Policy Forum Pod

On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Siobhan McDonnell and George Carter join us to share their experiences inside the COP27 negotiations in Egypt and why the agreement on a ‘loss and damage’ fund was a landmark moment in global climate change discussions.What does the historic agreement to establish a ‘loss and damage’ fund at this United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt mean for small island developing states, particularly in the Pacific? How can negotiating parties ensure the fund is operationalised by COP28 in Dubai, rather than allowing countries to stall - as has been seen with previous initiatives? And with Australia looking to co-host the 2026 instalment of the conference with Pacific Island nations, what impact would a successful bid have on the region and the Australian public? Dr Siobhan McDonnell and Dr George Carter, who negotiated on behalf of Pacific Island countries at COP27, join Professor Sharon Bessell and Dr Arnagretta Hunter to discuss the talks and to look ahead to the next conference in Dubai. Siobhan McDonnell is a legal anthropologist with over 20 years of experience working with Indigenous people in Australia and the Pacific on land use, gender, and climate change. She is a Senior Lecturer at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and Chief Investigator for the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project on Climate Change and Gender in the Pacific.George Carter is a Research Fellow in Geopolitics and Regionalism at ANU Department of Pacific Affairs and Director of ANU Pacific Institute.Sharon Bessell is Professor of Public Policy and Director of both the Children’s Policy Centre and the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.Arnagretta Hunter is the Human Futures Fellow at ANU College of Health and Medicine, a cardiologist, physician, and a Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School. Image: IAEA Imagebank on Flickr. Policy Forum Pod is available on Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Subscribe on Android or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.

Valerie Cooms from The Australian National University joins us on this episode to discuss justice reinvestment, the importance of the whole Australian community embracing First Nations languages, and progress towards a constitutionally-enshrined Voice to Parliament.Is the allocation of $81.5 million for justice reinvestment initiatives in the recent federal budget a step in the right direction when it comes to reducing the high rates of incarceration of First Nations peoples? And why is truth-telling about Australia’s colonial history so important for reconciliation? On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Director of ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research Professor Valerie Cooms joins Professor Sharon Bessell to examine the First Nations justice measures in the recent federal budget and the need for bravery from policymakers to ensure Australia achieves genuine reconciliation.Valerie Cooms is Director and Professor of Indigenous Policy at ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research.Sharon Bessell is Professor of Public Policy and Director of both the Children’s Policy Centre and the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.Find full show notes on policyforum.net. Policy Forum Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can find us on Twitter at @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.

In the final instalment in our series on housing, Executive Director of Anglicare Australia Kasy Chambers joins us to discuss the dire state of housing affordability and how policymakers can turn things around.Housing affordability, particularly in Australia’s private rental market, is an issue of major concern for people on low incomes. According to Anglicare’s annual Rental Affordability Snapshot, less than 10 rentals across the entire country were affordable for a single person looking for work on the JobSeeker payment on a weekend in March 2022. So what can policymakers do to turn this crisis around? What impact does the current policy framework, which incentivises wealth generation over welfare in the housing market, have on affordability? And will the government’s new National Housing Accord make a difference? On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Executive Director of Anglicare Australia Kasy Chambers joins Professor Sharon Bessell and Dr Arnagretta Hunter to discuss how to improve housing affordability in Australia.Kasy Chambers is Executive Director of Anglicare Australia - a network of 45 agencies, 38,000 staff and volunteers, working with over 502,000 clients annually across Australia.Sharon Bessell is Professor of Public Policy and Director of both the Children’s Policy Centre and the Poverty and Inequality Research Centre at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.Arnagretta Hunter is the Human Futures Fellow at ANU College of Health and Medicine, a cardiologist, physician, and Senior Clinical Lecturer at ANU Medical School.Find full show notes on policyforum.net. Policy Forum Pod is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can find us on Twitter at @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.