Recording: Placing children at the centre of policymaking

Life’s Lottery: Backing kids 

A podcast exploring how Australian society values children and childhood. Kids are our future, but they are rarely at the centre of decisions that really matter. What would it take to truly put kids at the heart of policy, budgets, and broader public work? Hear from advocates, experts, children and their parents and caregivers with bright and practical ideas about how we can improve kids’ health and wellbeing.

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One in six Australian children live in poverty in Australia – a higher proportion than any other age group. But we are a rich nation. How do we tolerate this level of inequality?

A child’s life opportunities are a lottery largely based on their postcode and the income of their parents.

How can we better include children in policy conversations? And how do we create policy that does not tolerate this level of inequity? The Life’s Lottery: Backing Kids podcast, produced by UTS’s Impact Studios, examined these questions over a series of six episodes.

Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds, Leila Smith, and Professor Glyn Davis spoke with Verity Firth about how we can put children at the centre of policymaking.

If you are interested in hearing about future events, please contact events.socialjustice@uts.edu.au.

The earlier you intervene, the less trauma for children, the less public cost later on – and that always sounds obvious, but it's remarkable how little it's implemented. — Professor Glyn Davis AC

We need to stop tinkering around the edges. We need to step up with bold aspirations for evidence-based system reform, taking the evidence and putting it into action on the ground. — Anne Hollonds

I would like to see that we don't look at our young people through a lens of needing to be saved, but as incredibly strong people who are an asset to our conversations, to our planning, to our programs, and we have more diverse conversations because of them and they are of value. — Leila Smith

Speakers

Anne Hollonds is Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner. Formerly Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, for 23 years Anne was Chief Executive of government and non-government organisations focussed on research, policy and practice in child and family wellbeing. As a psychologist Anne has worked extensively in frontline practice, including child protection, domestic and family violence, mental health, child and family counselling, parenting education, family law counselling, and community development. 

Leila Smith is the CEO of the Aurora Education Foundation. She is a Wiradjuri woman with a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Cambridge and has experience in Aboriginal health and education sectors. Prior to Aurora, she was the Knowledge Translation Manager at the Lowitja Institute and held senior roles in consulting, policy and program delivery, data analysis and research at Nous Group, the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

Professor Glyn Davis AC is the CEO of the Paul Ramsay Foundation. He was previously Vice-Chancellor at the University of Melbourne. Professor Davis is a public policy specialist, with experience in government and higher education. His community work includes partnering with Indigenous programs in the Goulburn-Murray Valley and Cape York, and service on a range of arts boards, including the Queensland and Melbourne Theatre Companies. His most recent book is On Life’s Lottery (Hachette, 2021), an essay on our moral responsibility toward those less well off.