Government

Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

1

Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

Austroads
Pekingology

2

Pekingology

Center for Strategic and International Studies
Grattan Institute

3

Grattan Institute

Grattan Institute

1 APR · VIDEO

1

Environment and Sustainability Initiatives Stocktake 2025-27: Year 1

The Austroads 2025 Environment and Sustainability Initiatives Stocktake examines how member agencies are developing and embedding sustainable practices across their organisations. The Stocktake included reviews of environment and sustainability strategies, policies, and practices related to transport assets, systems, and services, focusing on three key themes: overarching sustainability, biodiversity, and heritage. Building on the 2023 and 2024 Stocktakes, the 2025 analysis offers deeper insights into the progress member organisations are making in integrating sustainability into their operations. Data was collected through a comprehensive survey and validated through focus group sessions. Agencies also completed a maturity self-assessment to reflect on their sustainability integration journey, helping inform the development of case studies showcasing best practice across Australia and New Zealand. Maturity indicators were created for each theme to support organisations in evaluating their current position and identifying opportunities for improvement. The Stocktake also includes an international scan, reviewing policies and strategies from global counterparts, along with a detailed assessment of the policy, regulatory, and procedural landscape in Australia and New Zealand. This provides a clearer understanding of the complex environment influencing agencies’ ability to shape and implement sustainable outcomes. During the webinar, we share the key findings from the 2025 Stocktake, highlight major trends and challenges, and explore the initiatives member organisations are undertaking to advance sustainability across the transport sector.

1 Apr · Video

•

1hr 3min
2 APR

2

How the Chinese Communist Party Stays in Power

In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Ben Hillman, Director of the Australian Centre on China in the World at Australian National University and co-editor of the new book, The Communist Party of China: Understanding the Durability of the World's Most Powerful Political Organization. Ben explains how the Party has managed to stay in power, becoming the world's second-longest ruling party (barely losing out to North Korea's communist party) and maintaining an iron grip on power across vastly different phases in China's development. Ben addresses the role of ideology in Party governance, the utility of linguistic engineering and patriotic symbols in bolstering political legitimacy, the role of the United Front Work Department in manufacturing buy-in, and the Party's tremendous capacity for coercion.

2 Apr

•

42 min
19 MAR

3

Decoding China's Two Sessions: Politics, Purges, and a New Five Year Plan

In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Neil Thomas, Fellow on Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. They discuss the significance of China's recent "Two Sessions," where the National People's Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference come together with great pageantry to announce new policies. Neil unpacks the state of China's elite politics and purges, the highlights of the 15th Five-Year Plan, President Xi's conservative approach to policymaking, and who might rise to important roles during Xi's fourth term.

19 Mar

•

49 min
26/11/2025 · VIDEO

4

Research Climate Change and Natural Hazards Resilience Needs and Guidance Approaches

Extreme weather events including torrential rain, flooding, landslides, heat waves and bushfires, as well as longer term changes such as increasing temperatures and sea level rise, take a dramatic toll on our transport infrastructure and the functioning of our road infrastructure networks. This webinar introduced the findings of the Austroads research project ESC6516 Research Climate Change and Natural Hazards Resilience Needs and Guidance Approaches. The project considered resilience across the full transport system lifecycle – Policy, Strategy and Planning, Business Case & Investment, Design and Construction, Network Operations, Maintenance and Renewals, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Through stakeholder consultation and a global literature review, the report sets out a series of recommendations for the strategic development of Austroads guidance to holistically improve the resilience of the land transport system to climate change and natural hazards (CCNH). The webinar shared the projects recommendations on: the definition of a resilient transport system foundational gaps to achieving transport system resilience the model and roadmap for Austroads’ guidance development to address these gaps. Whether you’re new to CCNH resilience or working to embed it within any part of the transport system lifecycle, this webinar will help you understand how Austroads approach to guidance development will support the development of a resilient transport system.

26/11/2025 · Video

•

1hr 3min
5 MAR

5

Understanding Chinese Power

In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Zoe Liu, Fellow in China Studies with the Council on Foreign Relations. They discuss Zoe’s new Foreign Affairs piece, China’s Long Economic War: How Beijing Builds Leverage for Indefinite Competition. Zoe offers a new framework for understanding China’s national power, evaluating the country’s evolving capacity, capital, character, and credibility.

5 Mar

•

51 min
11 FEB · VIDEO

6

Review of Speed Management Evidence and Guidance

Speed is a significant contributor to road trauma, influencing both the likelihood of a crash, and also the severity of crash outcomes, regardless of the cause. Austroads is updating the Guide to Road Safety Part 3: Safe Speeds (AGRS Part 3) with the latest evidence and best practice in speed management. This webinar provides an overview of the new content in this interim Guide update. Speed management is a rapidly evolving policy area, and Austroads continues to conduct research and assess the latest approaches to the topic. Work has already commenced to identify gaps in knowledge for the next update of the Guide, expected for release in 2026. This includes the recent publication of a new report titled ‘Review of Speed Management Evidence and Guidance’ (AP-T385-25). This report presents the findings of a literature review and engagement with stakeholders to identify and address key gaps in current guidance. The findings from this review are discussed in this webinar, including how these will inform the updated structure and content of AGRS Part 3.

11 Feb · Video

•

1 hr
19 FEB

7

Can China Sway Australia?

In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Charlie Edel, Senior Adviser and Australia Chair at CSIS. Charlie unpacks China’s strategy towards Australia, an influential, democratic middle power that maintains strong economic ties to China and a security alliance with the United States. How has Beijing used economic coercion and inducements to try and sway Australian policy? Why has Australian public opinion turned sharply against China? And why has Australia come to see Chinese actions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait – thousands of miles from the Australian coast – as a threat to Australia’s national security?

19 Feb

•

50 min
21/12/2025

8

The Prime Minister's Summer Reading List 2025 - Event Recording

On 11 December, we celebrated the official launch of Grattan Institute’s 2025 Prime Minister's Summer Reading List at State Library Victoria. Grattan CEO Aruna Sathanapally was joined by ABC politics and economics journalist Tom Crowley and acclaimed author Cordelia Fine for a lively discussion, as we unveiled our selection of six of the most thought-provoking, compelling, and relevant books of 2025. It was an extraordinary year, and these are extraordinary reads – not just for the Prime Minister, but for anyone passionate about public policy and Australia’s future. Explore the full list: https://grattan.edu.au/news/prime-ministers-summer-reading-list-2025/

21/12/2025

•

1hr 23min
15/12/2025

9

How to improve school attendance in Australia

On a typical school day in Australia, about 11% of students who should be at school are absent. These absences add up quickly. Missing one day of school a fortnight is the equivalent of missing four weeks a year – and missing a whole year between the first day of school and the end of Year 10. On our latest podcast, education experts Amy Haywood and Molly Chapman discuss how to improve school attendance, with host Kat Clay. Read the Policy Brief: https://grattan.edu.au/news/every-day-matters-improving-school-attendance-in-australia/

15/12/2025

•

18 min

Health & Fitness

Health & Fitness

Updated 16/11/2025
Government

Government

Updated 13 Apr
Education

Education

Updated weekly
Government

Government

Updated 14 Feb
Government

Government

Updated 10/11/2025
Government

Government

Updated weekly
Government

Government

Updated 3 days ago