Policy Forum Pod

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne has announced sanctions on five military generals accused of leading last year's violent crackdown on the country's Rohingya people. The move follows the release of an independent UN Fact-Finding Mission report, which condemned the Myanmar military for killing thousands of Rohingya civilians and perpetrating forced disappearances, mass gang rape and the bur...

Northern Australia comprises roughly half of the Australian continent, but certainly receives less than half the attention from policymakers. It’s a region with challenging geography, wide cultural diversity, and enduring social inequality, and ever since Federation, it’s been the subject of grand thought bubbles from politicians with visions of turning the region into Australia’s next economic po...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has recently raised the prospect of transferring asylum seekers on Nauru to New Zealand – a move that, if implemented, could signpost a change in Australia’s strict approach to refugee policy. The country’s offshore detention of asylum seekers has long been a controversial policy topic. The exact conditions within camps are unknown, and it can be difficult...

Australia's policy-making machinery is currently undergoing something of a mechanical inspection. Earlier this year, then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a major Independent Review of the Public Service “to ensure the APS is fit-for-purpose in the years and decades ahead”. On this week’s podcast, we find out where the APS is well-oiled, where it’s a bit rusty, and where it needs a new se...

Australia’s Banking Royal Commission has uncovered countless stories of greed and illegal behaviour in the country’s financial sector, and has revealed a deeply ingrained corporate culture within the country’s banks. The Commission’s interim report was released on 28 September, and it poses 693 policy related questions, chief among them “why did it happen?” and “what can be done to avoid it happen...

From Bill Gates to the United Nations, everyone wants to end poverty. But what does ‘poverty’ actually mean – beyond simply having a low income? How does it affect men and women differently? And do policymakers working to tackle the problem really understand the experiences of the people they’re trying to help? This week on Policy Forum Pod , host Martyn Pearce chats with Caren Grown, Senior Direc...

The future of smoking in Australia seems to be up in the air. Last week North Sydney CBD announced plans to go smoke free, a decision that comes on the back of Big Tobacco’s failed attempt to get around Australia’s ban on vaping in public places. Regulations on smoking and other vices raise questions about not only the use of public space, but also the conflict between public health and individual...

Over $20 billion worth of Australian infrastructure projects over the last decade were cancelled, delayed or mothballed due to community backlash. With another $100 billion in projects underway across the country, policymakers and industry leaders can’t afford to get the community offside. On this week’s podcast, host Nicky Lovegrove chats with Sara Bice and Kirsty O’Connell from the Next Generati...

Bali is on the brink of imposing new tourism restrictions due to declining ‘quality of tourists’. Like many developing nations in the Asia-Pacific, Indonesia – and Bali in particular – is increasingly dependent upon tourism, but how does the industry affect local communities? This week on The Brief , David Beirman looks at what lies behind sunny tourism slogans and what it means to be a quality to...

The ANU Grand Challenges competition offers up to $10 million to research that tackles the world’s most important and intractable problems. This year’s winners are working on what might just be the grandest challenge of all – how to decarbonise the world’s energy supply to prevent a climate catastrophe. On this week’s podcast, hosts Maya Bhandari and Bob Cotton hear from three members of the winni...

Home to over 15 per cent of the world’s population, India’s recent decriminalisation of homosexuality will affect millions of LGBT citizens. But social attitudes can be more important than the law. Questions of sexuality notoriously stir up strong religious, cultural, and moral beliefs – and inspire passionate resistance. On this episode of The Brief , Wayne Morgan breaks down the interplay of cul...

From the corridors of Brussels to the streets of New Delhi, populist politics have swept through democracies around the globe. But despite all the headlines, is this wave of populism particularly new? And should we see it as a symptom of democracy in decay, or rather as a welcome sign that politics is returning to the people? On this week’s podcast, hosts Nicky Lovegrove and Sara Bice hear from Du...

Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes and landslides – headlines this month have been overflowing with natural disasters. The Asia-Pacific is known as the most disaster-prone region in the world, and its policymakers are under pressure to design its rapidly growing urban centres to withstand catastrophe. How can they prepare for events which are destructive, unpredictable, and don’t respect national b...

Last month, our podcast to mark National Science Week in Australia took a look at how scientists can make themselves heard by policymakers . This week, we’re turning the tables. We hear from two senior figures in Australia's policy-making process about what it’s like to be at the pointy end of policy creation and formulation, and receiving input – wanted and unwanted – from scientists. Hosts Bob C...

As part of its ‘strike hard’ campaign, the Chinese state claims to be fighting against the “Three Evil Forces” – terrorism, separatism, and religious fundamentalism. Under this banner the government has reportedly forced close to a million Uighur and minority Muslims into internment camps and reeducation centers. In this episode of The Brief , Edwina Landale talks to Thomas Cliff about the human a...

Imagine you’re a philanthropist with a big pot of money and a pressing social problem you’d like to solve in your city. You gather all the best academic knowledge on the topic, employ an army of consultants to design a cutting-edge solution, and announce the initiative to great fanfare on live television. So far so good, right? Well, if your philanthropic policy-making forgot to talk to the people...

The most recent Australian census counted 116,427 as being homeless – more than enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Even more shocking are the hidden dimensions of this number: 20 per cent were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 30 per cent were born overseas, and reports show that older, single women are increasingly affected. On this episode of The Brief , James O’Donnel...

It’s the buzzword that has universities around the world more obsessed than political junkies waiting to hear who has won a leadership spill. But unlike the average Australian Prime Minister, the quest for ‘impact’ among academics is likely to be with us for a long time. What exactly does it mean for researchers to ‘make a difference’? What tools can they employ to ensure their work doesn’t live o...

President Rodrigo Duterte’s reputation for controversy and his ‘War on Drugs’ that has seen thousands of deaths has drawn international media attention. Seen as an authoritarian strongman leader abroad, Duterte nevertheless maintains high approval ratings at home, and is seen by many Filipinos as a relatable leader. In this episode of The Brief , Edwina Landale talks to award-winning journalist Ma...

As much as 70 per cent of all water extracted in the world is used for irrigation. But what if it were discovered that irrigation policies intended to increase efficiency and therefore save water could, in fact, be doing the exact opposite? On this episode of Policy Forum Pod , hosts Maya Bhandari and Bob Cotton hear from Quentin Grafton and Sarah Wheeler, two authors of a new paper published in S...

For centuries, music has been an integral part of social movements – the civil rights movement is synonymous with jazz, Aretha Franklin’s Respect is a feminist anthem, and hip-hop is woven into contemporary racial politics. As the world faces an era of uncertainty, from escalating trade wars and shifting global power dynamics, to an environmental crisis and the echoing siren call of ‘Fake News’, i...

Can scientists make facts great again in an era of fake news? How can we get more young people and women studying STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths? Is humanity heading towards a science utopia or dystopia? It’s National Science Week in Australia, and on this podcast we hear from four scientists working across physics, psychology, engineering, and climatology: Susan Scott, Eryn New...

The Australian federal government is currently seeking commitment from states and territories for a National Energy Guarantee – also known as the NEG. The NEG aims to improve the reliability of Australia’s electricity grid while at the same time meeting a modest emissions reduction target, and the government hopes it can end years of political deadlock on energy and climate policy. So is the NEG a...

Where will Asia’s next war erupt? According to a new book looking at Asia’s dangerous slide into crisis, the next major conflagration will likely occur in one of four flashpoints: the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, or the Taiwan Strait. On this week’s podcast, hosts Maya Bhandari and Bob Cotton talk with author Brendan Taylor about why Asia in the 21st century might res...

It’s a challenging time to be a journalist. Recent years have seen a global decline in press freedom, largely attributed to political hostility towards the Fourth Estate. In Australia, the rise of global digital platforms like Facebook and Google has been used as justification for the repeal of anti-media concentration laws, allowing legacy media companies like Fairfax and Nine to pursue mergers i...