HUMN1052 Australian Politics and Active Citizenship
More Information on Portfolio Topics and Tasks for Autumn 2023
Topic 1: Public policy during the pandemic, viewed in hindsight
It’s widely acknowledged that Australia fared better through the Covid-19 pandemic than many comparable countries such as the US and the UK. And on the whole public opinion was supportive of the measures taken by governments to protect public health and lives, even when they came at some risk to personal freedoms.
However, a range of reports and studies since 2020 have raised important concerns about aspects of public policy under Covid. Why did public health messaging change so slowly after scientific opinion changed on the efficacy of hand-washing, wearing masks and so on, and was it actually reflecting the best medical advice? Were the lockdowns really necessary, did they go on too long, and did they unnecessarily target vulnerable communities? Was it really necessary to close schools? Did measures to protect public health have the accidental effect of worsening social inequality? Could the vaccine rollouts have been handled better?
Consider some of the criticism directed against Australian government responses (both state and federal). What does the evidence we have suggest about what was well-crafted and implemented in public policy throughout Covid and what was not? Were the various restrictions on personal freedoms during Covid a reasonable trade-off for protecting lives? How much of public policy was in the hands of Parliamentarians, and how much depended on decisions by unelected public officials? What did the pandemic teach us about governmental power and its limits?
The reference-list for this topic (to be available on vUWS) provides an entry-point into these debates for your work on the portfolio. You are encouraged to find further resources from expert sources on your own initiative.
For Part 1 of the portfolio (due Friday April 21) conduct and write-up a brief literature-survey of publications on one or more of the following areas: public health advice, social equity, the lockdowns, services and resources, personal freedoms and human rights.
For Part Two write a short essay of 750 words or less presenting your own reasoned point of view on the strengths and weaknesses of public policy during Covid in the same area or areas you studied for Part 1.
References:
A list of resources on public policy on COVID during the pandemic at APO:
https://apo.org.au/subject/99218
Peter Shergold et al, Fault Lines: An Independent Review into Australia’s Response to Covid-19 (2022)
https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2022-10/apo-nid320067_0.pdf
Daniel Halperin et al, ‘Revisiting COVID-19 policies: 10 evidence-based recommendations for where to go from here’, BMC Public Health (2021) 21:2084
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-12082-z
The Menzies Health Centre’s Report on Health Equity during the pandemic (2021):
The Human Rights Commission’s various contributions about maintain human rights in Australia during the pandemic:
https://humanrights.gov.au/about/covid19-and-human-rights
A summary of the HRC’s concerns in a single pamphlet:
‘Navigating a Pandemic’: ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance report on people’s difficulties in accessing services and information during the pandemic
Linda Courtenay Botterill, Joshua Lake & Michael James Walsh (2021) ‘Factors affecting public responses to health messages during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: partisanship, values, and source credibility’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 56:4, 358-375
Cameron Forrest, ‘Treading water: effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth transitions’, National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2021
https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2022-11/apo-nid320639.pdf
The Melbourne Institute, ‘The Effects of Long Covid’ summary (2022):
https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/data/taking-the-pulse-of-the-nation-2022/ttpn-long-covid
Zeynep Tufekci, ‘Scolding Beachgoers Isn’t Helping’, The Atlantic, July 5, 2020 (on the US debate on restrictions on outdoor activity)
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/it-okay-go-beach/613849/
Zeynep Tufekci’s story archive at The Atlantic:
https://www.theatlantic.com/author/zeynep-tufekci/?page=2