Making & Breaking Social Policy
Dr Ben Lohmeyer
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Featuring a range of guests who are involved in the making and breaking of social policy, this podcast is about how we all live together and if we can make that work.
This podcast was created as a key piece of content for two social policy topics in Social Work at Flinders University. It is hosted by Dr Ben Lohmeyer, Lecturer in Social Work at Flinders Uni (www.flinders.edu.au/people/ben.lohmeyer).
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Apr 14, 2022
Housing and Homelessness with Nat Cook MP SA Minister for Human Services
Nat talks to us about what is and will be done about the skyrocketing housing market locking young people out of homeownership, the backlog of social housing need and the policy choices that produce homelessness. She plans to put homefulness on the policy agenda and lived experience at the heart of policymaking in SA.
Nat also mentions:
Homestart: https://www.homestart.com.au/
Home Seeker SA: https://www.homeseeker.sa.gov.au/
The Department of Human Services https://dhs.sa.gov.au/
Contact Nat via: minsterhumanservices@sa.gov.au
https://twitter.com/NatCookMP
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Mar 31, 2022
Make it 21: Extending out of home care to young people until they are 21 years of age
In this episode, Lexi talks to us about her experience of growing up in out of home care. She is an advocate for the Make it 21 campaign championed by the CREATE Foundation.
More about the Make it 21 campaign: https://create.org.au/make-it-21/
More about CREATE: https://create.org.au/
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Feb 22, 2022
How to be heard: Engaging the community in parliamentary lawmaking with Dr Sarah Moulds
In this episode, Dr Sarah Moulds from Uni SA gives us a realistic but hopeful account of her experience and research on getting the community involved in legislation and policy creation. She talks us through the various mechanism governments use to consult with the public and give us some hot tips and tricks about how to use them most effectively.
Find Sarah here:
https://people.unisa.edu.au/Sarah.Moulds
Ph: +61 8 830 27382
email Sarah.Moulds@unisa.edu.au
Twitter: @rightsnetworksa
Resources:
Rights Resource Network: https://www.rightsnetworksa.com/
Moulds, S. (2016). Committees of influence: Parliamentary committees with the capacity to change Australia's counter-terrorism laws. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 31(2), 46-66.
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Jan 30, 2022
We have to do better: Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility
In this episode Sean Lappin (Connected Self) and Luke Cantley (SWIRLS) chat about the Raising the Age of Criminal Responsibility Campaign. Drawing on ideas including Two Way Learning, Self Determination for Aboriginal People, Restorative Justice and Intergenerational Trauma they help us imagine an alternative to locking up 10 year-olds and perpetuating cycles of criminality.
Resources:
Find out more about Sean Lappin and Connected Self: www.connectedself.com.au
Find Luke Cantley (SWIRLS) here and follow on Twitter @luke_cantley
Resources mentioned in the podcast:
Raise the age: https://www.raisetheage.org.au/
Review of the service system and implementation requirements for raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in the Australian Capital Territory FINAL REPORT https://justice.act.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/Raising%20the%20Age%20-%20Final%20Report.PDF
Recommendation to raise the age: UN Human rights council - Universal periodic review: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27287&LangID=E
Human Rights Law Centre: Major UN human rights review highlights need for Australia to raise the age of criminal responsibility - https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2021/1/20/un-review-highlights-need-for-aust-to-raise-the-age-criminal-responsibility
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Oct 11, 2021
Preventing childhood obesity through sustainable infrastructure with Dr Michelle Jones
Dr Michelle Jones chats about her research on the sustainability of the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle (OPAL) program run in South Australia between 2009 and 2017. She unpacks how a shift in the program funding spurred the community to take ownership over part of the project they valued most.
Find Michelle and her work
Twitter: @83mgjones
Flinders: Michelle Jones
Here is Michelle’s publication in @HealthPromInt
https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daab080
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Sep 6, 2021
How to ensure children are visible and heard in child protection with Dr Carmela Bastian
Dr Carmela Bastian chats about her research on the factors the facilitate the centring children in social work practice in the child protection system. She talks about how children can be made invisible due to the competing priorities of the child protection system, but also how social workers draw on a range of resources, including practice wisdom, to recentre and prioritise children’s voices.
Find Carmela and her work on:
Twitter: @carmela_bastian
Flinders: Carmela Bastian
Carmela mentions a recent publication:
Bastian, C., Dunk‐West, P., & Wendt, S. (2021). Being child‐centred: Factors that facilitate professional judgement and decision‐making in child protection. Child & Family Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12855
Carmela also mentions a current research project:
Understanding professional development for practitioners working with children, young people and their families
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Aug 31, 2021
Who is going to do this work? The Domestic and Family Violence workforce with Prof Sarah Wendt and Dr Kate Seymour
Prof Sarah Wendt and Senior Lecturer Kate Seymour chat about the implication of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children for developing a Domestic Violence Workforce. They draw attention to the gendered nature of the problem of domestic violence and the similarly gendered nature of the workforce.
The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children
Sarah is on Twitter (@DrSarahWendt) and her Flinders profile.
Kate is on Twitter (@kateseymour7) and her Flinders profile.
Social Work Innovation Research Living Space at Flinders @swirlsflinders
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Aug 22, 2021
What change is possible through youth case management programs? – with Dr Joel McGregor
Dr Joel McGregor and I have a chat about what change is really possible in young people’s lives through case management.
Joel is a Lecturer in Criminology at Swinburne University. His work focuses on the complex relational practices that make up a case manager’s day-to-day work. We chat about a paper we published recently together that examines case management ratios, reporting requirements and qualifications in Flexible Learning Options and Joint Support Program.
Follow Joel on Twitter @joelrmcgregor
Read our paper here: Lohmeyer, B. A., & McGregor, J. R. (2021). A critical examination of Australian youth case management: compounding governing spaces and infantilising self-management. Journal of Youth Studies, 1-17.
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Aug 2, 2021
'Stirring shit' with A/Prof Lorna Hallahan: Disability Advocacy and Royal Commissions
Associate Professor Lorna Hallanhan, Deputy Director of SWIRLS at Flinders Uni, talks to us about her experiences working as a social worker in Disability Advocacy and for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
She describes herself as someone who likes to 'stir shit' and has a nasty habit of showing up. Lorna is funny and insightful offering us a challenge to consider how we can set people free.
Follow Lorna on Twitter @lhallahan
Lorna mentions the following resources:
Hallahan, L. (2020) Avashai Margalit’s concept of decency: potential for the lived experience project in social work education? Chapter 20 in The Routledge Handbook of Critical Pedagogies for Social Work Routledge, London pp. 233-244
Hallahan, L. (2010). Legitimising social work disability policy practice: Pain or praxis?. Australian Social Work, 63(1), 117-132.
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Jul 23, 2021
A Model of Care - Aboriginal Prisoner Health in South Australia with Luke Cantley
In this episode, Luke Cantley, Research Associate with SWIRLS at Flinders Uni, talks us through the Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing in South Australia. His experiences as a researcher and practitioner in the South Australian Prison systems demonstrate how social policy makes and breaks human service practice (and vice versa).
Follow Luke on Twitter: @luke_cantley
The Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing in South Australia by the Wardliparingga Aboriginal Research Unit in the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) can be accessed here: https://www.sahmri.org/aboriginal-health-equity-theme/news-185/
Hosted by Ben Lohmeyer
Edited by Ryan Manhire
Music by Anthem of Rain
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Jul 21, 2021
A Quick Intro to a Social Policy Podcast
Welcome to a podcast about the making and breaking of social policy. Sounds boring? Yeah probably, but we'll try to not let it be. Here you will find interviews with academics, practitioners, activists and anyone else I can convince to have a chat. If you like the pod please share, subscribe and all the other things. Thanks!
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