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Impact Policy Podcast

@impactpolicyau

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Aboriginal led consulting firm that delivers CoDesign|Strategy|Research| Evaluation| Communications| Storytelling
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During the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, Aboriginal women gathered to dance on country and to march for the lives of Aboriginal women and girls.

For culture. For community. For safety. For kinship and connection these times are critical.

This wasn’t just movement it was healing, resilience and collective strength in real time.

When Aboriginal women come together, our womens strength is unmatched.

Thank you @mudgin_gal for hosting this event for for allowing Impact to film just a moment of it to share the importance of it with the broader community.

Shout out to Aunty @johnsonrayma and @buujabuujabutterflydancers and all their comittment over the weeks leading up to the event bringing all our women and girls together.

Special acknowledgement to all the dance groups throughout the day and especially to all our Elders who always hold us. by @impactpolicyau

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9 months ago

We produced this special piece for Indigenous Literacy Day at Impact Policy AU highlighting our deadly @maddiie_rose hosted story time, sharing Waraba Finds a Friend — a beautiful book she created together with her daughter Hazel and Hazel’s Grandma ❤️ Stacked full of Gamilaraay Language she learnt as a young girl travelling to and from the big smoke to Walgett NSW and all the animals they would spot along the way.

Such a special day to celebrate Indigenous authors, story tellers and creators!

If your passionate about Aboriginal languages and revitalisation and celebrating Aboriginal authors share this beautiful behind the scenes clip with your network. by @impactpolicyau

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a year ago

Aboriginal Languages Week has just wrapped up and we produced this highlight event following their event in Redfern to recognise and support their language revitalisation work across NSW.

For Impact Policy AU we were lucky to play a small part in the event with @maddiie_rose Rose being invited to participate in the youth forum and @sam_alderton_johnson Alderton-Johnson sharing the stage for a panel yarn on the launch of the NSW strategy for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.

Impact Policy worked alongside the Trust to produce the strategy and it remains one of our proudest pieces of work.

NSW Aboriginal Languages Week is an annual event celebrating Aboriginal languages in NSW, running from Sunday, October 19 to Sunday, October 26, 2025. Launched by the NSW Aboriginal Languages Trust, the week's theme for 2025 is "Let Our Voices Fly". It aims to raise awareness and support for language revitalisation through community events, cultural activities, and education.

Sam and Maddie reflect on all things languages in the next episode of the Impact Policy Podcast - link in the comments to the full episode.

Follow the work of the @nsw_alt Aboriginal Languages Trust to stay up to date with all things Languages across NSW.

Catch the recent episode of the Impact Policy Podcast where Sam and Maddie reflect on Aboriginal Languages Week and Aboriginal language revitalisation across NSW more broadly. by @impactpolicyau

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a year ago

What does an undefeated u8 girls basketball team have to do with preventing violence against women and girls? I have been reflecting on this alot over the past few weeks.

Potentially, its way more than we might think. Our Impact Academy girls are currently playing in a mixed competition. BUT - So far, every team they have come up against has been made up entirely of boys and they haven’t lost a game.

Of course thats mad. But the wins aren’t actually the most important part of this yarn. What matters is what these girls are learning about themselves every time they step onto the court.

Primary prevention is about addressing the conditions and gendered drivers that allow violence against our women and girls to occur in the first place. It is not simply responding after the violence has happened.

Change the story framework identifies sport as an important setting because of its capacity to influence gender relations, attitudes, behaviours and social norms. That’s why this program for our girls is about so much more than basketball.

Done intentionally, sport can create environments where our girls experience equality rather than simply hear about it. Where we build confidence and agency. Where our babies are visible, valued and supported as leaders. And where sisters grow up together supporting each other to take up space, compete, succeed, overcome challenges together and always belonging.

@ourwatch evidence on sport and primary prevention specifically points to the importance of meaningful involvement of women and girls, addressing gendered drivers of violence, and taking a whole-of-sport approach to changing culture.

At Impact Academy , we’re not claiming basketball alone will end domestic and family violence. But we do believe the environments and communities our babies grow up in matter.

And if we want a future where women and girls are safe, respected, equal and able to exercise agency over their lives, then creating spaces where girls experience those things from childhood is a pretty powerful place to start.

Sometimes primary prevention can look like my 7yo girl taking on all the boys alongside her sisters at the @impact_acadmey by @impactpolicyau

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6 days ago

When did we stop remembering that our communities have a pretty strong understanding of how to cooridnate ourselves. Sometimes i think community engagement, should just be renamed community listeners.

How often do we/organisations attempt to organise our communities. Bring them to seperate spaces and places often as a one off, as opposed to providing the resources and meeting them where they are at

My money is because this is outside the 9-5, on the weekends and in non traditional spaces like the footy, the youth centre or at the bingo.

What do you think? How do you imagine community 'engagement' as a practice? taken in Peter Forsyth Auditorium by @impactpolicyau

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25 days ago

Heres 3 reasons your impact report isn’t being read my people. Youve spent months collecting the data. You interview our communities, analyse the findings, write up a technical and academically sounds report, went through rounds of feedback and finally got it approved by executive.

Then you uploaded the 70-page PDF to your website. And somehow not many people seem to read it or care. Not always, but often.

The problem isn’t the quality of the work. It’s what happens to the work once it’s finished. This is the critical space we play in called knowledge translation. Stay with me.

1. You’re asking people to work too hard.

Most people don’t have the time, context or motivation to sit down and read 70 pages. If the important findings are buried on page 43, there’s a good chance they’ll stay there. Or if they are executives and senior leaders, rarely get past the executive summary (they call it that for a reason).

2. You’re communicating evidence, but not telling a story.

'Stories are data with a soul' - Brene Brown.

Data tells us what happened. Stories help us understand why it matters. The strongest impact communications bring together evidence, people, experience and emotion without losing the integrity of the research.

3. You treated the report as the final piece of the puzzle.

The report should be the beginning of the communications process, not the end.

One piece of research can become short-form video, interviews, social content, infographics, animations, case studies, photography and stories tailored to different audiences. This is what we love to champion at Six.

Impact work deserves to travel further than the people who commissioned it.

At Six Media, that’s a big part of what we’re passionate about: taking complex research, knowledge and impact and turning it into stories people can actually understand, engage with and remember.

Don’t just publish your impact. Communicate it.

This photo is from a recent campaign for Homes NSW - world building work reimaginig the future face of social housing. Very easy to write about it but more powerful to digitally communicate it.

Follow our work Six Media to join us on the impact journey. by @impactpolicyau

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25 days ago

Can Aboriginal professionals provide cultural services and advice off Country? This is one that is mixed, there can be nuance but Rowena Welsh - Jarrett unpacks her decision making process around the issue. Fundamentally coming down to two key points that I think are critical.

1 Being invited in by mob and
2 For the purpose of her TECHNICAL capability.

What do you think? Have you experienced something similar or are we missing something? Let us know!

We unpack all this and more in the next episode of the Impact Policy AU podcast out now on YouTube, Spotify and Apple link in our bio

Follow us here as we continue to unpack and impact social policy together. by @impactpolicyau

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a month ago

We broke down what it costs for 1 girl for a full year to play in the @impact_basketball_program - when you look at they numbers it is pretty easy to see the barriers that can exist across our communities. Imagine if you have multiple kids and you’re a single income household.

this is the base level costs to. This doesn’t even look at what it costs to find end of year presentations holiday camp programs and tournament competitions. We have an ambitious goal for pathways and programs to run for girls that come through this but for now this is the starting point for what it takes to keep one girl on the court for one year.

Through @impactpolicyau we have been able to sustain our pilot and start-up phase but we desperately need the support of a funding partner, philanthropy or government to get behind us on the journey ahead.

if you want to support us, you can check out our GoFundMe link in our bio. Please share this link with your network or if you know an organisation or individual that can help partner with us or connect us with the right people please share it with your network. taken in Gadigal Country by @impactpolicyau

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a month ago

A powerful reflection from Rowena on trusting the role each generation plays, holding onto the teachings of those who came before, and creating space for young people to shape what comes next.

Have so much respect for Rowey so to finally get a chance to sit down with her for a yarn was something i really appreciated.

Together we tackle some big yarns and there is so much in here both for our communities and also other practitioners or 'allys' working alongside our communities.

Follow us to stay up to date when the epside drops - like to the podcast in our bio. by @impactpolicyau

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2 months ago

holiday training camp took flight with a number of the girls attending numerous camps hosted by the local comments representative club.

These are such important opportunities for access for our girls to be able to see the next level in their development journey to be challenged pushed outside of their comfort zone and to know that they have what it takes to be able to still compete.

Was great to walk into the stadium during NAIDOC week and see a huge range of posters from previous NAIDOC weeks surrounding the arch entry into the stadium. statements like this during times like that go a huge way for strengthening pride, visibility and representation.

Massive shout out to our senior 12s girls who attended the elite girls only training camp where they spent the full day alongside seasoned representative players their age. They no doubt walk away from that day better for it.

Thank you to our volunteers who gave up their time to support the transport to and from these training camps and who provided morning tea and lunch for any kids that might need it.

Thanks again to @impactpolicyau for continuing to be our only sponsor for this program and thank you Sydney comets for working and partnering with us to make these camps as accessible as possible. by @impactpolicyau

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2 months ago

This week I sat down with Olivia Nguy, Director at the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, for a conversation that challenged some of the assumptions we make about justice.

One insight that has stayed with me is this:

“When civil justice issues go unaddressed, they can snowball and develop into criminal justice contact.”

Think about that for a moment.

Housing instability.
Debt.
Family law.
Employment issues.
Discrimination.

These are often treated as separate problems. But in reality, they can compound over time until people find themselves interacting with the criminal justice system.

If we’re serious about prevention, we need to stop waiting until someone reaches crisis point.

That means designing systems that intervene earlier, making legal support easier to access, and recognising that justice isn’t just about courts it’s about the social conditions that shape people’s lives long before they ever enter one.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Ollie. It’s one of those episodes that reinforces why cross-sector collaboration matters if we’re genuinely committed to reducing harm rather than simply responding to it.

Looking forward to sharing the full episode soon. Follow me here to get access to this episode and more as soon as it drop! by @impactpolicyau

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2 months ago

Being a design practitioner was a label i have felt uncomfortable with for too long. I didnt go to design school. I am not technically trained in design. In any way shape or form. But over the past 5 years particulary i have been championing what CoDesign can look like, particuarly alongside Aboriginal communities - but that lens applies cross culturally too.

But i fell into CoDesign almost in spite of it. Out of a frustration in the public sector for almost everything being named CoDesign when it was anything but.

This was amplified because i had been apart of and led projecrts that when i deeply understood codesign as practice and method had achieved significant results.

This imposter syndrome as a designer is compounded culturally. I have reflected on this alot. For much of us our lives personallky we have been designed for, at and too - rarely with.

We often talk amongst our communities or networks about programs, services, experiences etc that dont fit our needs on the ground or on Country. But as end users without agency not realising that someone somewhere built this for us.

Knowing what i know now as someone who has been heavily impacted by the design of systems. I am really passionate about sharing what i have learnt over the past 5 years so other practitioners and professionals can strengthen their capability.

We are all designers. But which one will you be.

Join me next week for our free live webinar - link to register is in our bio.

Been to one of our sessions? Please share this with your networks if you got value out of it! by @impactpolicyau

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2 months ago