AASW Social Work Podcasts

For Pamela Cohen, it wasn’t enough that the cardiac patients in the hospital where she worked received the best care. Pamela wanted that level of care to be available to every cardiac patient, throughout Australia and overseas. She received good advice on what she needed to do to influence this field of medical practice, and she followed it.

In fact, good advice from influential women is what led Pamela to a career in social work in the first place. And that story connects her to the most tumultuous events in our political history.

PROFILE:

St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney Cardiac Rehabilitation program, featuring a presentation from Pamela on the psycho-social aspects of rehabilitation:

https://www.svhhearthealth.com.au/rehabilitation/overview-rehabilitation

(Pamela’s is the 8th of the presentations)

Mentioned in this episode

Professor Tony Vinson:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Vinson

Margaret Whitlam AO:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Whitlam

General introductions to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government can be found at the Australian National Museum and the National Film and Sound Archive:

https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/whitlam-dismissal https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/dismissal

Detailed analysis of the events leading up to the Dismissal are contained in The Eleventh podcast:

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-eleventh/ start at episode 4

Jenny Hocking, The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know About November 1975, Melbourne University Press, 2017

https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-dismissal-dossier-electronic-book-text

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners

The Australian Association of Social Workers respectfully acknowledges the past and present Traditional Owners and ongoing Custodians of the land on which this podcast is being recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and their families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening

Sonya Feldhoff returns to Patricia Muncey later in the story - this follows from the previous episode.

The Deputy State Coroner has found the 2016 domestic violence deaths of two South Australian children could have been prevented if child protection authorities took a more "vigorous role" in securing their safety.

The mother Adeline Yvette Rigney was murdered also.

The findings of the Inquest can be found here.

The ABC's coverage can be found here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-21/hillier-children-murders-could-been-prevented-sa-coroner-says/101004304

AASW South Australian Branch President Patricia Muncey discusses the systemic issues concerning child protection with Sonya Feldhoff on ABC Adelaide Afternoons on 22 April 2022.

The Deputy State Coroner has found the 2016 domestic violence deaths of two South Australian children could have been prevented if child protection authorities took a more "vigorous role" in securing their safety.

The mother Adeline Yvette Rigney was murdered also.

The findings of the Inquest can be found here.

The ABC's coverage can be found here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-21/hillier-children-murders-could-been-prevented-sa-coroner-says/101004304

AASW South Australian Branch President Patricia Muncey discusses the systemic issues concerning child protection with Sonya Feldhoff on ABC Adelaide Afternoons on 22 April 2022, followed by the comments of the Minister Katrine Hildyard - Child Protection, Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Recreation, Sport and Racing.

What kind of world do we want? The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals describe one vision of a world which respects rights, shares prosperity and protects the planet: a world in which no-one has been left behind. Every member state of the UN has endorsed that vision.

That vision is also endorsed by the International Federation of Social Workers, who have made it their theme for World Social Work Day 2022. To celebrate WSWD 2022, the AASW conducted a webinar for its members. It discussed the SDG’s and the theme of “Leaving no-one behind”; and what both of these mean for us in Australia.

This is an edited recording of that webinar, so you will hear references to slides and written questions submitted by the audience. (At the time of the webinar we were anticipating that a Federal Election will be called soon in Australia). The webinar started with an introduction of our guest, Linda Ford.

LINKS

IFSW World Social Work Day 2022: “Leaving no-one behind”: https://www.ifsw.org/social-work-action/world-social-work-day/world-social-work-day-2022/

SDG’s https://sdgs.un.org/goals

The People’s Summit: Co Building A New Eco-Social World: www.newecosocialworld.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

Since Dr Robyn Miller started working with isolated, vulnerable families 40 years ago, she has seen enormous changes in the way that children’s needs are understood and responded to.  When the Victorian child protection system was overhauled to enshrine the rights of the child as its guiding principle, Robyn became its inaugural Principal Practitioner.  In that role she translated the rights of the child into child protection practice.  Robyn is still advancing the rights of young people in the child protection system, but now it is in her role as the CEO of a large Community Sector Organisation.

LINKS

Are We Caring for Everyone? AASW symposium

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

For information about children’s rights and child protection legislation in Australia see

• Australian Human Rights Commission: Children’s Rights in Australia
• Australian Institute of Family Studies: Child Family Community Australia Australian child protection legislation, CFCA Resource sheet , March 2018

Also mentioned

Miller, R. The Best Interests Principles –  A Conceptual Overview, Office for Children, Department of Human Services, Victoria, 2007

Humphreys C, Holzer P, Scott D, Arney F, Bromfield L, Higgins D, The Planets Aligned: Is Child protection Policy Reform Good Luck or Good Management?  Australian Social Work, Vol63, No2, June 2010. pp145-163

A history of income support payments for  low income parents can be found at:

https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0809/children#:~:text=The%20Whitlam%20Government%20introduced%20the,the%20name%20it%20was%20given

Respecting Sexual Safety: A Program to Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Harmful Sexual Behaviour in Out-of-Home Care Australian social work https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0312407X.2019.1597910

Mackillop.org.au

For a contrast (albeit fictional)

Dervla McTiernan: The Ruin

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

Since March 2018, Bronwyn Dendle and Angela Fredericks have been campaigning for the Murugappan family to be released from detention and returned to their home in Biloela.  The story of the family is complicated.  It spans continents, decades, and multiple changes in Australia’s immigration laws.  The facts of this story can become lost, hidden behind divisive, politically motivated expression of opinions.  Before listening to this episode, you can refresh your understanding of the facts here.

In June 2021, 4 year old Tharnicaa required urgent medical treatment for a disease that had been untreated in detention, creating publicity round the world about her family’s treatment, and the #HomeToBilo campaign to end their enforced detention.  The campaign has been described by one newspaper as having changed Australia’s national conversation on refugees.

Bronwyn and Angela are both AASW members and in this episode we discuss how they have focussed the world’s attention on Australia’s treatment of people seeking asylum.

LINKS

The Campaign:  https://www.hometobilo.com/

https://www.theage.com.au/national/we-had-to-speak-up-for-our-friends-the-little-town-that-roared-for-a-desperate-family-20210804-p58ftq.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-20/no-place-like-home-for-biloela-asylum-seeker-family/100450688

https://www.abc.net.au/austory/statement-immigration-minister-alex-hawke/13549722

https://www.marieclaire.com.au/2021-marie-claire-women-of-the-year

Marie-Claire’s Women of the Year:   Pryia Murugappan; The Women of Biloela

Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals

https://www.openculture.com/2017/02/13-rules-for-radicals.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals

Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly From Little Things, Big Things Grow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAONlfoNVuY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded.  We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

Dr Ann O’Neill AM has survived the unimaginable. In fact she has done more than survive: Ann has used her experience as the basis for further research, from which she has created her own model of recovery. And to make sure that other people have the best opportunity to recover as well, she has established an organisation specifically to do this work. For this work, Ann has received an Order of Australia.

This episode comes with a Content Warning. For an alternative or antidote go to:

https://www.abc.net.au/classic/events/music-for-wellbeing/

PROFILE

Ann’s story:

https://www.abc.net.au/austory/hells-angel/10545386

Ann’s model and work:

https://annoneill.com/

https://angelhands.org.au/

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE;

Taylor’s concept of the milking stool:

Taylor, A.J.W. Justice as a Basic Human Need, New Zealand Journal of Psychology, vol 38, No2, 2009

For a similar account of a woman who supports women and girls after sexual assault:

https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/tarana-burke---the-woman-behind-metoo/13593580

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

This is an interview with Angela Coe Smallacombe of ABC Mornings in South Australia, discussing the registration of social workers in South Australia, following the historic passing of the legislation on 1 December with AASW South Australian Branch President Patricia Muncey.

For more information on the AASW's 50-year long campaign to register the profession, see our website: https://www.aasw.asn.au/social-policy-advocacy/latest-campaign-actions

Australia’s first Professor of Pasifika heritage, Jioji Ravulo, is the Chair of Social Work and Policy Studies at the University of Sydney. His story starts at a barbeque in Western Sydney in the 1970’s. His work combines the perspectives of both his Western and his Pasifika heritages and it shows how, instead of competing against each other, different world views can be blended into holistic and inclusive visions for the future.

PROFILE:

https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/jioji-ravulo.html

‘It’s Been A Journey’: Meet Australia’s First Pasifika Professor

https://www.smh.com.au/national/it-s-been-a-journey-meet-australia-s-first-pasifika-professor-

PROF RAVULO’S PUBLICATIONS

Ravulo, J., Mafile'o, T., Yeates, D. Pacific Social Work: Navigating practice, policy and research. New York, Routledge, 2019.

Social Policy and Social Change: Popular culture, new media, and social work

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329816261_Social_policy_and_social_change_popular_culture_new_media_and_social_work

Connecting and Collaborating across Oceania and its Diaspora: A shared approach to meaningful development and engagement

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331669751_Connecting_and_collaborating_across_Oceania_and_its_diaspora_A_shared_approach_to_meaningful_development_and_engagement

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

The 26th Asia-Pacific Regional Social Work Conference –

Social Work and the Sustainable Development Goals Conference Website

The Redfern Speech: Prime Minister, The Hon Paul Keating’s speech to launch International Year for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, given in Redfern, NSW, 10 December 1992:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6dnDkvdTXA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.

Imelda Dodds was in her first job as a social worker when she came across Michael who needed to be protected from his ‘fair-weather friends’. At that time the only way to protect Michael was to place limitations on him, rather than the people who were attempting to exploit him. Now this is a challenge that has run through political and social reform from the earliest days of welfare state, and that resonates today.

That is: in attempting to protect vulnerable people from harm, policies and programs control them, instead of controlling the people who can do them harm. Imelda has been working through many of the world’s most intractable problems since then, and this challenge is one of them. Along the way she has observed instances when protecting vulnerable people means controlling the professionals who are meant to be helping them.

IMELDA’S PUBLICATIONS:

Beyond Welfare: In search of citizenship, ACOSS Congress 1995

Norma Parker Address 1997, delivered at the AASW National Conference, Canberra

https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/7635

Time to move to a more equitable and peaceful solution, IFSW News, 3 /2001

http://cdn.ifsw.org/assets/ifsw_32522-9.pdf

Engagement in international practice and policy development in Bywaters, P, McLeod, E, Napier L Social work and Global Health Inequalities, The Policy Press Bristol, UK 2009

IFSW Past President And Social Worker Imelda Dodds, Appointed New Chief Executive Officer Of The New South Wales(NSW) Trustee And Guardian

https://www.ifsw.org/ifsw-past-president-and-social-worker-imelda-dodds-appointed-new-chief-executive-officer-of-the-new-south-walesnsw-trustee-and-guardian/

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

The proposition that the welfare state is a mechanism for controlling the lives of people in poverty was outlined in:

Regulating the Poor: The Functions of public welfare, Piven F. F. and Cloward R. A., Vintage, 1st edition 1971, 2nd edition:1993.

Biography of Dorothea Dix

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/dorothea-dix

Professor Maria Harries AM profile; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Harries

Recognising qualified social workers:

https://www.aasw.asn.au/information-for-the-community/recognising-qualified-social-workers

Regulation of the social work profession in Australia

https://www.aasw.asn.au/social-policy-advocacy/regulation-of-social-work-in-australia

AASW Code of Ethics: AASW Code of Ethics

The UN’s Millennium Goals https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals have now been replaced by the

Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The AASW respectfully acknowledges the past and present traditional owners and on-going custodians of the lands on which this podcast was recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening.