Background

David Stanton is currently a Visiting Fellow in the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University.  He has helped develop a social policy stream in the Crawford Masters of Public Policy Program.  He runs two intensive courses:  POGO 8084 “Principles of Social Policy” and POGO 8085 “Social Policy Implementation and Service Delivery”.   He is also a Consultant Social Security Planner and Policy Analyst operating as Stanton Strategic Solutions.  From August 2004 to June 2005 he was Deputy Chair of the Ministerial Task Force on Child Support and he held the position of Director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) from May 1999 to January 2003. In recent years he has also been a consultant to the Australian National Audit Office and has been a member of the Board of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) since November 2009.

David worked for the Australian Government in various positions over some 36 years up to the equivalent of Deputy Secretary level. He started in the Australian Public Service with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and then with the Department of Social Security (DSS). He held various Division Head Positions with DSS for some 12 years, including as Head of the (then) research and policy Division of the Department (Development Division), the Family Programs Division, Performance and Control Division and Evaluation and Services Division. He also worked on the service delivery side of DSS having been Director of DSS for NSW from 1987 to 1990.

David has also worked as a Social Policy Consultant/Economist with International Agencies (including the International Labour Office and the Asian Development Bank) in such countries as China, Egypt and Trinidad and Tobago. He has been responsible for reviews of pension provision in the Asia and Oceania region. He was a member of the International Social Security Association (ISSA) Advisory Committee on Social Security Research for some 10 years.

Research interests/expertise

• Social policy generally (partic. social security research and policy issues).
• The historical development of social policy.
• Social policy issues for families and children and the retired.
• Social policy issues in the context of divorce, separation and child support.  
• Labour market policies and administration and "welfare to work"
• Measurement and analysis of poverty and inequality.
• Social security and welfare data and evaluation
• International comparisons and developments (OECD, China, Asia and the   Pacific).
• Processes of policy development and analysis.
• Public administration and service delivery issues
• Management theory and application.

Selected publications and papers (post 1992)

• “Divorce and the wellbeing of older Australians”, Ageing and Society, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 31, Issue 3, 2011, pp. 475-498. (co-authors M.Gray,  D. de Vaus and L.Qu). 
• ‘The Effect of Relationship Breakdown on Income and Social Exclusion”, pp.265-288, in Saunders P. and Sainsbury R.  (Eds), Social Security, Poverty and Social Exclusion in Rich and Poorer Countries, Intersentia, Oxford, 2010 (co-authors D. de Vaus, M.Gray and L.Qu).
• “Costs of Children and Equivalence Scales: A Review of Methodological Issues and Australian Estimates”, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2010, pp. 99-115,  (co-author M.Gray).
• “Divorce and the wellbeing of older Australians”, Research Paper No. 46,   Australian Institute of Family Studies, February, 2010 (co-authors D. de Vaus, M.Gray and L.Qu)
•  ‘History of Social Security in Australia’, Family Matters, Issue No. 80, 2008, pp. 51-60 (co-author A. Herscovitch).
• The Financial Consequences of Divorce for later Life’, pp.257-278, in P. Kemp, K. Van den Bosch and L. Smith (Eds), Social Protection in an Ageing World, Intersentia, Oxford, 2008 (co-authors D. de Vaus, M.Gray and L.Qu).
• ‘Leaving Home Trends’, Threshold Magazine, November 2007, pp. 24-25 (co-authors R. Weston, L. Qu and G. Soriano).
• ‘The Consequences of Divorce for Financial Living Standards in Later Life’, Research Paper No. 38, Australian Institute of Family Studies, February 2007 (co-authors D. de Vaus, M. Gray and L. Qu).
• ‘Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support’, Family Matters, Issue No. 71, Winter 2005, pp. 58-61 (co-authors M. Gray and B. Smyth).
• In the Best Interests of Children-Reforming the Child Support Scheme, Report of the Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005 (co-authored with other Members of the Task Force).
• ‘An Achievement Worth Celebrating’, SPRC Newsletter, (25th Anniversary Issue), No. 90, May 2005, pages 4 & 12.
• ‘Retirement Incomes in Australia’, Seminar Paper presented to the Institute of Social Security Studies, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China, 18 September 2004.
• ‘Long Work Hours and the Wellbeing of Fathers and Families’, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Volume 7, Number 2, June 2004, pp.255-273 (co-authors M. Gray, L. Qu, and R. Weston).
• ‘The Value of Unpaid Work of Older Australians’, Family Matters, Issue No.66, Spring/Summer 2003, pp.34-39 (co-authors D. de Vaus and M. Gray).
• ‘The Fertility Crisis?’ Family Matters, Issue No.63, Spring/Summer 2002, pp.2-3.
• Lessons of United States Welfare Reform for Australian Social Policy, Research Paper No.29, Australian Institute of Family Studies, November 2002 (co-author M. Gray).
• ‘Targeting, Adequacy and Incentives: Assessing the Australian system of retirement incomes’, paper given to a seminar on Pension Reform at the 9th International Research Seminar on Issues in Social Security, Foundation for International Studies in Social Security and Swedish Federation of Social Insurance, Sigtuna, Sweden, 15-18 June 2002 (co-author P. Whiteford).
• "Work and Family Life. Our Workplaces, Families and Futures’, Family Matters, Issue No. 61, Autumn 2002, pp. 4-11 (with M. Gray).
• ‘Celebrating some Australian milestones’, Family Matters, Issue No. 60, Spring/Summer 2001, pp. 2-5.
• ‘Families and income security: Changing patterns of social security and related policy issues’, Family Matters, Issue No. 60, Spring/Summer 2001, pp. 24-35 (with P. Whiteford and M. Gray).
• ‘Australian families in transition: Some socio-demographic trends, 1901-2001’, Family Matters, Issue No. 60, Spring/Summer 2001, pp. 14-23 (with R. Weston, L. Qu and G. Soriano).
• ‘Pension Systems and Policy in the APEC Economies’. Volume 1 – Overview; Volume 2 – Pension Systems and Policy: Discussion Papers; Volume 3 - Social and Economic Statistics. March 1998 (with P. Whiteford).
• ‘Pension Systems in the APEC Economies’. Paper presented at the APEC Regional Forum on Pension Fund Reforms, Cancun, Mexico, February 1998 (with P. Whiteford).
• ‘Financing Social Security Pensions: The Experience of Australia’, in Financing Retirement Benefits: The Asia and Pacific Experience, Social Security Documentation, Asia and Pacific Series, No. 20, 1998, International Social Security Association, Geneva, pp. 33-80 (with R. Daprè).
• ‘Reforming Social Security in China’, Social Security Journal, December 1996, pp.128-147 (with M. Fuery and C. Walters).
• ‘Developments in Family Payments - 1983-96’, Social Security Journal, December 1995, pp. 120-154 (with M. Fuery).
• ‘Financing Social Security Pensions’ (with R. Daprè), Policy Research Paper No.68, July 1995, Department of Social Security, Australia.
• ‘Social Security and Sole Parents: Developments in Australia’. Paper for ISSA Expert Group Meeting on Changes in Family Structures and Social Security, Brussels, September 1990 (with A. Herscovitch). Published in ISSA Studies and Research, No. 29, 1992, pp. 157-184.

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