.
This podcast contains content that may disturb some listeners. If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.
Episode recorded: 9 March 2017
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: sprout_creative/Flickr
Hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, The Policy Shop is a podcast where public policy subjects are examined by global and Australian experts.
Life expectancy has risen by more in just the last 50 years than in the previous 1000 years. When the Berlin Wall fell, two-fifths of humanity lived in extreme poverty. Now it’s one-eighth. Global illiteracy has dropped from one-half of the population to one-sixth during the same time. For the first time in history poverty is declining. Yet why are we so ANGRY?
Philosopher, author and activist Professor Peter Singer joins the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, to discuss why – at a time when the world has never had it so good – we feel increasingly divided.
Challenging harmful ideologies in belief and practiceRead moreEpisode recorded: 6 February
The Policy Shop producer: Eoin Hahessy
Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer
Banner image: A Boston protest against US President Donald Trump. Picture: Shutterstock
Hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, The Policy Shop is a podcast where public policy subjects are examined by global and Australian experts.
“If you took everybody who arrived by boat to Australia without authorisation in the last 40 years and put them into the MCG, more than a quarter of the seats would still be unoccupied,” says William Maley, Professor of Diplomacy at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, Australian National University, and author of the recently published book What is a Refugee?.
Yet the global refugee crisis continues to grow. At the end of 2015, more than 65 million people were displaced across the world, with a little under one per cent of the Earth’s population being either an asylum seeker, internally displaced or a refugee. That’s more than ever before, surpassing even post-World War 2 numbers.
The power of a warm welcomeRead moreIn this episode of The Policy Shop podcast, Professor Maley examines the huge public policy challenge facing Australia and nations around the world.
Hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
Banner image: Pixabay
Why does Australia, a country that has experienced 25 years without an economic blip, continue to drop in the innovation rankings?
Why does Australia sit at the bottom of the league table when it comes to university and industry collaboration?
Does an innovation conversation mean anything to those small companies that make up the backbone of Australia’s economy?
These are just some of the questions examined in the latest episode of The Policy Shop podcast.
Why are Australian start-ups failing?Read moreHosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
Banner Image: Pixabay
Austria and Germany are two very similar countries. They have the same language and religion, a common cultural heritage and comparable economic and educational status. Yet when it comes to organ donation, the countries are polar opposites. In Austria, almost 100 per cent of the population have effectively consented to organ donation, but in neighbouring Germany the consent rate is just 12 per cent.
Are Germans less altruistic than their Austrian neighbours? It turns out the difference in donation rates isn’t the result of deliberate choices by Germans not to donate their organs, but due to a subtle difference in the consent process. In Austria, people are automatically registered as organ donors and have to opt out if they do not want to donate, but in Germany, people have to opt in by registering as an organ donor.
A recent international study examined organ donor and transplant rates in 48 countries over a 13-year period and confirmed that ‘opt-out’ countries have substantially higher donor and transplant rates.
A new approach to donor registration policy could increase the number of transplant organs available. Picture: North Dakota National Guard via FlickrIndeed, Australia, an ‘opt-in’ country like Germany, has one of the lowest organ donor rates in the world. Yet about 1,500 people are currently waiting for an organ. Should we reduce the under-supply of organ donations by changing to an ‘opt-out’ system?
Such gentle changes in the decision process – changing the default option for organ donation for example – to make it easier for people to make good or healthy choices, are referred to as “nudges”.
Popularised by economics Nobel laureate Richard Thaler and law professor Cass Sunstein, nudges have attracted the attention of governments all around the world. The Australian Government, too, is setting up ‘nudge units’ to inform public policy.
Nudging is the subject of the latest The Policy Shop podcast. University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davis spoke with Dr David Halpern, who set up the first nudge unit for the UK Government, and Professor Abigail Payne, Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, about the effectiveness of nudging as a policy tool and the ethical concerns it raises.
Traditional policy tools, such as taxes, are often ineffective. As Dr Halpern explains, most policy work to increase savings has been based on tax subsidies. However, research has shown this approach often fails to bring about the intended change in behaviour – for every $1 in tax subsidies, savings only increase by about 1 cent.
One reason for this, as Dr Halpern says, has been a neglect of the details of the decision-making process. Over the past few decades, research in behavioural economics and related fields has documented that people systematically deviate from the rational actor model in economics, frequently used as the basis for public policy, and that decisions are often influenced by small changes in the decision process.
Nudging draws on these new insights into human behaviour and asks how they can be used to design more effective public policy tools.
Bubbly personality: how our biology hits budgetsRead more An early success of nudging was in the area of retirement savings. In the UK, automatic enrolment of people into savings programs led to an estimated additional 6.5 million people saving for retirement. It is a powerful example of how a small change in the decision process can have dramatic effects on people’s behaviour.
The nudge approach is not without criticism. A major concern is ethical – should governments be trying to influence people’s behaviour by interfering with the choice process, without the knowledge of those being influenced?
As Dr Halpern explains, existing policy does the same. The nudge approach is a tool to make policy more effective, without reducing the choices available to people. He says nudging is often done in a very transparent way, and that people are often aware of the nudge when making a decision.
The changes that the nudge approach brings to public policy are profound. One of its strengths is its use of a more realistic model of human behaviour, that integrates economics, psychology, sociology and related fields.
Even more important is the use of experimentation. Like a wind tunnel that is being used to improve the energy-effectiveness of a car, the nudge approach uses experimentation to make policy tools more effective.
Using finance and psychology to fight fatRead more Under this approach, ‘prototypes’ of policy options for a particular policy problem are being tested, using similar approaches as drug trials, to establish which option is most effective. Only when an option has been found to be sufficiently effective is it being implemented as a policy.
This approach introduces a new wave of empiricism to government. It will help to build more accurate models of human behaviour, which in turn will improve future policy.
Both Dr Halpern and Professor Payne agree that nudging will not replace existing policy tools such as taxation, but complement them. An improved understanding of people’s behaviour will help to discover weaknesses of existing policy tools. This way, the nudge approach has the potential to make public service as a whole more effective.
Hosted by Professor Glyn Davis, The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Subscribe on iTunes.
Banner Image: Pixabay
“Donald Trump is the most inexperienced, uninformed, ill-suited person to garner a major party nomination for the presidency in American history. His candidacy, I think, was possible only through the Republican Party which in recent years has become less a conservative party than a radical party, one rejecting and indeed contemptuous of the inherited policy regime and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.’’
These are the thoughts of Thomas Mann, a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, on the latest episode of The Policy Shop podcast.
The US Presidential Election – a policy free zone, was the subject of the podcast, with a recent US study showing actual policy issues took up less than nine per cent of media coverage and the candidates’ qualifications for the presidency accounted for even less.
This podcast, hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, also features Associate Professor Tim Lynch, from the School of Social and Political Sciences. He had some strident comments about President Barack Obama.
“In 2012 when Obama was running we should recall the great cosmopolitan that ran four years prior to that in 2008, the guy that would heal the breach and bring hope and change. Four years later his bumper sticker was ‘Bin Laden is dead General Motors is Alive’. He killed a Muslim and he kept alive a greenhouse gas producing industry.”
Debate trilogy: From the mad to the bad to the crazyRead moreAssociate Professor Barbara Keys, from the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, is the podcast’s third guest
“We can’t explain Trumpism unless we understand the degradation of political discourse that has happened because of social media,’’ Associate Professor Keys says.
“The problem with digital media – and this extends far beyond politics into many areas of our lives – is that contemporary technologies corrode human relationships. You take the generation that’s grown up on smartphones. They’ve become devices that don’t enable us to talk to each other. They enable us to avoid talking to each other. The result has been a reduction in empathy and a struggle to form relationships that are built on trust.”
Hosted by Professor Davis, The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Subscribe on iTunes.
Banner Image: Pixabay
“I sit here from 7.30 in the morning to 8 at night and make sometimes between 7 to 8 dollars. Other times, other homeless people who know I can’t chase them steal my money.’’
The words of Graham, 42, who suffers from cerebral palsy and has been living on the streets of Melbourne for 18 months.
Melbourne, voted the world’s most liveable city for six consecutive years, has seen an extraordinary rise in homelessness recently with a 74 per cent increase in the street count in the last two years.
Melbourne is a confident and wealthy city. Niche coffee houses clamber for attention in a city where the choice of weekend brunch destination is fervently discussed. Yet the lingering shadow of homelessness creeps further upon its streets. Take a walk along Swanston Street, the main artery that dissects Melbourne, and the increase in the homeless is glaringly evident.
Cheryl, 26, has been homeless for more than a year, on and off. Her hands tremble as we speak; her boyfriend was physically abusive that morning. “We had a huge row and he hit me,’’ she says, clutching a cigarette that gives relief from both the cold and the anguish she is in.
9am on Swanston St, one of Melbourne’s main thoroughfares. Picture: Paul Burston Statistics are flung at us, arrows seeking our attention. But when you pause and reflect on Melbourne and Australia’s homeless challenge, those statistics illustrate an issue that receives scant public debate.
At least 105,000 people are homeless in Australia. Around 44 per cent are women, often in circumstances involving domestic violence. There are nearly 18,000 children without homes, most under the age of 12. Indigenous Australians, who comprise around 2.5 per cent of the general population, make up a quarter of the homeless population.
Every developed nation in the world grapples with the challenge of homelessness, but in recent years the homeless problem in Melbourne has become acute.
What is driving the homeless rate in Melbourne?“There is some great research that shows having a healthy supply of affordable housing has a protective effect. Those people more vulnerable to homelessness are less likely to become homeless when there is affordable housing,’’ says Deb Batterham, a researcher at Launch Housing, an organisation that under various labels has been working with the homeless in Melbourne for more than 75 years.
“Metropolitan Melbourne continues to register very low levels of rental affordability,’’ the Victorian State Government’s most recently quarterly rental report states dryly. As Melbourne’s appetite for designer homes and luxury apartments grows larger, the ground that affordable housing should occupy becomes simply ‘prized real estate’.
An ever-smaller pool of affordable housing is one of the reasons behind this complex challenge. Other experts concur and also point to the rising cost of living for those on unemployment benefits. “About 57 per cent of low-income households in metropolitan Melbourne are paying over 30 per cent of their income on rent, with almost a third paying over 50 per cent on rent,’’ says Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Melbourne, Carolyn Whitzman. “That is a choice between paying your rent and feeding yourself.’’
lack of housingBut what about Australia and the wider homeless rate across this boundless continent? Professor Whitzman points again to the lack of affordable housing. “Across Australia there is a shortage of 122,000 affordable houses. Australia has experienced a real stop-start attitude to national urban policy. When you have got 25 per cent of households that simply cannot afford housing in the major cities, where the jobs and services are, then you have a dysfunctional housing system.”
Professor Whitzman sees the problem of homelessness lying in this wider Australian policy towards the housing market.
“There’s been a rapid decline in affordable housing rental stock from 1996 to 2011 and again, it’s not as though there isn’t money there; there has been a rapidly increasing amount of money put by the Commonwealth Government into negative gearing and capital gains and as a recent report by the Grattan Institute has shown, the majority of that $11 billion that goes per annum out of capital gains tax and negative gearing, goes to the richest 10 per cent of the population.”
What can Melbourne and Australia learn from other countries?It is 1.30am on a Melbourne morning and on the phone from New York is Sam Tsemberis. All he wants to talk about is the homeless people that The Policy Shop podcast spoke to.
“What age is he? He has cerebral palsy and is still on the streets? Tell me more about Helen.” It’s genuine compassion from a Columbia University psychologist and founder of an organisation that has flipped conventional thinking towards the chronic, or most vulnerable, homeless in the United States.
At one point at the turn of the millennium New York was spending US$40,500 a year on every homeless person with mental illness. As the Washington Post reported, that’s when Sam Tsemberis came in.
Homelessness services had traditionally worked like a reward system: lose the addiction, get a home. Tsemberis and his organisation, Housing First, challenged this conventional thinking. Instead of setting criteria for homeless people to obtain a home, Housing First simply gives homeless people a roof over their heads, no questions asked.
It was a simple but radical idea for policy makers looking to solve a homelessness problem in America that had steadily risen since the 1970s. One such policy maker was Philip Mangano, who became President George Bush’s ‘Homelessness Czar’ in 2002. Mangano initially thought the notion of Housing First could never work, but he studied the program and in particular a cost benefit analysis.
Traditionally, homeless people are bounced around health systems, from counselling services to A&E to drug and alcohol addiction programs. It’s a ricochet that was costing the US healthcare system an average of US$150,000 per homeless person per year, whereas the Housing First approach of giving someone a home cost US$25,000. Initially a skeptic, Mangano became an ardent devotee.
A homeless veteran on the streets of Boston. Picture: Matthew Woitunski/WikipediaWith this backing by the Executive Director of the United States Interagency council on Homelessness, more than 100 cities across the US would adopt Tsemberis’s Housing First model. The ambitious target was to end chronic homelessness in ten years. Five years in and a 40 per cent decrease in homelessness has been indicated.
“In some of the larger studies, there was a 50 per cent reduction in the cost of inpatient services alone and a 30 per cent drop in outpatient services because remember, this is a lot about housing, but some of the people we’re housing will need clinical support. So it’s housing and services,” says Tsemberis on The Policy Shop podcast.
“Housing First is a little bit misnamed. It’s housing first but it’s not housing only - it’s housing and support services.’’
In achieving success under this Housing First model in the United States, a partnership approach between all levels of government proved essential. “In some of the places that have gotten to zero, effectively it’s taken five, six, seven, eight years. It has been a partnership not only within local providers but between municipality and Country Government and Federal Government.”
Ultimately Tsemberis feels that the challenge of homelessness needs political will if change is to occur, and that that political conviction will only happen when public attitudes towards those who are homeless change.
“We have learned to look away, to avert our eyes, not only from the person on the street but from the entire issue. It’s a rather small, non‑voting group and so it’s up to advocates to make the case but sadly, that’s what’s happened.
“The public attitude is what drives policy. For every single label that they attribute, it’s a distancing from them and us and that creates the possibility then of not having to deal with that other human being. Thinking of the poor as different than us, thinking of the poor as somehow less than us, has a long, long tradition in history.”
Eoin Hahessy is the Producer of The Policy Shop podcast which examined homelessness in its most recent episode. The Policy Shop is available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Omny and Stitcher.
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“We’ve seen what happened with Angela Merkel and the decision she took and the political hit that she has had as a result of doing that. But she did the right thing, and many of us applauded the decision she took, but the political commentators said almost immediately, this is a political mistake, she will pay the price for it, and indeed she already has.”
The words of Baroness Valerie Amos, Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, and former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, on the latest Policy Shop podcast, The Syrian Crisis – a global policy failure?
Baroness Amos spoke at the recent Sir Robert Menzies Oration at the University of MelbourneBaroness Amos is speaking on this, the twelfth episode of the podcast, which is hosted by Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.
Estimates suggest perhaps a quarter of a million Syrians or more have been killed and over a million injured. Close to five million have fled or been forced to leave the country, and a further six and a half million are displaced within Syria. This war has sparked the largest forced migration crisis since the Second World War.
“States tend to see and hope that refugee problems are temporary in nature. It turns out they’re not and in fact, in UNHCR’s recent statistics, they indicate that the average length of a protracted refugee crisis is 26 years,” said the other guest on the podcast, Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, an expert in international refugee law from the University of Oxford.
In a discussion that also looked at Australia’s role in this crisis, Professor Davis highlighted that “one of the most confronting experiences of the past half-century is to go to the original Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, and to walk in and the first thing you saw was a wall that had on it a quote from the Australian representative at the Evian Conference of 1938 explaining why Australia wasn’t going to take refugees from Europe and specifically Jews from Germany”.
The Policy Shop is a podcast where we look at public policy subjects with global and Australian experts. Subscribe on iTunes and follow us on Twitter.
Banner Image: Refugees on their way back to the Syrian city of Jarabulus wait at the Karkamis crossing gate, in the southern Turkish region of Kilis, on September 7, 2016. Picture: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
“We need to use words to once more see each other for what we are: fellow human beings, no more, no less.” These are the powerful words of author Richard Flanagan during his lecture Does Writing Matter? at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival.
“It is not that literature should prosecute a case or carry a message. It is that at its best it does neither. At its best it escapes the conventional categories of ideology, convention, taste and power, it subverts and questions and dares to rebel,’’ he told the audience.
At a time where we are witnessing the rise of right-wing politics in America and Europe and Australia’s migration policy continues to cause controversy, The Policy Shop podcast asks: has literature failed to elicit empathy for our fellow human beings? Are we asking too much of literature in an age of 140 characters or less and how can literature effect change in public policy?
Joining the host, Professor Glyn Davis, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, are Chloe Hooper, author of The Tall Man, Sophie Cunningham, author and former editor of the literary journal Meanjin, and Associate Professor Timothy Lynch, founder of the Great Books Masterclass series at the University of Melbourne.
The Policy Shop is a podcast where we look at public policy subjects with global and Australian experts. Subscribe on iTunes and follow us on Twitter.
Professor Glyn Davis (left) with Sophie Cunningham, Chloe Hooper and Associate Professor Timothy Lynch.Banner Image: Shakespeare & Co. Paris. Picture: Alexandre Duret-Lutz
Renowned philosopher and author, Professor A.C. Grayling, is the guest on this episode of The Policy Shop podcast.
Higher education is the focus of the discussion between University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis and Professor Grayling, who is also the Master of the New College of Humanities, which he established in London in 2011.
“University students say university education should be free. Somebody has to pay for it, who is it? The taxpayer. Who are the taxpayers? The chap who drives your local bus, the person who sweeps up in the hospital, and everybody else, so why are they paying for you to get an advantage in life?’’ says Professor Grayling.
“Why are they paying so you can earn more than them eventually? That argument is quite hard to rebut.’’
Said Professor Davis: “I still worry though, that leaders of institutions, you and I and our colleagues, will be seen in retrospect of letting down the next generation because we have given up the fight for affordable public education.”
Higher education fees were just one part of this discussion. The search for the best education curriculum and experience, the role of academics, debate on campus and the role of philosophy in public policy were also among the talking points in this, the 11th episode of The Policy Shop podcast.
Hosted by Professor Davis, The Policy Shop is a podcast about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Follow the Policy Shop on Twitter for further episode updates and Subscribe on iTunes.
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Australian governments spend around $192 billion a year on services including childcare, education, health, emergency management, housing, and justice. But is the Public Service up to the job?
Despite years of preparation, the Australian Bureau of Statistics managed to mishandle the Census, resulting in millions of Australians not being able to input their details on the day. Was the Census embarrassment a one-off or is there a pattern of failure with our Public Service? Are there questions to answer over the accountability of the Public Service, its capacity to oversee outsourced services, the quality of its leadership, and its resourcing in the wake of cut backs?
In this edition of The Policy Shop, University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor and a former senior bureaucrat Professor Glyn Davis runs the ruler over the public service. He is joined by former Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Terry Moran AC,and the founding director of the Melbourne School of Government Professor Helen Sullivan.
On the question of the Census, Mr Moran puts the blame squarely on the politicians.
“I don’t blame the poor people at the ABS, I blame successive governments which have denied investment in the ABS, and also in this case the foolishness of outsourcing so much of the collection task to the private sector without equipping the ABS to be as strong and informed a client of those companies as it needed to be in a very complex area like IT,” Mr Moran says.
Professor Glyn Davis (l) with Terry Moran and Professor Helen SullivanBut Professor Sullivan says the skills to oversee contracts are now core to government and should be a requirement within the public service, including the ABS.
“Governments have been contracting for years,” Professor Sullivan says. “This is not something that is new. We have lots and lots of experience of contracting. Its not good enough to say its because they did not have enough staff or were not trained to do that. This is something that is core to how Governments operate. That doesn’t cut it for me.”
Hosted by Professor Davis, The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast about public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Subscribe on iTunes.
Banner Image: Nick Webb/Flickr.
Australia prides itself on being an egalitarian society, but the evidence suggests it is a picture of ourselves that no longer holds true.
The latest iteration of the massive Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey points to a growing inequality between the haves and have nots, and the young and old. Household wealth and wages growth have stagnated, but house prices and household debt have soared.
In the latest episode of The Policy Shop, University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis discusses the policy challenges now facing us. He is joined by Professor Shelley Mallett, general manager of policy at the Brotherhood of St Laurence and a Professorial Fellow of social policy at the University of Melbourne, and Professor Roger Wilkins of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne, who oversees the HILDA survey.
You can read Andrew Trounson’s report on the HILDA survey here, plus use our interactive tool to see how you compare to the rest of Australia across a variety of measurements.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au.
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If the rivers, the mountains, the forests and the sea could speak, what would they say?
It is a question of artistic imagination, but one we urgently need answering. In a world paralysed by the enormity of climate change and an apocalyptic future we are, in the words of French philosopher of science, Professor Bruno Latour, in danger of “sleep walking to catastrophe.”
He has advocated a radical shift in politics to the “Parliament of Things” in which we speak up for the environment we have always taken for granted. But perhaps it is only through art that we can make the imaginative leap beyond ourselves?
At a time of increasing global uncertainty and rancour around environment policy, University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis hosts a wide-ranging discussion with Professor Latour, one of the world’s most respected yet controversial philosophers. Also taking part are Professor Clive Hamilton, from the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, and Professor Rachel Fensham, head of the School of Culture and Communication.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
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“There is no doubt that there is a level of disillusionment with politics, with government and with the major parties, our own included.” – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, July 5, 2016.
Both major political parties were losers in Australia’s 2016 federal election as voters turned instead to minor parties and independents. Is this glorious democracy in action or are there deeper questions of trust as play? Are people losing faith in the system?
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne Professor Glyn Davis is joined by Dr Andrea Carson, from the School of Social and Political Sciences and Vote Compass, and Dr Lauren Rosewarne, also from the School of Social and Political Sciences.
You can read Andrew Trounson’s scene setter here with Professor Lisa Hill, from the University of Adelaide, and Nicholas Reece, Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
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When a farmer is told what shape his bananas should be, does it mean the role, size and reach of Government is out of control? It’s at the centre of the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, and many would argue Australia has too much government and regulation.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne Professor Glyn Davis is joined by Professor Philomena Murray, from the University of Melbourne’s School of Social and Political Sciences, and public policy expert John Daley, chief executive of the Grattan Institute.
You can read Andrew Trounson’s scene setter here.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
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In a political system like Australia’s federal system, where elections must be held every three years, what impact do they have on policy making, its processes, implementation and outcomes?
Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis is joined by former Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training, Lisa Paul, and University of Melbourne political scientist Dr Scott Brenton to discuss elections and policy making in this, the fifth episode of The Policy Shop podcast.
For further analysis on the impact of elections on the policy making process read Andrew Trounson’s scene setter here.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world. Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
In the next episode of The Policy Shop, Professor Davis will be joined by John Daley, Chief Executive of the Grattan Institute, as we ask the question: Have Governments become too large.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
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In this special episode of The Policy Shop, outgoing ABC Managing Director Mark Scott joins Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, to reflect on his 10 years at the helm of the national broadcaster.
What were his challenges and achievements? And what might be the future for public broadcasting in Australia?
This episode has been produced in collaboration with The Conversation. Professor Davis has written for The Conversation here on his interview with Mr Scott.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
In the next episode of the The Policy Shop we look at how elections impact on policy making.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
How should public policy grapple with a constantly changing media environment? Can policy keep up with the pace of change? And if a free media is a pillar of democracy, what values should media regulation uphold?
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, is joined by the Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne, Dr Margaret Simons, and Swinburne University’s Professor Jock Given to discuss these complex issues around media policy and regulation in this episode of The Policy Shop podcast.
You can read Andrew Trounson’s scene setter here, where four important media voices share their insights.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
Hosted every month by Professor Davis, each podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject.
The subject of media reform will also be examined in the next episode of The Policy Shop as the outgoing Managing Director of the ABC, Mark Scott, joins Professor Davis for a one-on-one interview.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
Australians appear to have an insatiable appetite for property, as owner-occupiers and investors. But at the same time, the Great Australian Dream of home ownership is slipping out of reach for many, and affordable rental properties can be difficult to find.
In The Policy Shop this month, the discussion explores the policies driving current trends, ideas for change and the impacts on Australia financially, socially and economically.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis is joined by economists Dr Judy Yates, from the University of Sydney, and Professor John Freebairn, from the University of Melbourne, to go behind the political debate and talk about the role of governments in housing.
You can read Andrew Trounson’s scene-setter here.
The Policy Shop is a monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
Hosted every month by Professor Davis, this podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject on every episode.
Coming up on 18 April on the Policy Shop: Media and public policy and the role of government in regulation and broadcasting.
Subscribe to the Policy Shop on iTunes or stream from Pursuit or SoundCloud. Want further information or looking for a transcript of The Policy Shop? Email: policy-shop@unimelb.edu.au
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How can Australia attract and retain the best teachers? What is the best teaching education model? How can a worrying exit from the profession be stymied and what can Australia learn from other nations across the world? These are among the questions in the first episode of The Policy Shop.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis is joined by Professor John Hattie, from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne and Judy Crowe, President of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, to examine how Australia can develop and implement policy to support Australia’s teaching education profession.
Lessons to learn from the International BaccalaureateRead moreThe Policy Shop is a new monthly podcast where we discuss public policy and the way it affects Australia and the world.
Hosted every month by Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Professor Glyn Davis, this 30-minute podcast, featuring national and international guests, will examine a different public policy subject on every episode.
Coming up on the April episode of the Policy Shop: Governing the ungovernable? – Australia’s property market and public policy. Dr Judy Yates, School of Economics at the University of Sydney and Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne, John Freebairn, will join Professor Davis for a discussion on Australia’s property market.
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