COSMOS - IN FOCUS: Evidence in favour

Politics has not traditionally been a place where evidence has ruled decision-making. A much more compelling driver has often been ideology.

The problem with ideology is that it is often based on philosophy rather than evidence, and philosophy can be incredibly appealing, since it explains the world in an attractive and tidy way. But ideology quickly becomes dogma, which is often impervious to evidence.

Which is why it’s refreshing to see a global interest in using science as the basis of policy. Hardly a radical idea, you would think (and I’d agree with you), but it’s taken a long time to come to the fore.

It was front and centre in Alice Springs this week at the annual conference of the Cooperative Research Centres. “Whose evidence? How can policy makers find a balance within scientific opinion?” was the lead plenary on Thursday, and it became a fascinating discussion of the intersection between science and policy.

The case study discussed was ‘the Aboriginal intervention’. In 2007, in response to a government report into child sexual abuse in remote areas of Australia, the then government of Prime Minister John Howard declared a national emergency.

It sent police and the army into remote communities, introduced alcohol bans and mandatory health checks for Aboriginal children, wound back Aboriginal land rights, suspended racial discrimination laws and quarantined the welfare payments of Aborigines to basic needs.

Has it worked? Most Aboriginal groups and many academics condemn the intervention, arguing that its heavy-handed, top-down approach was inconsistent with the report’s recommendations.

But with more than A$1 billion spent on 73 communities, some positives did ensue. More than 8,000 children received health checks. Few of these identified abuse cases; however, other health issues were picked up, with 500 children directed to ear, nose and throat surgery.

Extra police were assigned, leading to charges of increased tensions and the targeting of Aborigines. But a lot of other programs, which had been sitting on the shelf, were suddenly unleashed. Some were thoughtful and based on good evidence, others driven by little more than “mainstream values”, said Chris Burns, the Northern Territory’s Minister of Education.

A distinguished panel then discussed the results so far. On balance, it seems that if you throw enough money at a problem, you get some results. But policy formulation based on emergency timetables is hit and miss, and evidence would have been a better guide, they concluded.

As one of the speakers noted, quoting Winston Churchill, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

Wilson da Silva
Editor-in-Chief, Cosmos