Crawford School of Public Policy

On this week’s podcast, Policy Forum’s Maya Bhandari chats to three trailblazing young women about how to rejuvenate our national political conversation.

More than two-thirds of Australia’s Federal Parliamentarians are men. More than 96 per cent are aged 35 and older. You shouldn’t need an economics or law degree to work out whose voices are not being heard.

On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, four young women discuss how to give youth a greater say in public policy. We hear from Nip Wijewickrema, Ashleigh Streeter-Jones and Caitlin Figueiredo about the pathways available to young people who want to enter politics, the obstacles facing young women trying to make a difference, and the challenges of measuring social impact.

Listen to the podcast here.

Nip Wijewickrema was named 2016 Young Australian of the Year. She established GG’s Flowers, which is a florestry business designed to create employment opportunities for people with special needs. She has also shown other local organisations how to create safe working environments for people with disabilities.

Ashleigh Streeter-Jones was named 2018 ACT Woman of the Year in recognition of her work encouraging young people and women in international development. She is also the co-founder of Jasiri Australia, which is a nation-wide social enterprise doing leadership training and pay-it-forward self-defence training.

Caitlin Figueiredo was named 2018 ACT Young Woman of the Year for her work as a forceful advocate for gender equity and as an international speaker advocate and student. She co-founded Jasiri Australia alongside Ashleigh. Caitlin is also a board member of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition. Both Caitlin and Ashleigh were named in the Forbes 30 under 30 list.

This week’s episode made reference to the following Policy Forum articles and podcasts:

• The world as a hostile workplace by Sally Tyler
• The scourge of sexual violence in Myanmar by Sara Davies and Jacqui True
• Back to basics – Finland’s Universal Basic Income with Olli Kangas
• National Security Podcast: the rise of the Indo-Pacific presented by Chris Farnham

Policy Forum Pod is available on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts. Got feedback for us on this pod? Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or find us on Facebook.

This post and podcast was first published on policyforum.net, Crawford School’s platform for public policy debate, analysis, views, and discussion.