Policy

Alcohol is a contributing factor in most assaults on Australian streets. But can restricting alcohol sales save lives? The Queensland Government introduced a revised trading hours scheme, which includes a ban on the service of alcohol after 2.00 am.

Academics lament that policy-makers ignore their research, while policy decision-makers argue that academic research is largely irrelevant to their needs. This project aims to reconcile these two positions by investigating social science research utilisation within public sector agencies.

The Millennium Mums project is a national study of working mothers who had babies in October and November 2011. The project examines their experiences with leave from their employer and decisions about paid employment, as well as family life, health and wellbeing around the birth of their baby.

The project is an evaluation of the Australian Government’s Dad and Partner Pay (DaPP) scheme. DaPP aims to create new opportunities for fathers and partners to bond with their newborn child, and allow them to take a larger share of caring responsibilities for their newborn children. The project involves assessment of leave uptake by fathers and partners, and other aspects of fathers and partners involvement with newborns, before and after DaPP’s commencement.

This project is an evaluation of the Australian government’s Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme which commenced on January 1, 2011. The evaluation, which began in 2010, was commissioned by the then Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (now the Department of Social Services, DSS), and will be completed in early 2014.