Professor Alan Barrett:

The Deputy touched on many issues. She asked first if we are listened to and it is always sobering to think about that. In more recent years, the ESRI funding model has shifted a little. Most people think we get a block of money from the Government and go off and do our own thing. It is not quite like that. Increasingly, the ESRI works on the basis of bilateral research relationships with Departments and agencies. The health worker mentioned earlier is a case in point, as we have direct bilateral discussions with policymakers on an ongoing basis, trying to work out the big policy matters and how research can inform the issues being grappled with. There is direct communication and the chance, in a sense, of being at least heard improves, whatever about being listened to.

I will also pick up the issue of childcare, as it relates to a number of topics that have been raised. It is partly an issue relating to the gender pay gap. Many people will understand this and believe that one of the big reasons for the gender pay gap is the extent to which women are much more likely to have gaps in their career. With such a gap, it is not just that the wages will just be low but they will be lower than they otherwise would have been for a long time. Anything that can be done to facilitate more continuous work profiles would do much for the gender wage gap. I can link this to something else that I said. I mentioned in the presentation an observation about lone parent families. It is not just if we look at a point in time that lone parents and their children are more likely to be in poverty. They are more likely to be stuck in that position, and that relates to childcare. Before this committee and others, we have made the case that investment in childcare gives a sort of win-win-win across a variety of points.

One of the worst research experiences of my life was writing on the issue of older people's housing. The ESRI wrote a paper where we tried to assess the policy proposal of moving old people from their houses to smaller houses-----