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Acknowledgement of Country I grew up on Guringai Country before moving overseas to return many years later to live, work and raise with my husband our children on Larrakia Country. I acknowledge and respect the traditional owners and Elders of Larrakia Country. I also extend my respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the First Nations people of this country who never ceded their sovereignty. I truly appreciate the life I have in Australia though I acknowledge my ancestors were never invited to make their home here. I carry a deep unease that I am a descendent of either convicts or free settlers (most likely the former) who played a part in the colonisation of First Nations Countries. I am deeply sorry for this.
Being curious is a critical part of being a policy officer and our number one curiosity tool is asking questions. Asking questions however can be daunting. We may be afraid to expose what we don’t know, maybe we don’t know who to ask or we know who they are though don’t know how to access them. We may have been brought up understanding it was impolite to ask questions. Or perhaps we think we know everything there is to know about a policy; trust me, we don’t. Bottom line - we can’t afford to not ask questions.
The word on the street (and a whole stack of research and public expectation) is that policy needs to be evidence informed or evidence based (these terms are often used interchangeably). So, what does this mean? Simply, it means we don’t develop policy based on our personal opinions, biases or assumptions. We must develop our policy from a mix of quantitative and qualitative data and from multiple sources. Let’s break this down.
For a long time, I couldn’t define policy. I found it easier to talk about the policies I was working on, rather than turn myself into knots trying to define what seemed to be undefinable. I’ve discussed this with policy colleagues and confirmed it is something we all struggled with, and we all wished someone had clearly defined policy for us. You need not feel alone if you too are struggling to pin down a definition – this lack of clarity is prevalent. Let’s get this sorted for you.
Policy done well has the potential to change our lives and the world we live in. Policy done poorly is wasteful, costly and can be incredibly damaging. It’s more than just words on a page; it’s a craft. And it has real impacts on real people and on the things that matter to us. Think the Voice, the ability for mining exploration to be approved on rural properties, expectations for local governments to have an active part in climate action, fracking, offshore detention, schools denying children an education because of their chosen identity, people not having access to all the things many of us take for granted because of where they live or who they are. These are real policies affecting real people every day. Policy practitioners don’t make final decisions, but we must do everything we can to give those who do, the best policy advice.
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