Lily Pratt and Jasmine Lykissas
What do sugar labelling, trans health, and skin cancer prevention have in common?
Perhaps not much to an everyday person, but for us at the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA), they’re three of the many policy positions we rely on to advocate for the wellbeing of everyone in Australia.
Preventing people from getting sick is our central mission.
This work can take various forms, but one way we achieve this is through collaborating with our members and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to produce evidence-based policy positions on how to improve the public’s health.
Policy position statements outline our stance on public health issues.
As the peak body for public health in Australia, our position on these issues is important because decision makers, government workers, the media, health professionals and the community look to PHAA for guidance on how to improve public health policy.
PHAA policy positions are valuable because they translate complex public health theory and research findings into tangible solutions and actions. They consolidate what can often be hundreds of documents of evidence into just six pages.
The policies, being succinct and evidence-based, are ideal for anyone – whether member of the public or ministerial staffer – to quickly understand the issue and its solutions.
The impact of these policy positions is palpable. We have seen our positions cited in government reports and inquiries, listed as essential reading for public health students as examples of good policy, and quoted by journalists in major news stories.
Internally, policy position statements are an essential part of our functioning – we use them almost every day.
Whether it’s to pull directly from the policy to include in a meeting, submission, interview or letter, or to use as guidance during strategic decision making; policy position statements are a core part of our advocacy.
“Rarely does a week go by without me referring to a PHAA Policy,” said PHAA CEO, Adj Prof Terry Slevin.
“What is suggested to constitute public health is constantly expanding. Loneliness, gambling, violence, climate, poverty, governance of democracy and more are seen to fall within our remit.
“As a result, we increasingly get queries from journalists or people in government looking for a PHAA view on a wide range of issues. Our policy position statements provide a sound evidence-base to navigate these many requests.”
Our policy statements, of which we have over 100, are guided by our PHAA Goals:
- Public health ideas: Effective promotion of public health thinking, health equity values and ecosystem, and health values driven by evidence-based research and policy.
- Public health action: Growth in investment in public and preventive health programs, public health research, the public health workforce, and our national public health capacity.
- Equity and equality: Continual reduction of social and economic health inequities and inequality.
- Climate and health: An effective response to climate change and its impact on planetary and human health.
- Reconciliation: A successful Reconciliation process among all Australians, and improved health to close the gaps for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
As well as alignment to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Additionally, the policies must reflect the PHAA values of respect, inclusiveness, integrity, evidence and leadership.
So, how does PHAA maintain the standard of these documents?
The PHAA National Office ensures they are rigorously updated every three years, with the support of our SIGs.
The policies are reviewed for their relevance to public health conversations, the currency of the evidence, and updated with any developments from the government.
Each year, SIGs can also create new policies that align with PHAA’s goals. Cross-SIG collaboration is an essential part of the policy review and creation process.
These updated and new policies are then made available for the review and constructive scrutiny of all PHAA members for six weeks.
This period of review makes sure that PHAA policies are informed by multiple perspectives and are agreed upon by our diverse member base.
This year, members were able to weigh in on policies from the Child and Youth, Ecology and Environment, Food and Nutrition, Health Promotion, International Health, Mental Health, Political Economy of Health, Women’s Health, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion SIGs.
All review periods of the policy review cycle are now complete, and the finalised policy position statements, approved by the PHAA Board, are available on the members-only policy review cycle webpage.
The tremendous effort of our volunteer members in the drafting and reviewing of policies is evidenced by the quality of the improvements they make.
Our rigorous review process, which uses high-quality data and evidence to support our positions, ensures that PHAA’s policies are robust and informed by the expertise of academics, researchers, members with lived experience, and practitioners.
That makes PHAA, and in turn Australian public health, stronger.
Editor’s note: We thank our members who worked on and engaged in our policy review cycle in 2024. We encourage all members to review the polices here before the final step in the cycle, when members vote to pass the updated and new policies at the PHAA AGM in September.
If you’re interested in influencing public health policy in Australia, become a PHAA member today.
Jasmine Lykissas is the Communications Officer, and Lily Pratt is the Policy Officer, at the PHAA National Office.