The ninth annual Social Policy Research workshop, hosted by Research and Analysis Branch, was held at FaHCSIA national office on 30 November and 1 December 2009.
FaHCSIA's Secretary, Dr Jeff Harmer, opened the workshop and Deputy Secretary Serena Wilson then delivered a presentation on 'Evidence and policy-making'. Ms Wilson explained that the key to evidence-based policy is ongoing dialogue between researchers and policy makers.
Ms Wilson discussed the Paid Parental Leave Scheme as a good example of successful evidence-based policy development. The scheme was developed using evidence from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, and data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian mothers with young children, who generally have had low employment levels, were shown to have a greater attachment to the work force if they had access to paid parental leave. Furthermore, paid parental leave also enabled mothers to not return to work too early, which has been shown to have adverse effects on child and maternal wellbeing.
The two-day workshop was split into a number of sessions, corresponding with FaHCSIA's outcome themes.
Families
The first session, on families, began with a presentation from Ms Lynne Pezzullo, Director, Access Economics on a 'Scoping study into the economic value of positive family functioning'.
The scoping study aimed to determine the feasibility of a full study quantifying the goods and services produced from positive family functioning. It also aimed to determine the methodologies for measuring the benefits of positive family functioning and for conducting cost-benefit analyses aimed at improving family functioning.
Six domains of family functioning were identified: emotional, governance, engagement and cognitive development, physical health, intra-familial relationships, and social connectivity. Three broad types of outcomes were identified: health, productivity and criminality. The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children and the Australian Temperament Project show promise as data sources for a full study. These longitudinal studies would be overlaid as they cover different age cohorts and would enable the development of a powerful tool for evaluations and cost benefit/effectiveness analyses.
Ms Lorraine Thomson, from the Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University, spoke on 'Getting what we need: families' experiences of support services'. This qualitative research study was based on 80 interviews of parents receiving parenting payments (single or couple) or a disability pension to discover what they identify as their needs, what formal and informal supports they draw on, and what their experiences of accessing and utilising formal support services are like. The most frequently reported difficulty was not having enough money. Other difficulties included housing; balancing parenting and work; having worries about children; having recently arrived in Australia; experiencing domestic violence; and having mental health issues.
The most common barrier to supports and services was not knowing how to access them; however, other barriers included: cost; waiting time; unequal treatment; humiliation or fear; and having to repeatedly retell experiences. Practical issues could also cause difficulties, such as opening hours of the services and the availability of transport. Nonetheless, parents did report a range of positive experiences when accessing supports and services.
Recommendations from the research included building on informal networks and supports; focusing on meeting children's basic needs; increased collaboration for dealing with complex issues; and adopting more flexible procedures.
Dr Bruce Smyth, from the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, Australian National University (ANU), delivered a presentation titled 'Do quality relationships really lead to quality outcomes for children and parents after divorce? Recent evidence from the child support reform study'. The research was a collaborative effort with researchers from the ANU, FaHCSIA and the Child Support Agency.
The research study, which is still in progress, is examining the pre and post child support reform circumstances of separated families, and exploring the dynamics of change as families moved from the old to the new system. Approximately 5,000 Child Support Agency clients were interviewed prior to child support reform in 2008, then again in mid-2009, one year after the reform. The clients will be interviewed again in mid-2011.
The key domains of interest are: parenting time and parental responsibility; financial arrangements and transfers; the nexus between child support and parenting time; perceptions of fairness; family dynamics; and child and parent wellbeing. Preliminary glimpses at the data have revealed that, among other findings, the relationship between separated parents is increasingly likely to become distant and less likely to involve conflict as time elapses post-separation.
Ms Lynne Pezzullo, Director, Access Economics
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Disability and carers
The second session contained three speakers on the topic of disability and carers. Professor Bettina Cass and Dr Trish Hill, from the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC), University of New South Wales (UNSW), spoke about findings from the Indigenous Carers Project. A review of the existing studies showed that alongside poorer health and higher rates of disability of Indigenous Australians at younger ages are the higher rates of informal care provision in Indigenous households and communities. Analysis of 2006 Census data also revealed a number of 'hidden' or 'potential' Indigenous carers who lived with another person with disability but did not indicate that they provided care. This may be explained by unfamiliarity with the concept of disability used in the statistics and welfare system.
The results suggested that both caring and potential caring are associated with additional disadvantages for the Indigenous population. The presentation also discussed the implications of the findings for further research and possible policy development.
Dr Christiane Purcal, also from the SPRC, UNSW, talked about the 'Effectiveness of individualised funding approaches for disability support'. Individual funding involves portable packages that facilitate consumer control about how disability support funds are spent. The research involved data analysis of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA) National Minimum Dataset, interviews with policy officials from all states and territories, case studies with 10 disability service providers, and questionnaires for people with disability and service providers. People were more likely to receive individual funding if they: were male, were of working age, were non-Indigenous, had a learning disability or ADD, had one disability, did not have an informal carer, and/or had lower support needs. The results suggested that the average management costs of individual funding are similar to other approaches and the overall total costs to government did not increase, while most users of the approach were happier and healthier. Dr Purcal concluded that individual funding approaches are an effective way of organising disability support.
Another paper on disability, 'Regional living and community participation: are people with disability at a disadvantage?', was presented by Dr Samara McPhedran, from FaHCSIA. Using Wave 6 of the HILDA survey, the paper investigated whether health-related disadvantage is compounded by locational disadvantage (double disadvantage) to affect the social connectedness of prime working-age people (aged 18–45 years). The research found that people with disability in regional Australia experienced greater relative disadvantage and reported lower levels of perceived social support compared to people with no disability. Irrespective of disability status, men in regional Australia reported lower levels of social support than women. However, engagement in community activities such as volunteering did not differ as a function of disability status. The research suggests potential avenues for further consideration in terms of strengthening social connectedness, and reducing the risk of social exclusion, among regional people with disability.
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Community capability and the vulnerable
The session on community capability and the vulnerable discussed a common theme of the importance of harnessing community capacity to work towards a solution.
Ms Natalie Jurisic, a Senior Research Consultant with the Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre Australia, presented the results of research into the development of culturally appropriate problem gambling services for Indigenous communities. The researchers found problem gambling in Indigenous communities was quite a different issue from the mainstream population and could be harder to identify. Barriers to seeking help are higher in Indigenous communities than in mainstream communities and no single style of intervention could be considered best practice. Ms Jurisic advised organisations to consider using a range of approaches—including investing in the development of culturally appropriate screening tools, recognising that services may need assistance with building relationships/networks with local communities, allowing greater flexibility in treatment methods and ensuring a more holistic approach to service delivery/promotion—to raise community awareness and consciousness of problem gambling with the aim of increasing service uptake.
Victor G Carrion MD, Director of the Stanford Early Life Stress Research Program, at the Stanford University School of Medicine, presented 'Lessons from Katrina: helping youth after a disaster'. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, with millions of people displaced throughout the United States. Dr Carrion said that while not all children affected by disaster will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, those who do may have elevated symptoms for years afterwards. A younger age, being female and continued disrepair of homes were all found to be predictors for elevated symptoms in youth exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Cue-centred therapy is an effective treatment but is expensive as it is done on an individual basis. Professor Carrion also compared the effects of Hurricane Katrina and the 2009 Victorian bushfires.
Outcomes of the Victorian bushfires were also discussed by Dr Margaret Grigg, Assistant Director, Victorian Bushfire Psychosocial Recovery Team, Victorian Department of Health. Dr Grigg's presentation, 'Psychosocial response to the bushfires: a policy perspective', discussed the principles and priorities that informed the government's response, such as integration of services, community involvement, sharing of information and the need for flexibility. Dr Grigg emphasised the need to invest in rebuilding the community and went on to speak of the challenges of coordinating and sustaining the response effort and said that the psychosocial recovery of communities was likely to take many years.
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Housing and homelessness
The session on housing and homelessness opened with a presentation from Dr Rachel Ong, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and Curtin University, entitled 'Factors shaping the decision to become a landlord and retain rental investments'. Highlighting the acute and ongoing shortage of private rental accommodation, Dr Ong explored the degree to which economic determinants affect decisions about investing in rental property. She sought to determine the role financial and monetary policy could have. Using HILDA data, Dr Ong's research tracked landlords over time, finding that one-quarter of all landlords were short-term and gave up their investment property within a year. A substantial number of investors were long term and maintained their rental property over the six waves of the HILDA survey. Several factors were related to investment retention. Retirement status had a particularly negative impact, but the main determinant of rental investment behaviour was the cost of capital. Dr Ong highlighted the potential role that tax and monetary policies could have on investors' willingness to invest and remain in the market.
Dr Paul Flatau, from AHURI and Murdoch University, followed on with a presentation on intergenerational homelessness in Australia. Despite an increasing amount of research on the intergenerational transmission of poverty, there are significant gaps in the literature on the prevalence, structure, dynamics and consequences of intergenerational homelessness. Dr Flatau presented an introductory exploration of the Intergenerational Homelessness Survey, currently in the process of data collection. This is a survey of clients, aged 18 years and over, of specialist homelessness agencies across Australia. The survey examines potential pathways into homelessness, and can be used to explore the experiences of homeless people as they were growing up. In particular, questions surrounding the early life risk factors associated with later life homelessness are addressed by the Intergenerational Homelessness Survey. Dr Flatau highlighted that such research is important in not only designing early intervention programs for people who experience homelessness, but also programs that focus on homelessness prevention.
'Future directions for home maintenance and modification services for older Australians' was a presentation by Professor Andrew Jones, AHURI Qld and University of Queensland. There is an emerging body of evidence concerning the outcomes of home maintenance and modification (HMM) services in Australia. Professor Jones discussed the need for a clear policy framework for HMM services. He noted that the lack of a framework has lead to problems in the overall organisation of services, highlighted by the absence of benchmarks for levels of service provision, disparities in service provision across Australia and underdeveloped linkages with the health system.
At the same time, Professor Jones emphasised that HMM services have great potential to address the needs of older Australians, partly due to a high level of satisfaction among service users. Highlighting innovative service models, such as the Queensland Government's Home Assist Secure Program, Professor Jones mentioned the possibility of replicating such service provision across Australia. He concluded by emphasising the important role that HMM services play in responding to an ageing population.
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Seniors
Session 5 consisted of three presentations relating to the underlying structural system of finances for seniors. This research helps to provide a greater understanding of income and consumption patterns and will assist in understanding the requirements of future retirement systems.
The first presenter was Associate Professor Garry Barrett, from the School of Economics, UNSW. Using the HILDA dataset, Associate Professor Barrett provided results of research into the retirement consumption puzzle in the Australian context. The consumption puzzle derives from the theory that retirees will try to smooth any shocks to their income patterns through savings or credit so that their current expenditure patterns can be maintained. The puzzle is that this theory does not generally appear to hold true.
A focus of the research study was to compare outcomes for 'voluntary' and 'involuntary' retirees. For the majority of voluntary retirees, changes in consumption occur after retirement but this does not result in reduced wellbeing. Involuntary retirees, however, experienced substantial decreases in all aspects of wellbeing.
Dr Bruce Bradbury, from the SPRC, UNSW, presented research on 'Housing costs and living standards among the elderly'. Dr Bradbury explored how the living standards of the elderly in Australia have changed over time. The main findings of the study were that over the last 20 years, there has been a widening in the inequality at the bottom end of the wealth distribution. It also found that over periods of high economic growth, income for the elderly dropped slightly.
Dr Chris Ryan, from the Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis and Research Centre, ANU, presented 'Estimating future wealth of cohorts approaching retirement'. Predicting the potential number of future retirees and the extent of government financial assistance they will require will have major policy and budgetary implications for the future. The focus of Dr Ryan's presentation was on the estimation of the future wealth of cohorts approaching retirement. The study used the HILDA dataset and analysed the wealth accumulation patterns for different age cohorts, and for different wealth distribution cohorts.
The study found that accumulation patterns were consistent across age cohorts and wealth distributions. The implications of the study were that for greater future financial retirement independence, incentives were less important than establishing good asset or growth pathways early in life.
Dr Bruce Bradbury, SPRC, UNSW
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Women
Session 6 of the workshop focused on women. Dr Antonia Quadara, from the Australian Institute of Family Studies started the session with a presentation entitled 'What can victims/survivors tell us about sexual offending?' At the moment, most knowledge about sexual offenders is drawn from the small percentages that end up convicted. These are usually those that were violent strangers, but are not necessarily representative cases. This research is a qualitative study of 33 women who experienced sexual violence.
All but four of the victims were attacked by someone they knew—partners, husbands, ex-partners, friends. The research took this as an indication that trust is a resource cultivated by the perpetrators to enable assault, and can take years to develop. In the victims this led to self-doubt and in some, the feeling they were going mad. Offenders cultivate community and social standing, making it difficult for the women to speak out without being marginalised or undermined. The attacks were often so embedded in normal/social culture that women struggled to explain it. Some victims felt that the perpetrator was so efficient or effective that it was 'par for the course': the perpetrator considered it normal sexuality.
Dr Rochelle Braaf, Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, presented research on 'Investigating financial security for women affected by domestic violence'. The goal of the research was to promote safety and investigate how domestic violence can undermine financial security. The study took place in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria and combined quantitative and qualitative methods, using focus groups, meetings and forums with staff of service organisations.
The study found that victims had a history of unemployment and were often denied access to bank loans and information about accounts. They were disadvantaged in negotiations and if they were refugees, were often afraid to access services. Women defined financial security quite modestly: feeling empowered, meeting day-to-day needs, having control of own finances, not having to worry about money, and being independent from family, ex-partner, or government. Most women were very financially literate, but lacked resources or had to deal with partner-incurred debt.
There is often a perception that once out of the immediate relationship, women can move on with their lives. But often the abuse continues for years afterwards, with fresh violence, stalking and threats.
Advocacy was important for dealing with trauma as well as helping those with disability, limited English, no visa status, and other factors that served to marginalise victims further.
The final presentation in the session on women's issues was 'Work and family life: Australia in comparative perspective', presented by Dr Lyn Craig, SPRC, UNSW. How families share work and care responsibilities is seen as a matter for individual choice, but work and social norms define the landscape in which choices are made and valued. Without support and choice, carer status tends to revert to women.
This study compared the United States (US), Italy, Australia, France and Denmark. Dr Craig looked at the different time-use patterns in each of these countries to see the effect of policy and cultural differences, using national time-use data from each country.
Combined workloads are highest in the US and Australia. In all countries, having children has a much bigger effect on mothers than on fathers, especially in Australia and the US. Italy, the US and Australia had the most unequal family division of labour.
If mothers are in paid work, fathers contribute a little more unpaid work, but not commensurate with the amount of time mothers spend in paid and unpaid work. Parenthood exacerbates gendered division of labour.
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Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians were the focus of the seventh session of the workshop. '”Disadvantage” or “poverty”? The absence of a development approach in Indigenous affairs policies' was the first presentation, by Professor Marcia Langton, Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies, University of Melbourne. Professor Langton drew on Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, social choice theory and work on international welfare, arguing for a classical international development approach to address poverty, or the deprivation of capability, among Indigenous Australians. She contrasted this to an 'exceptionalist', theoretical approach, which she asserted that the public sector tends to take, based on a disadvantage paradigm. Analysis of agreements between Indigenous landowners and mining companies showed that, in the minority of cases where agreements were benefiting the former, mining companies were pragmatically building Indigenous capability as part of their core business, using approaches similar to those applied in the developing world. Professor Langton asserted that models other than cash payments and charitable trusts were needed for effective, long-term, downstream economic development.
Frances P Byers and Kim Grey, Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, FaHCSIA, presented 'Social norms and Cape York welfare reform'. The theory that social norms influence decisions and behaviour has been applied in a range of policy areas. The presenters showed how the Cape York Welfare Reform trials have aimed to cultivate positive social norms. Members of Indigenous communities are influenced to improve levels of care for children and move from welfare dependence to engagement with the real economy. The presenters described an evaluation of a particular policy intervention with this goal, the Queensland Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC).
The FRC provides a forum where local elders and a former magistrate reach agreements about changed behaviours, and develop case plans that set out referrals to support services. This includes budgeting assistance, case management for school attendance and counselling for drug and alcohol addiction.
The final session on Indigenous Australians was 'Windows onto Indigenous temporary population mobility: lessons from the West Kimberley', presented by Dr Sarah Prout, from the ANU's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. Dr Prout demonstrated the need for a framework to understand and describe Indigenous population dynamics in terms of stocks and flows, seasonality, motivations, destinations and other factors and characteristics. The study began developing a framework, using school attendance records to show how Indigenous temporary mobility practices interface with large regional service centres. The existing research and data sources, although limited and in some ways unsuitable for this type of analysis, indicate that many Indigenous people undertake regular, short-term movements, often through regional centres. The study has shown how this mobility can be analysed in detail, as it affects continuity of service delivery, resource allocation, the defining of service catchments and the measurement of outcomes and gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. Dr Prout further suggested that this type of research is ultimately important because cultural assumptions shape the relationship between the state and its citizens.
The final session of the workshop focused on cross-outcome topics. Ms Sue Taylor, Social and Progress Reporting, Australian Bureau of Statistics, presented on the topic 'Current Australian social trends within the FaHCSIA policy portfolio'. Ms Taylor outlined some interesting trends, such as:
- Fertility is below replacement levels, but has been increasing over the last couple of years.
- Household and family projections indicate that there will be greater number of lone-person families and families without children by the year 2025.
- The number of jobless families have declined since 1997.
- In August 2008, nearly 50 per cent of women were entitled to maternity leave.
- Caring trends for men and women are different, with women partaking in caring across their life and men more likely to care in older age groups.
- There was a decrease in Indigenous people aged 15 years and over living in houses with structural damage between 2002 and 2008 (from 38 per cent to 28 per cent).
- Over three-quarters of Indigenous children aged 0 to 3 years were breastfed.
Dr Andrea Lanyon, Social Policy Group, FaHCSIA, presented the findings from the 'Analysis of FaHCSIA's evaluation effort and cross-outcome issues 2005–09'. Dr Lanyon noted that across the last six years, there has been a significant increase of investment in evaluations of Indigenous-specific strategies, program and services. She outlined the importance of, and successes and challenges faced in integration, coordination, collaboration and networking. The challenges were identified at the service and individual levels, as well as within and between government agencies and cross-sector.
The findings consistently show that building on local connections can assist in ensuring flexibility and sustainability of programs. For example, the efficiency and effectiveness of programs is often greater when leveraged off investment in community organisations that have an established presence and understanding of local issues. Dr Lanyon discussed the value of and challenges in ensuring flexibility of program design, including funding and service delivery. This was consistently highlighted for programs and services that aimed to strengthen the capacity of a community to address its own needs or respond to complex needs clients. The difficulty in achieving access to services/programs for hard-to-reach groups and people in rural and remote areas was also apparent across the evaluations. However, the reviews found there were a number of enabling factors that promote access, for example, collocation of services, interpreter services and transport. Dr Lanyon emphasised that data quality and consistency are critical for reporting, planning and ongoing review, and it also assists with information sharing and stakeholder engagement.
Dr Sarah Prout, ANU, Ms Lynne Curran, FaHCSIA, Ms Kim Grey, FaHCSIA, Ms Frances P Byers, FaHCSIA, Professor Marcia Langton