Understanding privilege in public institutions
A discussion of ANU's privilege toolkit
Public policy is often described as rational and evidence based, but it is not always neutral. Who gets to define the problem? Whose evidence counts? And who gets heard? This Bridge Live webinar will explore how privilege shapes policy agendas, decision-making processes and the perspectives that are recognised or overlooked.
Why this conversation matters now
Privilege can influence what makes it onto the policy agenda, who participates in decision-making and whose knowledge is treated as credible. The discussion will examine how everyday assumptions about expertise, evidence and participation can amplify some voices while silencing others.
Discussion themes
Drawing on ANU’s privilege toolkit, the event will explore what privilege means in public policy and how public managers can recognise and challenge it in practice. Key themes include whose voices should be prioritised, how lived experience should sit alongside professional and academic expertise, and how policy processes can avoid reinforcing privilege through practices that appear neutral.
Who should attend?
Public sector executives, emerging leaders, policy and workforce professionals, diversity and inclusion practitioners, organisational development professionals, researchers and ANZSOG alumni across Australia and New Zealand.
Audience takeaway
Participants should leave with:
A understanding of how privilege can shape which policy issues gain attention, whose evidence is valued and whose perspectives are heard.
Practical strategies for recognising and challenging assumptions about expertise, evidence and participation in policy processes.
Familiarity with the ANU Privilege Toolkit and how it can be applied to public policy and decision-making.
A deeper appreciation of how lived experience, professional expertise and academic evidence can be brought together in policy development.
Insight into whose voices may be missing from their own policy processes, and actions they can take to support more inclusive decision-making.
Event details
Speakers
Maria Katsonis (MC)
Maria Katsonis is a Public Policy Fellow at The University of Melbourne where she teaches policy design and implementation at a post graduate level.
She has 20 years’ experience in the Victorian Public Service as a senior executive and has a deep understanding of public policy and public management.
Associate Professor Ashley Schram
Ashley Schram is an Associate Professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University and Deputy Director of the Australian Research Centre for Health Equity.
Her research focuses on the relationships between social structures, policy, governance, equity and human wellbeing, with a particular focus on how economic policy and investment systems shape social and health inequities.
Ashley led the development of the ANU privilege toolkit and has developed frameworks, including the Multidimensional Analysis of Privilege Policy Systems, to support critical policy analysis.
Dr Lisa Conway
Dr Lisa Conway has more than 20 years’ experience in the Australian Public Service and leads work on ending gender-based violence in the Office for Women at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Her PhD at ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy used Indigenous research methodologies to examine APS cultural capability. She identified how institutional whiteness impedes effective policy for First Nations peoples and developed a model to address this.
Her research aims to make policy more culturally safe and responsive. Her thesis won the Australian Political Studies Association’s prestigious PhD Award.
Tim Heffernan
Tim is an experienced Consumer Peer Worker and is current chair of Being – Mental Health Consumers and a director with Mind Australia. He is a former Lived Experience Deputy Commissioner at the Mental Health Commission of NSW.
Tim worked for over ten years as a Peer Worker with Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District and for five years as Peer Coordinator with COORDINARE, the South Eastern NSW PHN. He has been an Official Visitor for the past four years.
Tim was Deputy co-Chair of the National Peer Workforce Development Guidelines Steering Committee and co-Chair of the National Mental Health Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy Steering.