The public service should provide training to new members of parliament, ministers and their staff, in the view of senior Commonwealth secretary Martin Parkinson. He also thinks his colleagues should put the spotlight on the cost of restructuring. Read More
Parenting support programs can reduce the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on children, but only if parents participate, and often there is no funding for encouraging them. Dr Naomi Hackworth presents new research on how and why that must change. Read More
The world would be better served by our leaders acting as scientists do, coming up with the best solutions based on the evidence at hand, says Robin Batterham. Read More
Policymakers need empirical research, and a lot of researchers aspire to influence public policy. There is a sense, however, that the lines of communication between… Read More
What is involved in ensuring that the voices of people with intellectual disability can be heard in evidence-making? Dr Ariella Meltzer demonstrates with her recent research on employment choices. Read More
The evidence-based policy movement places facts ahead of feelings, but perhaps it also corresponds with a decline in the arts of political negotiation and marshalling public support for major reform. Read More
Too often evaluation is an afterthought and the report sits in a drawer. Two experts discuss how to shift attitudes to make evidence-based policymaking meaningful. Read More
An ongoing debate in academic circles is why it sometimes appears that government decision-makers are uninterested in using research. While many factors affect decision-makers’ use of research, half of all research that could potentially inform policy is largely inaccessible, locked behind a paywall. Read More
Randomised trials are in your life, whether you like it or not. In most advanced countries, governments won’t pay for pharmaceuticals unless they’ve undergone a randomised evaluation. Increasingly, the world’s smartest aid agencies are looking for the same level of evidence before they allocate funds to a project. Read More
Australian students are falling behind their overseas peers. Better translation of research into practice needs to be part of the solution, says federal education boss Michele Bruniges. Read More
ABS chief David Kalisch is pushing for data linkage across all levels of government and the private sector, but he thinks his fellow data geeks need to get out more. He wants more support in the struggle to build public trust and explain the benefits. Read More
The ideas boom could have done with more evidence, says the auditor general. "A number of important matters were not addressed in the advice to government" in the design of the National Innovation and Science Agenda. Read More
As policymakers look back for answers to what worked — like PM&C's $40m for evaluation of Indigenous programs — the pass/fail approach won't, in itself, help find the answers that government will need as circumstances change. Read More
Last week's Power to Persuade symposium led to fascinating discussion about how evidence feeds into public policy and the impact of post-truth political culture. Policymakers have always seen multiple truths, and not everyone believes the widely-understood term describes a genuinely new phenomenon. Read More
Evidence, compelling testimony, a commitment to co-design, and strong central planning are just some of what will continue to shape Victoria's 10-year plan following the death of ministerial champion, Fiona Richardson. Read More
