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Presents the paper "The Workforce SuperHighway," by Bob Day. Comparison of the barriers to employment for young people to the famed Checkpoint Charlie border crossing in the Berlin Wall; Contention on the impact of highly regulated industrial relations system on the labor market; Assertion on the changes in the Australian workforce with the advent of global market place, franchising, and Internet technologies.

This paper examines changing research practices in the digital environment and draws out implications for the development of research infrastructure. Reviews of the literature, quantitative indicators of research activities and our own field research in Australia suggest that there is a new mode of knowledge production emerging, changing research practices and bringing new information access and dissemination needs. Adjustments will be required to accommodate these changes, but new opportunities are emerging for more cost-effective and sustainable information access and dissemination. To realise these opportunities, however, it will be necessary to take an holistic approach and treat the creation, production and distribution of scholarly information, the management of information rights and access, systems of review and evaluation and the underlying infrastructure as parts of a single research infrastructure and scholarly communication system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the work of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) in 2008 under its Indigenous Affairs Research Program on Australia's indigenous community. Policy research papers on education released in March 2008 by CIS senior fellow Helen Hughes are mentioned. Scheduled to be released in July are papers by policy analyst Sara Hudson on the permit system in the Northern Territory and the Community Development Employment Projects scheme. Future research on the indigenous labour-force is also presented.

The article reports that the Australian government has released a Research Quality Framework (RQF) issues paper, which will provide a detailed examination of research excellence and the impact of research, including its broader implications for society from economic, environmental and social benefits. The paper provides the basis for developing a RQF to measure both research excellence and research impact. It is intended to provide a more comprehensive and consistent way of assessing publicly-funded research, and will provide a sound foundation for future allocation of research resources.

Deals with the `New Knowledge, New Opportunities,' a green paper released by the Liberal government of John Howard on Australian research. Issues covered in the paper; Differential policies; Criticism against the paper.

The article comments on the efforts of Australian Chief Scientist Ian Chubb to promote evidence-based science policy development in the country. It mentions that Chubb has submitted two important papers that will improve the performance of research organizations and the private sector in 2013. According to the author, Chubb also aimed to benchmark the performance of Australian science.

The article presents the media coverage in 2008 of the research on Australian public issues done by analysts of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS). It is said that CIS research fosters debates on public policy. CIS work is reported in news media in Australia, New Zealand and Asia and CIS researchers are interviewed on radio and will soon be on television. The paper of CIS analyst Helen Hughes on indigenous education in the Northern Territory is also cited to have forced government to admit failure in its education policy.

The article focuses on the White's tree frog, a large green amphibian found in Australia, which can climb slippery slopes and perch upside down. White's tree frog secretes mucus from its toe pads, and experts in the field have long thought that it is this fluid which helps the frog to cling on. In a paper published in "Interface," a journal of Britain's Royal Society, Walter Federle, of Cambridge University, and his colleagues demonstrate that the toe pads of the frogs are in direct and dry contact with whatever they are standing on, squeezing out the mucus layer. Whatever is holding the frog to the surface, it is not its mucus.

Reports that the Australian Government has proposed to award the university title to institutions that neither undertake research nor award research degrees. Release of a discussion paper on diversity in the higher education sector; Set of protocols governing the establishment of universities in the country.

Reports on the increase in research output made by Australian academics over the past twenty years. Increase in the average number of citations per paper; Research in space and geological science.