Influencing Social Policy on Families through Research in Australia

Abstract

There is an emerging academic and public policy discourse about better research engagement, impact and policy translation. In this chapter we examine the place of research in making ‘real world’ impact on the social policies and practices affecting Australian families, especially the transmission of (dis)advantage over the life course and across generations. We begin by briefly reflecting on the influence of ‘policy research’ in shaping Australia’s early social development through the 1907 Basic Wage Case by Justice Higgins (The Harvester judgement), which placed the intersection of work and family life at the centre of economic and social policy debates. While historical, these reforms laid the foundations for what can be seen as tentative life course social policy frameworks engaged in the dynamics of family life from birth to death, changing family structures, and increasing economic and gender inequality. We then examine selected historical and contemporary social policy episodes consistent with the book’s central themes where research from academia, the public sector and civil society has been impactful in key national and state-based policy systems such as social security, balancing work and family, child care, addressing gender inequality and support for vulnerable and complex families.