Social Innovation
We examine the growing difficulty of accessing good jobs and adequate income support. We seek to understand and highlight the experiences of those who bear the brunt of the effects of policy choices that exacerbate inequality, including underpaid and exploited workers, people who can’t get a decent job, women, First Nations people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disability and their carers, migrants and refugees, and others who are marginalised by our economic and social structures and denied their fair share of power and resources.
Social Innovation
December 7, 2023
Distress Amplification: Robodebt notices and the intensification of distress in the unemployed
Robodebt has ignited a debate around the impact on individuals, the future of civic compliance systems, and the broader societal implications of automation.
Social Innovation
September 7, 2023
We have to do more: Examining School Leader Perspectives on Hygiene Poverty within Australian Schools
The benefits of access to hygiene products transcend the notion of hygiene alone, likely conferring significant benefits to reduced absenteeism, reduced presenteeism, improvements in mental health and better engagement with school and civic systems.
Past Events
June 21, 2023
The Careless State: Reforming Australia’s Social Services, with Mark Considine
A powerful statement of how to fix Australia’s failing social services. The lives of all Australians are profoundly affected by the quality of social services available, but a long list of royal commissions and public inquiries have revealed them to be failing. In The Careless State Mark Considine shows that the preferred model of reform ... Read more
Social Innovation
April 30, 2023
Australia’s Science and Research Priorities: Conversation Starter
This submission is focused on expanding the science policy debate to include a wider range of important issues related to the appropriate role of science in a healthy democracy.
Social Innovation
March 26, 2023
Submission to the Inquiry into the National Cultural Policy
Access to, and participation in cultural events is a social justice issue, for creative industry workers, and for the public.
Progressive Economics
March 20, 2023
Multiples Matter: Investigating the support needs of multiple birth families
Families with multiples face a greater set of challenges compared to those with singletons.
Social Innovation
November 3, 2021
False Economy: The economic benefits of the NDIS and the consequences of government cost-cutting
An analysis by Per Capita for National Disability Services for the Teamwork Works campaign.
Social Innovation
September 7, 2021
Submission to the Inquiry into Media Diversity in Australia
Per Capita strongly advocates that the Committee recommend to the Senate that the policy to privatise the NBN be reversed, and that the network be maintained in perpetuity as a publicly owned, wholesale communications infrastructure network.
Equitable Housing
April 9, 2021
Per Capita Submission to the Ten-Year Social and Affordable Housing Strategy for Victoria
Per Capita was excited and gratified to see the Victorian government announce the $5.3 billion Big Housing Build in 2020. As our advocacy has made clear, we believe that an investment in social housing construction of that scale or more is not only desperately needed to begin to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis in this state, but also represents one of the most effective and efficient forms of economic stimulus that we could employ as we recover and rebuild from COVID-19.
Ageing
July 13, 2020
Home for Good: Communities for Wellbeing
In this fourth Home for Good policy brief, we explore ways to build ‘communities for wellbeing’. By this, we mean the ways in which good housing outcomes extend beyond individual housing circumstances to the context of neighbourhood and broader community.
Social Innovation
July 5, 2020
Per Capita Submission to the Inquiry into Homelessness in Australia
This submission recommends a new national housing and homelessness strategy and the setting up of a permanent, dedicated national housing authority to coordinate it. It also argues that the Commonwealth government can address homelessness by addressing poverty and protecting people against rental arrears, housing crisis, and eviction; and unpacks the issue of unaffordable housing. recommending a two-pronged strategy of de-commodifying our housing market and rebuilding our public housing.
Ageing
March 23, 2020
Home for Good: Improving the Private Rental Market for Older Australians
This policy brief, the second in a series looking at housing options for an ageing population, draws on the work of Per Capita and TACSI, to explore and propose new and innovative pathways for private rental housing.
Ageing
September 9, 2019
Mutual Appreciation: a social innovation thinkpiece
A triple threat is looming in relation to ageing in Australia, one with particular implications for women. While access to secure and affordable housing can mean the difference between poverty and a decent life in older age, full homeownership in Australia is increasingly a privilege.
Ageing
September 12, 2017
Money for Jam: Financial Wellbeing through Micro-enterprise
Enabling women over 50 at risk of poverty to create financial wellbeing through micro-enterprise
Ageing
May 9, 2016
Money For Jam: a co-design project
A co-design project enabling women at risk of poverty to create financial wellbeing through microenterprise.
Progressive Economics
April 5, 2016
Action and Impact: Melody Barnes in Melbourne
Melody Barnes served as Assistant to US President Obama and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council from 2009 to January 2012. Melody is now the Chair of the Aspen Institute's Forum for Community Solutions. Per Capita brought Ms Barnes to Australia for a series of events on building economic growth through social policy, cities and innovation, and insights into her community-based work at the White House.
Social Innovation
December 10, 2014
A Nation All At Sea: Seeking Leadership on Asylum Seekers
December 2014: We call for better leadership and a policy response on asylum seekers that is sustainable and effective on the long-term. By Graeme Innes AM and Allison Orr.
Education
October 21, 2013
Social Innovation, Public Good: New Approaches to Public Sector Productivity
How does one 'price' a well-educated child or a rapidly cured patient? This report argues that that we should look to the not-for-profit sector to measure social return on investment. By David Hetherington.
Social Innovation
August 23, 2011
Towards a Fair Go: Design Challenges for a National Disability Insurance Scheme
This paper examines the barriers to the provision of adequate care and support to people with disabilities in Australia, and proposes a high-level outline for a National Disability Insurance Scheme to be complemented by improved coverage within existing accident insurance programs. By David Hetherington.
Social Innovation
December 24, 2010
Energy Market Design & Australia’s Low-Carbon Transition: A Case Study of Distributed Gas Power
This paper explores the role of distributed gas-fired power generation in Australia's transition to a low-carbon economy. It uses the framework of market design to consider why a technology which is cost-effective and readily available, has not penetrated the Australian electricity market to the extent it has elsewhere in the world. By David Hetherington and Tom Foster.
Progressive Economics
August 21, 2010
Memo to a Progressive Prime Minister: Leadership for the Long Term
The report, published after the 2010 election of Prime Minister Julia Gillard, explores how a progressive agenda can incorporate the building of a stronger, fairer, and more prosperous Australia. By David Hetherington and Tim Soutphommasane.
Progressive Economics
April 24, 2010
Promoting Good Choices: Patterns of Habit and the Role of Government
This paper argues that in Australia, good choices are those which promote the individual and common good, based on the progressive values of prosperity, fairness and community. By Jack Fuller.
Social Innovation
April 24, 2010
What’s the story? Nation-building narratives in climate politics
Climate change politics in Australia has been defined by incendiary rhetoric and increasing public disillusionment. This paper outlines three lessons progressives can draw from Australia’s climate change debate. By David Hetherington and Tim Soutphommasane.
Social Innovation
July 24, 2009
Fostering Collaboration in the Non-Profit Sector: A background paper
July 2009: Report from a workshop in 2008 with representatives from the non-profit sector to discuss social innovation. By David Hetherington.
Social Innovation
November 24, 2008
Case Studies in Social Innovation
October 2008: This background paper offers an overview of social innovation and three case studies of successful social innovation projects. By David Hetherington.
Progressive Economics
July 24, 2008
The Full-Cost Economics of Climate Change: An Aluminium Case Study
This report applies a full-cost economics approach to climate change adaptation, using the aluminium industry as a case study to illustrate the complexity of the policy challenge. The report examines the positive value of jobs within the upstream aluminium industry, and the negative value of carbon emissions from the sector. By David Hetherington.
Progressive Economics
November 24, 2007
Memo to a Progressive Prime Minister: Australia: The Investing Society
This is an updated version of a report first written after the 2007 election of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. It
proposes a new progressive governing project. We call this project the Investing Society: a renewed investment in sustaining our prosperity and in strengthening our communities. By David Hetherington and Tim Soutphommasane.
