Policy Forum Pod

In this episode, we speak to the CEO of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, Professor Kristy Muir about care, connection and who decides in policymaking, especially around children. She discusses the life and death realities of social capital, the importance of a wellbeing framework and the challenges of a silo approach to making progress on societal issues. Professor Muir says we need to think long term...

In this episode we speak to Dr Sophie Lewis, the ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment. She discusses the key takeaways from the 2023 ACT State of the Environment Report, and how both individuals, industries and governments can make a difference. Dr Lewis talks about how we all need to think about the things we never get back unless action is taken. She says we need to limit urba...

Professor David Lindenmayer joins the podcast to discuss the importance of forests, the threats they are facing, and the myths around the logging industry. In his latest book, The Forest Wars: The ugly truth about what’s happening to our tall forests , Professor Lindenmayer unearths truths about what happens to forests that have been recently logged in a bushfire, how logging impacts native animal...

ANU Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Professor Genevive Bell joins us to discuss the power of stories, knowledge and a vision for our future. Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell is the 13th Vice-Chancellor of ANU. She is also the University’s first female Vice-Chancellor. She holds a PhD in cultural anthropology from Stanford University and is a renowned anthropologist, technologist, and futurist...

In this podcast we speak to Professor Sara Bice about the importance of building for social inclusion, co-design and community consultation as Australia spends $300 billion on infrastructure projects. Professor Bice co-founded the Institute for Infrastructure in Society to help better integrate social and community aspects. She says the best policy making occurs when there is a shared agreement on...

In this episode we pay tribute to Professor Susan Sell. Professor Sell died unexpectedly in December 2023. In re-releasing this conversation from August 2023 about 21st Century Capitalism, we honour her intellectual rigour and the enormous contribution of her research. Professor Sell’s work was theoretically ground-breaking and an exemplary example of the careful research that contributes to our u...

On this special episode of Policy Forum Pod the Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and former UNDP Administrator, joins Professor Sharon Friel and Professor Bina d’Costa to discuss policy, politics and governing human future. This event was hosted by ANU College of Health and Medicine with the Australian Global Health Alliance. It was recorded live at The Australian National...

Professor Janine O’Flynn joins us for the first episode of Policy Forum Pod for 2024! In conversation, the Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy talks about the obligation and position of the school, and other universities, to exercise a ‘convening power' and bring together a range of different actors and views in our complex public policy systems.   Professor O’Flynn also talks ab...

In the final episode for 2023 we speak to John Falzon and Thomas Mayo about the year that was. We reflect on the challenges that we have faced from the cost of living, the Voice to Parliament referendum, and discuss the latest industrial relations bill. --- John Falzon is a sociologist, poet and social justice advocate and is a senior fellow at Per Capita and a visiting fellow at RegNet here at th...

In this episode, we speak to Professor Carolyn Hendriks about democracy, representation, political trust and decision making and what's happening in local communities.   Democracy is under strain as the legitimacy of representatives is questioned and public trust declines. The rise of populism is changing the way many think about democracy and democratic representation, while new forms of lea...

Australia is facing another tough summer. Natural disasters are occurring more frequently than ever, so this week on the Podcast, we talk about what care looks like in times of crisis. We speak to Dr Millie Rooney from Australia ReMADE and Amanda Kelly, the CEO of Women’s Health Goulburn North East, about a joint project called ‘Care through Disaster’ that looks at what would happen if we put care...

In the final episode of our mini-series on housing, we speak to Emeritus Professor Barbara Norman about planning issues and, particularly, the way we need to rethink housing, land use and urban policy in the context of climate emergency and extreme weather events. --- Barbara Norman is Emeritus Professor of Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Canberra and an Honorary Professor at th...

On this episode in our housing mini-series Professor Nicole Gurran talks about reimagining the role of urban planning in creating sustainable and inclusive communities. Professor Gurran notes that there is no substitute for housing, and unless there is some better planning now, the crisis we are facing will only escalate. She also adds that the language used around housing is often misleading, wit...

Australia has seriously neglected social housing, a crisis everyone is now paying the price for. Social housing was once seen as an essential part of the welfare state. It has now become a last resort or, often, an impossible dream. In this episode, we speak with Professor Alan Morris about what we can do to fix the social housing crisis, as well as the decline in homeownership across Australia. H...

Australia’s housing crisis: Housing is one of the biggest drivers of our economy, but it is also at the core of the biggest financial hardships people are facing. Dr Nicholas Frank lays out why house prices skyrocketed in the 1980s and how the availability of credit became vital for families to survive with rising costs of living. The consumption aspect of the economy currently depends on the weal...

In this special episode of the pod, we discuss the importance of music and creativity. Professor Kim Cunio and Professor Lane Gabora talk about why the creative arts are more important now than ever before, how music makes you feel seen. They also discuss how artificial intelligence is changing, and threatening, creativity.   Professor Liane Gabora is an Interdisciplinary cognitive scientist...

In this episode, the Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy, Professor Janine O’Flynn, takes stock of the Voice to Parliament referendum result. She, along with Sharon Bessell and Arnagretta Hunter make some initial reflections and begin to work through where we now need to go as a nation. --- Professor Janine O’Flynn is the Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy. Her research...

In this episode, historian and Professor Frank Bongiorno talks us through Australia’s constitutional history and explains why the upcoming referendum has the potential to reshape our ability to change as a nation. Professor Frank Bongiorno, AM , is a Professor of History, at the ANU’s College of Arts and Social Sciences. He has held positions in Australia and the UK, and has written widely on Aust...

The narrative and origin story of the Voice to Parliament are key to understanding how Australian’s will vote in the referendum, says Rebecca Huntley. She talks about soft-yes and soft-no voters, people who do not feel strongly about the Voice to Parliament, their level of engagement and what is important to them. Dr Huntley says her research shows that the majority of Indigenous Australians under...

In this episode, we speak to Professor Peter Yu about what the First Nations Voice to Parliament means for our past, our present, and our future as a nation and the vital role universities play in teaching people to bridge relationship gaps.  Professor Yu says current indigenous policy is a cost-benefit failure, and taxpayers should want better for their money, and the Voice will make that ha...

In this special episode of Policy Forum Pod, Thomas Mayo joins Sharon Bessell and Arnagretta Hunter to discuss the importance of the Voice to Parliament. Thomas Mayo explains how the Voice will create unity and a stronger future. We are a Nation divided, but Constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples gives us a way of coming together and leaving a legacy of collect...

This podcast delves into the complex world of balancing the need for energy through fossil fuels and protecting the environment and human health. Energy is central to so much human activity today and the politics are complex, weighing up local and global needs for energy, the ‘needs of the economy’ against the resultant environmental and climate impacts.  Guests Professor Melissa Haswell and...

This Podcast delves into the Intergenerational Report, looking at both the challenges and opportunities it highlights. Dr Liz Allen and Professor Paul Burke discuss the key takeaways of the latest IGR that in 2062 Australia will be bigger, slower growing, and more diverse, with living standards at risk of going backwards. Liz says we are “heading into the greatest demographic headwinds of our time...

This episode discusses the connections between planetary health and human health. Sharon Friel and Fran Baun look at the challenges of health inequality, over-consumption and how we move toward a better future.  To have healthy people we need to have a healthy planet, and in order to do that we need to be prioritising the health and wellbeing lens as a powerful tool for policy shifts. "It can...

This National Child Protection Week we ask the question: What part can we as individuals play in protecting children and creating a culture of care? The theme for this year’s National Child Protection Week is ‘Where we start matters’ building on the essence that ‘every child in every community needs a fair go’. In this episode, we speak to researcher Tim Moore, and NAPCAN Deputy-CEO Rani Kumar abo...