Abstract
Successive Australian governments have undertaken policy to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing, all recognising the importance of early childhood to this aspiration. Understanding how current policy processes actually function to maintain social “problems”, rather than solve them, highlights the need for alternatives. Explaining why focusing on strengths is so important in developing community capacity brings the inherent flaws of policy formation to light. This chapter draws on some of the key findings of the previous chapters to demonstrate the need for a shift away from deficit-based policy. It advocates a move towards evidence-based policy that focuses on what works, removing any incentive to maintain the “problem” in order to sustain funding.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aitken, W. 2009. Indigenous Policy Failure and Its Historical Foundations. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies 2(1): 915–923.
———. 2013. Attribution Analysis: A Critique of the Policy Paradigm with a Case Study of the Northern Territory Emergency Response. (PhD). University of Tasmania.
Althaus, C., P. Bridgman, and G. Davis. 2013. The Australian Policy Handbook. 5th ed. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Anderson, P., and R. Wild 2007. Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle “Little Children are Sacred”. Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse. Darwin, Northern Territory Government.
Bridgman, P., and G. Davis. 2004. The Australian Policy Handbook. Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin.
Colebatch, H.K. 2006. What Work Makes Policy? Policy Sciences 39(4): 309–321.
Everett, S. 2003. The Policy Cycle: Democratic Process or Rational Paradigm Revisited? Australian Journal of Public Administration 62(2): 65–70.
Howlett, M., and M. Ramesh. 1995. Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Hunter, B. 2007. Conspicuous Compassion and Wicked Problems: The Howard Government’s Indigenous Affairs. Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform 4: 35–51.
Jung, C.G. 1962. Commentary on the Secret of the Golden Flower. Translated by Cary F. Baynes. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 81–137.
Kretzman, J.P., and J.L. McKnight. 1993. Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Chicago: ACTA Publications.
Lasswell, H. 1956. The Decision Process: Seven Categories of Functional Analysis. College Park: University of Maryland Press.
McKnight, J. 1995. The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits. New York: Basic Books.
Munford, R., and W. Walsh-Tapiata. 2006. Community Development: Working in the Bicultural Context of Aotearoa New Zealand. Community Development Journal 41(4): 426–442.
Parsons, W. 1995. Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Stone, D. 2012. Policy Paradox: The Ate of Political Decision Making. 3rd ed. New York: WW Norton and Company.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Aitken, W., Wareham, C. (2017). Policy Implications. In: Walter, M., Martin, K., Bodkin-Andrews, G. (eds) Indigenous Children Growing Up Strong. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53435-4_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53435-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53434-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-53435-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)