Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Social policy
and evidence around different options, undertaking consultation, and providing
information and advice to elected officials about possible courses of action. In
Australia, elected officials then have the final decision-making power over government
social policy; it is up to members of parliament and Cabinet to decide which
policies are to be pursued, how, when and why.
Non-stateactorsalsohaveanimportantroletoplayinshaping,deliveringand
sometimes also designing social policy. For instance, they may:
• seek to influence the focus and development of government social policy
through advocacy, lobbying, and participation in consultation
• deliver government-led/designed social policy, particularly through new public
management (NPM) contracting arrangements
• initiate and develop social policy themselves, either with or without the
involvement of the state.
Processes for making social policy will inevitably differ between these groups.
There are, however, recognised standard processes for policy making in the public
sector – often articulated through the concept of policy ‘cycles’. 35 Althaus,
Bridgman and Davis’ Australian ‘policy cycle’ proposes eight stages of policy
development: (1) issue identification, (2) policy analysis, (3) policy instruments, (4)
consultation, (5) co-ordination, (6) decision making, (7) implementation, and (8)
evaluation. The authors argue that policy makers do not necessarily step through
thesestagesconsecutively,butthatthepolicyprocessmayinsteadbehaphazard:a
kind of ‘policy dance’. 36
Others have critiqued the Australian ‘policy cycle’ on the basis that it represents
an overly technocratic view of policy making and does not adequately grapple with
the complexities of real life, including political dimensions and other constraints. 37
Indeed, the process of identifying and framing social policy ‘issues’, choosing which
issues demand a response (and which do not), identifying and interpreting evidence,
and making recommendations is inevitably political, demanding a series of
subjective and collective value judgements. Below, we turn to two aspects of this
process – the role of evidence, and the cyclical and iterative nature of policy making
– to illustrate its somewhat messy nature.
Evidence-informed social policy
As indicated by the ‘analysis’ and ‘evaluation’ steps of the Australian policy cycle,
social policy is not merely the end product of a contest between different
ideological perspectives. It is also influenced and informed by empirical evidence.
Although this is not a new concept, it gained prominence with the growth of the
35 Althaus, Bridgman and Davis 2018; Lasswell 1951.
36 Althaus, Bridgman and Davis 2018; Edwards 2017.
37 For example, see Colebatch 2006; Howlett and Ramesh 2003.
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