Alumni | Sir Roland Wilson Foundation

Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship Graduated 2023

Dr

Shane Johnson

The Treasury

The Australian National University

PhD title: Essays in Empirical Tax Policy: Taxpayers' Responses to the Australian Personal Taxation System

Shane’s research interests include domestic and international tax policy and fiscal policy. His PhD research focused on examining taxpayers’ understanding of, and responses to, the Australian taxation system. Shane hopes his research will provide insights for the future design, implementation and administration of the tax system.

Shane has also contributed his time and skills to the Australian Taxation Office to help produce the Australian Longitudinal Individuals File, a 10 per cent sample of tax records available for researchers in academia and public service. He also helped produce the Australia’s Future Tax System review. Based on his research from that review, he co-authored a paper with international expert, Peter Sorensen, on options to reform capital taxation in Australia.

Supervisor:

Professor Robert Breunig

Articles and Publications

Sorenson P B, Johnson S (18-19 June 2009) 'Taxing Capital Income: Options for Reform in Australia' [conference presentation], Melbourne Institute - Australia's Future Tax and Transfer Policy Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

Abhayaratna T, Carter A, Johnson S (2022), 'The ATO Longitudinal Information Files (ALife): Individuals - A New Dataset for Public Policy Research'. The Australian Economic Review 55(4): 541-557. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.12486

Johnson S (2023) Essays in Empirical Tax Policy: Taxpayers' Responses to the Australian Personal Taxation System [PhD thesis], The Australian National University, Canberra.

Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship -

Katy Jones

The Australian National University

PhD title: School attendance and primary school-aged Indigenous children

Katy joined the public service in 2006 at what is now the Department of Social Services. An interest in the well-being of Indigenous people, particularly in remote areas, led her to take on work for the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in Sydney, and also with the Indigenous Coordination Centre in Darwin. Since 2012, Katy’s work has been on the evaluation and policy development of income management.

Katy’s research will explore the historical, political, social and economic context of the non-attendance of Indigenous primary school-age children in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. It will take a multi-method approach, investigating attendance trends through use of school attendance data, and will use qualitative data to explore, on individual and community levels, the reasons why some policies may, or may not, support or improve school attendance.

Supervisor:

Professor Nicholas Biddle

Articles and Publications

SRW Pat Turner Scholarship Graduated 2022

Adina Jordan

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

Australian National University

Master of Public Policy

Adina joined the Public Service as a graduate in 1999, working in a range of offices across the Human Services and Social Services portfolios. She has worked in the Department of Social Services on family policy and in the department’s program performance reporting area. Adina has also worked across strategic, corporate and program areas in high level projects.

Adina undertook a masters by coursework with a focus on public policy. In her study, Adina considered the influence public policy has on complex policy systems, the trends shaping leaders and levers for guiding decision making and leadership. Returning to the APS in 2022, Adina is using her postgraduate knowledge to influence her contribution to policy and contemporary policy frameworks.