Preventing injuries on a state-wide basis: researchers and parliamentary committees are partners in turning injury prevention and safety research into practice and policy

Bates, Lyndel (2011). Preventing injuries on a state-wide basis: researchers and parliamentary committees are partners in turning injury prevention and safety research into practice and policy. In: , 10th National Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion: Conference Abstract Book. National Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (10th, AIPN, 2011), South Bank, QLD, Australia, (162-163). 2-4 November 2011.

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Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads
Author Bates, Lyndel
Title of paper Preventing injuries on a state-wide basis: researchers and parliamentary committees are partners in turning injury prevention and safety research into practice and policy
Conference Paper Type Published Abstract
Conference name National Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (10th, AIPN, 2011)
Conference location South Bank, QLD, Australia
Conference dates 2-4 November 2011
Proceedings title 10th National Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion: Conference Abstract Book
Place published Brisbane, Australia
Publisher Australian Injury Prevention Network
Publication date 2011
Start page 162
End page 163
Total pages 2
Language eng
Formatted Abstract/Summary Context: Parliamentary committees established in Westminster parliaments, such as Queensland, provide a cross-party structure that enables them to recommend policy and legislative changes that may otherwise be difficult for one party to recommend. The overall parliamentary committee process tends to be more cooperative and less adversarial than the main chamber of parliament and, as a result, this process permits parliamentary committees to make recommendations more on the available research evidence and less on political or party considerations.

Objectives: This paper considers the contributions that parliamentary committees in Queensland have made in the past in the areas of road safety, drug use as well as organ and tissue donation. The paper also discusses the importance of researchers actively engaging with parliamentary committees to ensure the best evidence based policy outcomes.

Key messages: In the past, parliamentary committees have successfully facilitated important safety changes with many committee recommendations based on research results. In order to maximise the benefits of the parliamentary committee process it is essential that researchers inform committees about their work and become key stakeholders in the inquiry process. Researchers can keep committees informed by making submissions to their inquiries, responding to requests for information and appearing as witnesses at public hearings. Researchers should emphasise the key findings and implications of their research as well as considering the jurisdictional implications and political consequences. It is important that researchers understand the differences between lobbying and providing informed recommendations when interacting with committees.

Discussion and conclusions: Parliamentary committees in Queensland have successfully assisted in the introduction of evidence based policy and legislation. In order to present best practice recommendations, committees rely on the evidence presented to them including the results of researchers. Actively engaging with parliamentary committees will help researchers to turn their results into practice with a corresponding decrease in injuries and fatalities. Developing an understanding of parliamentary committees, and the typical inquiry process used by these committees, will help researchers to present their research results in a manner that will encourage the adoption of their ideas by parliamentary committees, the presentation of these results as recommendations within the report and the subsequent enactment of the committee’s recommendations by the government.
Q-Index Code EX
Q-Index Status Provisional Code
Institutional Status Non-UQ

Document type: Conference Paper
Sub-type: Published Abstract
Collections: Institute for Social Science Research - Publications
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Created: Thu, 26 Apr 2012, 13:32:47 EST by Lyndel Bates on behalf of ISSR - Research Groups