Volume 1: Proceedings - Strengthening Evidence-based Policy in the Australian Federation - Roundtable Proceedings

There was, of course, similar public questioning of a number of policy initiatives by the previous government, such as the Alice-to-Darwin rail link; the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement; the Baby Bonus; the banning of filament light bulbs; Work Choices and the National Water Initiative, and others. [...] The quest for rigorous and reliable knowledge, and the desire to increase the utilisation of rigorous knowledge within the policy process, are core features of the EBP approach. [...] The counterarguments turn on the difficulty of implementing RCTs in sensitive areas of social policy; the difficulty of transplanting quasi-experimental results to large-scale programs PRINCIPLES AND 17 REQUIREMENTS (Deaton 2009); and the tendency to downplay the knowledge and experience of professionals with field experience (Pawson 2006; Schorr 2003). [...] The professional crafts of policy and program development will continue to require ‘weaving’ together the implications of case studies with the big picture, and to reconcile the strands of scientific information with the underlying value-driven approaches of the political system. [...] In addition to the power of the statutory continents and the political philosophies and historical goals of our major parties, another force that is more powerful than evidence is the personal views and political strength of individual politicians.