Policy is a broad concept that is difficult to define. It features across many areas of society and impacts our daily lives in often unseen ways.
In short, a policy is a statement of standards and actions formed by an organisation, or government to give consistent guidance, direction, clarity, or regulation on a specific topic.
Policies will have objectives and a body to provide a path towards practicable outcomes. Your school, workplace, the Australian and South Australian Governments, as well as local councils have policies to ensure standards of safety, wellbeing, communication, and other important aspects within their work . Policies are a framework to achieve long-term aims and they should help us to understand what and why organisations or governments want to achieve.
You may have come across policy in the form of a code of conduct in the workplace, a mobile phone or dress code policy at school, or a privacy policy online. Another type of policy that likely influences your life is public policy which is created and implemented by government and government entities. Public policy is our system of laws, regulations, funding allocation and other legislation worked on by policymakers in government. Each level of government has a responsibility to develop policy for different things. To learn more about the responsibilities of the different levels of government read you can read our post on that here.
Public policy can cover a broad range of topics including social policy, public health policy, environment policy and urban planning. Social policy aims to improve society in areas that impact on quality of life like criminal justice, employment, education, and inequality. Public health policy is the laws and regulations made to promote wellness in society, like Medicare and the pharmaceutical benefits scheme (PBS). Environmental policy focuses on needs resulting from humankind’s impact on the environment and concerns issues like air quality, water, climate change and pollution. Urban planning policy guides the formation of cities and towns and considers resource allocation, human and population development, climate change resilience and sustainability to varying degrees.
Creating public policy is complicated. It typically begins with identifying a problem or need and then the development of a resolution through creating new policy or reforming existing policy. Making public policy is an involved task where Bills are introduced, consultation occurs, and debates are held. To learn about the stages a Bill goes through to become an Act check out our post How a Bill Becomes an Act. Another factor that makes policy a challenging task is policymakers and other community members do not always agree and can have different ideas that compete with one another.
Policymakers are our elected representatives across the levels of government. When making policy decisions they are influenced by a range of factors including different ideologies, interpretations, and values. At the same time, they also must consider aspects like cost, existing policy, potential consequences, and political opposition. Other people outside of government can also directly or indirectly effect public policy too. Non-government organisations, corporations, community-based groups, lobbyists, and individuals can influence policymakers and their decisions through advocacy, mobilisation, and activism.
Public policies impact all our lives in many ways and engaging in the development of policy is possible through community groups, activism, or political participation as an individual! If you’re passionate about getting involved you can learn more about political processes, advocacy, campaigning and policy, and use these skills to keep decision makers accountable by becoming a YACSA Young Member. It’s free and sign up only takes 20 seconds, find out more here.
