A Win For Human Rights In The High Court

The Human Rights Law Resource Centre and GetUp! issued a constitutional challenge to amendments to the electoral laws last month. Today’s High Court decision has restored the right to vote to over 100,000 Australians, reports Phil Lynch, Executive Director of the HRLRC. In an historic decision, the High Court has struck down legislation which resulted in the early close of the electoral rolls and denied over 100,000 Australians the right to vote. The decision is a landmark … more

Effective Community Engagement – Collaborating with the community for advanced policy

21st – 22 July 2010, Rydges World Square, Sydney LEARN HOW TO: * Build a culture of engagement * Select the most appropriate engagement tools and use them effectively * Successfully balance online and traditional methods of engagement * Manage challenges associated with community engagement and measure the success of engagement initiatives For more information and early CPD subscriber discount click here

John Menadue at Victorian Healthcare Association annual conference

Centre for Policy Development Board Director John Menadue will address leading health professionals as a keynote speaker at the Victorian Healthcare Association’s annual conference, "Realising Reform" in Melbourne on Friday 17th October 2008. John will address health and social service professionals on the role of the health service and strategy for health reform. Click through the Victorian Health Association’s website to read more about the conference or download the event program. Want to know more … more

 

Participatory governance and the Indigenous agenda: From rhetoric to reality

The Rudd Government is off to a good start with its determination to right the wrongs of past decades and to confront a set of seemingly intractable indigenous issues; a determination to move quickly from symbolism to action. But what will determine success? Indigenous disadvantage is one of several examples that the Australian Public Service Commission identifies as a highly complex policy problem; one that is "highly resistant to resolution" (see its recent publication Tackling … more

Time to confront our citizenship deficit

A number of years ago, I was the campaign director of a small non-government organisation that used to run ‘activist training’ workshops in Sydney. We looked at different ways to mount campaigns, and the topics covered included tips on writing media releases, lobbying politicians, and sourcing quality research. One of the most important dimensions of the workshops, however, was to encourage participants to believe that they could achieve change. While generally well-received, at one point … more

Citizens’ juries: the basis for health policy whoever wins the election?

Health is once again shaping up to be a major election issue. However the major parties are not as divided on health policy as they appear. If there were no major choices to be made on the future of health and health care in Australia, such agreement would not matter. Perhaps the two main parties have simply decided to seek the centre ground because that is where the voters are. But are they? How can … more

 

Citizen juries in Health

Making decisions in health care is complex, arduous and often fraught with political concerns. Citizen engagement in health policy reform has been used effectively internationally since the 1970s, and more recently in Australia, to gain public input to complex policy decisions. CPD and Sydney University’s Australian Health Policy Institute presented a joint seminar on the use of citizen juries to improve outcomes in health policy decisions on Thursday 18 October at the Eastern Avenue Auditorium, … more

Time to talk to Australians about a sustainable and fair health system

Introduction Consumer and community voices need to be centrally involved in both discussing and influencing government decision making. As well-meaning as the professions, health services, and government bureaucracies are, they are inevitably driven by their own professional, governmental or commercial paradigms and, in some cases, self-interest. Yet an effective system should operate primarily for the benefit of the users of the system: health consumers, their families and communities. It is time in 2007 that our … more

Principles and practice: a better system of health care

About a decade ago, the Canadian Government recognised that its forty year old Medicare system was in urgent need of reform or ‘renewal’ as they termed it. The problems they faced would be familiar to Australians: doubts about sustainability, waiting times, crowded Emergency Departments, poor access to care for minorities and Indigenous people, looming workforce shortages, chronic disease and the demographic shift. The Canadian Government’s first and seminal action was to create a Health Transition … more