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EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">Christopher Neff, PhD candidate, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney
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Larry Saha Seminar Room 2175, Level 2, Haydon-Allen Building, The Australian National University
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Shark bites can teach us a lot about public policy. As the most globally dispersed human-wildlife conflict in the world, policy comparisons following shark bites are available from Jeffrey's Bay to Jervis Bay and Cape Cod to Cape Town. At issue; however, is not a question about sharks but a question about people and politics: what factors are at work in the adoption of "knee-jerk" policy responses? I use the shark bite policy responses of the Barnett Government in Western Australia to illustrate an affect-centred policy design framework. I review the impacts of affect on agenda setting, policy entrepreneurship and response selection. In particular, I argue that the speed of policy responses has been an under-studied element of policy design and that affect offers a critical piece of this lingering puzzle. Understanding knee-jerk reactions is important because they can create legacies that inform future policymaking and because of the wide breadth of issues impacted. From livestock slaughter, gun-violence, and international terrorism to computer crime and political scandals; the cement of short-term fixes can dry into political path dependencies. Shark bite policy responses provide a valuable case study to explore these issues and examine the way emotion fits into policy frameworks.