Life's Lottery: season 1

Australians believe our country is the land of the fair go. A meritocracy where if you work hard you can be successful, no matter what circumstances you were born into. But how true is this? Is intelligence and hard work really enough to break out of a cycle of disadvantage?

This episode interrogates the idea of meritocracy and how it was established in the Australian context with Alison Pennington from the Centre for Future Work. We also hear from the author and Saturday Paper social affairs journalist Rick Morton. He questions the reality of merit and social mobility at a time of widening wealth inequality and what that says about our commitment to provide opportunities for all.

Visit lifeslottery.com.au for more.

Produced by UTS Impact Studios: 
Executive Producer: Olivia Rosenman
Audio Producer: Nicole Curby
Researcher/writer: Jackie May
Theme music and Sound Design: Frank Lopez
Production music: Blue Dot Sessions
Graphic design: Celia Neilson

Birth is a throw of the dice. The consequences can last a lifetime. A child born into disadvantage today will struggle to break out in adulthood – no matter how hard they work.

Life’s Lottery is a podcast about new ways to break the cycle of disadvantage, from the Paul Ramsay Foundation in collaboration with UTS Impact Studios. In conversation with policy and research leaders, expert practitioners and people whose lives have been touched by disadvantage, we’ll look towards a brighter future. After almost two years of upheaval caused by the Covid pandemic, how can we seize the chance to build back better?

Please join us! Search for Life’s Lottery wherever you get your podcasts.

If we want to inform better public policy to end poverty and disadvantage, hard data and facts are more important than ever. This sets up both a challenge and an opportunity for organisations as philanthropy in Australia develops even further. In this episode, we draw together the threads of our earlier conversations.

We talk to Susan Urahn, from the Pew Charitable Trusts, about philanthropy’s role in bringing diverse groups together and governments to the table. She shares her insights from over two decades of work as a pioneer in the field, especially in relation to sentencing and corrections reform in the United States.

And we also hear from Anhaar Kareem, a young Australian woman, with her imagining of what a better future looks like.

This is the final episode is this season of Life’s Lottery. Stay tuned for more in 2022.

Visit lifeslottery.com.au for more.

Produced by UTS Impact Studios: 
Executive Producer: Olivia Rosenman
Audio Producer: Nicole Curby
Researcher/writer: Jackie May
Theme music and Sound Design: Frank Lopez
Production music: Blue Dot Sessions
Graphic design: Celia Neilson