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In recent decades, there has been an increased focus on the identification, storage, and treatment of polymer-based plastic materials in cultural heritage collections. While the need for the preservation of plastics in audio-visual collections is well established, there is evidence that unstable plastics are also associated with paper-based collections. This paper investigates whether libraries and archives need to direct preservation resources towards risks posed by plastics in paper-based collections. As there is no available documentation on the types and condition of associated plastics, Australian archives were surveyed using an online questionnaire. Respondents reported associated plastics in over 90% of archives, and ∼50% observed these to be in poor condition. It is concluded that preservation resources that are specific to vulnerable plastic materials in Australian paper-based collections need to be developed and communicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the Australian Library History Forums (ALHF) as a lens, this paper will explore library history research in Australia and examine the value of the history of libraries and the library profession. The paper aims to encourage reflection on Australian library history – or library history in general, speculate on its value, consider the gaps in Australian library history, and advocate and encourage the exploration of these gaps. By examining the interests, priorities and values reflected in the ALHFs over time, the paper will reflect on what Australian library history has to say about collective professional and community memory, community and professional values as reflected in these histories and about changing perceptions and understandings of libraries, collections, and the place of libraries in communities. A challenge will be made for those interested in the histories of libraries and librarianship to uncover and to tell these untold stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various electronic voting channels have been introduced across a range of countries. In some countries these new channels have proved uncontroversial, while in others, they remain contentious and have even been abandoned. Relatively little is known about whether and why voters have confidence in new and old voting channels. Australia provides a useful case for researching these issues, since it is a mature democracy in which election processes and outcomes are widely accepted. The 2013 Australian Election Study results show that in this context, voters have most confidence in paper-based voting and least in voting via smartphones. Positive political attachments, ease of voting and familiarity with technology are all associated with higher levels of confidence in voting channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until the end of WW2, the Margaret River region (MRR) was a popular domestic destination based on cave explorations. A series of incremental innovations between the 1950s and 1990s reconfigured the destination into a thriving international tourism destination that offers diverse experiences based on wine, surf, and nature. Nonetheless, contemporary external and internal forces are stimulating another shift – one towards sustainability. Apart from the global pro-sustainability agenda, this sustainability transition in tourism is mainly driven by two emerging niches: eco-accreditation and grassroots organisations. This paper adopts the multilevel perspective (MLP) – a commonly adopted framework in the sustainability transitions research field – and combines it with a typology of tourism innovation to examine the evolution of the MRR as a tourist destination. The paper addresses the ongoing sustainability transition in the MRR and discusses both top-down and bottom-up initiatives that stimulate it. In order to provide a holistic view of this transition, the paper also pays attention to the first transition in the destination (i.e. from caves to wine, surf, and nature), and examines its influence on the ongoing sustainability transition. As such, this paper aims to help bridge the gap between tourism geography and the interdisciplinary field of sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments around the world acted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic through lockdowns and border closures that had specific impacts on temporary residents (migrants, asylum seekers and refugees). In Australia, there were differential responses across states and territories, and a critical distinction made at Federal government level between permanent residents and citizens as compared to temporary migrants. The result has been the continued Othering of certain groups of Australians of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds as well as migrants and refugees on the basis of racial characteristics and visa status. This paper will consider the period where arguably multicultural policies were 'on hold' by investigating the timeline leading up to major policy decisions and the immediate and longer-term after-effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Arguably the way in which multicultural communities were treated has shown the superficial nature of multicultural policies in Australia and the lack of more solid foundations in support of what now demographically constitutes a majority of the country's population. Drawing on secondary data analysis, the paper will outline the distance these actions have put between political leaders and multicultural communities, and queries the implications for a sustained commitment to multicultural policies in an era of temporary migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a theoretical discussion of recent policy efforts to raise the qualification levels of the Australian early childhood workforce. Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical tools enable the early childhood profession to be conceptualised as a dynamic field in which particular forms of symbolic and cultural capital are valued, with consequences for the relative position of educators at different qualification levels. The paper briefly considers the historical and structural forces that have shaped the relative position of differently qualified educators in Australia. It then applies Bourdieu's theories to the policy proposition that these positions can be improved through the acquisition of higher qualifications; a proposition that not all educators have embraced. It concludes by considering implications for practice arising from this theoretical approach; both in raising awareness of the different positions of educators in the professionalisation agenda, and in creating opportunities for diverse forms of capital to be recognised and valued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian governments' centrepiece Indigenous strategy, the 'Closing the Gap' framework, established in 2008 to address systemic Indigenous disadvantage, is underpinned by the concept of 'school readiness', which expects Indigenous families to bring their children to school ready to learn. The education system commonly blames Indigenous culture as a contributing factor in explaining the 'Gap'. In this paper, we reverse the mirror of 'school readiness', examining what is known about the readiness of the education system to meet the aspirations of Indigenous learners. Using a meta-synthesis methodological approach, this paper provides an overview of research about the issues and challenges facing Australian schools to be ready to respond to the educational needs of Indigenous children. Findings reveal that the lack of teacher, curriculum, pedagogical, school environment and culture readiness are the four key aspects to consider. We conclude by discussing the implications and gaps in the existing Indigenous education strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines school management and policies in Germany and Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study, which is comparative and qualitative, explores the interrelationship between different levels of governance and the responses of teacher unions. The inquiry is informed by the perspectives of historical institutionalism and path dependency, and the document analysis is conducted by utilising the justification categories of value, collective, and formal and procedural driven arguments. We argue the contestation which occurred between different levels of school governance and the teacher unions amidst the pandemic created the potential for changes in policy settings and influence over the administration of schooling. However, there is no indication of fundamental shifts in the organisation, policy direction or control over schooling in Germany or Australia. Instead, there is a conformity to established institutional arrangements and path dependencies, which secure and protect the vested interests of the different policy actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools are critical spaces for young men from refugee backgrounds. They play an integral role in literacy development, educational attainment, and providing a sense of belonging. Inclusive education practices for this group are largely absent in Australian schools. Research shows focusing on these young men from a non-deficit position assists with inclusivity. There is a lack of research exploring the agentic practices of young men from refugee backgrounds within schools. This paper explores the symbolic value of swagger for a group of young men from refugee backgrounds at a high school in Australia. A Bourdieusian theoretical framework guided critical awareness of power in schools. This research shows how a group of young men found a meaningful way to acquire social and cultural capital. Despite the school's constraints, this group developed a group identity reflected in their clothing and embodied dispositions referred to here as swagger. Our findings demonstrate the complex power relations at work, including the opportunity for the young men to resist and be included. In the spirit of Bourdieu's concern for reflexivity our findings point to the need for schools, teachers, and education policy makers to consider the workings of power in schools in more considered ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The closure of the Australian passenger vehicle industry in 2017 ended an important phase in the nation's economic history. Closure affected up to 100,000 employees working across the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and the supply chain, with the impacts concentrated in two Australian states. This paper examines both the processes and the outcomes of this closure, making use of a Just Transitions lens to assess the wider impacts of this change. It reviews the measures put in place to assist workers displaced by plant closure, while also drawing on three waves of data from a survey of retrenched workers. The paper argues the process of transition for former employees was shaped by the distinctive characteristics of Australia's system of industrial relations and the ambition of its governments to have as many affected workers find employment as possible. This objective was prioritised over quality of employment or the emerging skill needs of industries. The paper finds that while former auto workers have been able to re-establish themselves in the labour market, the management of this major change does not meet the expectations of a Just Transition as too little attention was directed to the wider societal impacts of this transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores social inclusion approaches implemented by ten secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, to support refugee students' well-being, as articulated in their policies, reports, and other published documents. Using an exploratory, qualitative research design, we found that all schools employed a holistic approach to implementing social inclusion programs for refugee students. This paper reports on the best practices and unique examples of social inclusion programs from all schools involved in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the psychological wellbeing of people with cancer is a key component of assessment and intervention in quality cancer care. However, the unique experiences of rural cancer populations are less often explored than those from urban centres. The aim of this study was to perform a meta-analysis of Australian studies that compared the psychological wellbeing experiences of people with cancer from rural and urban locations. Five databases were searched, and 19 studies, involving 16,947 participants, assessing and comparing the psychological wellbeing of rural and urban populations with cancer were included. The analysis indicated that Australian rural cancer populations have greater odds of worse psychological wellbeing than those from urban areas (OR = 1.54, 95% CI [1.01, 2.35], p = 0.044). This disparity remains when cancer types are analysed separately, with a slightly smaller odds ratio for rural people with breast cancer (OR = 1.29, 95%CI [1.01, 1.64], p = 0.046) and a slightly larger odds ratio when cancers excluding breast cancer were reviewed (OR = 1.78, 95% CI [1.59, 2.01], p = <.001). Significant heterogeneity was found. Despite increasing emphasis in Australia on psychological wellbeing throughout the cancer journey, there remain significant disparities whereby rural people experience greater impacts upon their psychological wellbeing. The wellbeing of Australian rural populations with cancer remains an area in which clinical and political focus is imperative. Whilst screening is a necessary first step, additional clinical implications for improving rural access to appropriately skilled health professionals who provide oncology-specific assessment and intervention are suggested. What is already known: Cancer is a major public health issue, and its psychosocial impacts are substantial, not just on patients but on their families and the broader community. The prevalence of clinically significant psychological distress is higher amongst people with cancer than the general population. However, identification, treatment, and provision of psychological support is inconsistent across services and geographical areas, and notably lacking in rural areas. Disparities in screening, assessment and intervention for psychological wellbeing in people with cancer remain, despite the fact that systematic application of screening, appropriate referral, and intervention can improve quality of life and reduce healthcare costs associated with inpatient and outpatient cancer care. What this paper adds: This article extends outcomes from previous systematic reviews and analyses from Australia and internationally with the addition of meta-analytic methods. It was specifically designed to solely focus on Australian cancer populations. The results suggest that Australian rural populations with cancer may have anywhere from 30% to 70% greater odds of experiencing poorer psychological wellbeing than those from urban areas. This paper highlights ongoing disparities in rural psycho-oncology that may be impacting wellbeing outcomes from rural people in Australia, and urges psychologists, other health professionals, and policy-makers to proactively address these inequities with improved screening, assessment and intervention for their rural populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emphasis on reconciliation as a process of individual reflexivity and institutional reform raises important questions about people's engagement in reconciliation discourses. This paper uses critical discourse analysis to examine how staff at a regional Australian university interpret reconciliation and its application in a workplace context. Many frame their understanding on ideas that are considered foundational to reconciliation in post-colonial Australia. Notions of relationships and coexistence, unity and social harmony, cultural respect and the rightful place of First Nations peoples form the foundation to a revisionist national identity tied to a critical examination and responsiveness to past injustice. Participants recombine and reorder these concepts in ways that speak to their individualised translation, with a greater emphasis on the agency of First Nations peoples in the learning and teaching environment. Such expressions indicate a willingness by respondents to engage in the ideas of reconciliation at the cognitive level. For many, however, reconciliation remains an aspirational or desired activity, and belies a reticence to take personal action that will contribute to wider institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than apprehending race or ethnicity as a predetermined social fact that then informs young people's experiences of engagement or inclusion, youth citizenship studies would benefit from more critical perspectives that enable investigation of the racialised construction of what is legible as civic participation or national belonging. Processes of racialisation operate in the production of youth as citizen-subjects in Australian nation-making through approaches in youth policy and research that simultaneously centre and invisibilise whiteness. This paper considers the role of racialisation in ways of knowing and regulating Australian youth as citizens through a critical review of the ways different groups of young people become meaningful and knowable as racialised citizens. It explores the representation and constitution of Indigenous, ethnic minority and white youth citizenship in youth research and policy as in turn non-existent/provisional, integrative/integratable, and vulnerable/healthy, to contribute to deepened understandings of the social construction of youth in the service of white nation-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the experiences of six artists participating in a new Australian creative accelerator programme for emerging media documentary. Attending to the processes, perspectives and frames employed by these artists in developing their early-stage projects, the article explores the diverse practice-based methods employed in developing documentary for emerging media formats. The paper argues for the value of attending to process and practice, as key frameworks that set the context for eventual creative outcomes. In doing so, the paper aims to contribute to knowledge about methods to support artists in developing emerging media documentary in a creative accelerator context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher professional autonomy is important to teachers' work satisfaction, efficiency, well-being, and empowerment. However, it cannot simply be defined as freedom from control because it is relational and contextual. In this paper, we examine the relationality and contextual sensitivity of teacher professional autonomy at 'Newstall' College, a senior secondary government school in Australia. The paper draws on a larger study that examined the social justice implications of school autonomy reform in four Australian state education systems. Newstall College was one of the five case study schools included in this study. Findings generated through in-depth interviews with eighteen staff members (including teachers, professional staff, the deputy principal and the principal) are presented that examine teacher professional autonomy. Conceptualising teacher autonomy as relational and contextual, the paper provides insight into the ways in which teacher autonomy was enabled at this school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to diverse manifestations of racism in Australia, from everyday attacks against Asian Australians to discriminatory policies towards temporary migrants. Since the start of the pandemic, considerable knowledge on pandemic-related racism has been produced. This knowledge has yet to be consolidated, leaving questions about the nature, forms, impacts and trajectories of racism during the pandemic. This paper presents a systematic review and synthesis of research on racism during the pandemic, with an emphasis on pandemic-specific racism. We searched the databases Scopus, MEDLINE and PsycINFO for research published between January 2020 and July 2022. Eighteen research studies were included in the review, along with reports of routine data collection by five organisations. The research reviewed collected data mainly around the pandemic's 'second wave' in Australia (June-October 2020), focusing largely on Asian Australians and temporary migrants nationally and in Victoria. Widely studied forms of COVID-racism were verbal abuse, physical attacks, exclusion and Othering, and institutional racism involving governments, media and employers. We examined the pandemic's health and socio-economic impacts, and variations in experiences of racism over time between ethnic groups. As Australia emerges from the pandemic, we consider the review's implications for pandemic response, anti-racism practice and policy, and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Policy & Research is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We write as Australian youth work educators. We consider some of the ethical challenges involved in teaching youth work 'in a warm climate', situated in the diaspora of English youth work but where youth work also has a uniquely Australian character, placing us in an ethically liminal space in our teaching between an understanding of youth work that is robustly defended as being both 'good' and 'true', and what we do, which is different from this, and has its own character and strengths. We situate this in the policy history of youth work in Australia, particularly in the 'neoliberal turn' that this has taken in the last four decades which has created ethical challenges for us, just as it has for those elsewhere. Two guiding questions shape this paper. The first is, given our differences, what challenges do we face in maintaining connections with 'good' youth work and its value base as traditionally defined and defended in England, and relatedly, given that policy and funding regimes in the UK seem to be aligning more with an Australian model, is there anything that the youth work community in the UK can learn from the Australian experience? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of universities in regional development has grown significantly over the past two decades. One strand of analysis has been that of the university in regional innovation systems (RIS). However, the contribution of university students has largely been neglected. This special issue contributes to the RIS literature by unpacking the RIS concept through exploring this specific aspect of university engagement in regional economies. The nine papers collectively offer an understanding of the effects of student activity upon the knowledge, skill and entrepreneurial bases of regions. The papers provide evidence and analysis from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research has positioned ethnic media as alternative or complementary to the English mainstream media, suggesting ethnic media as something inherently different to the mainstream society. How ethnic media relate to Western multicultural societies is more complicated than what has been conceptualised as segregation or otherisation. By focusing on Chinese ethnic media in Australia as a case study, this paper seeks to understand how ethnic media associate themselves with mainstream society in their everyday practices and the social implications informed by these associations. Based on the 27 qualitative interviews with Chinese media professionals at commercial Chinese-language media organisations run by local Chinese migrants, I argue that Chinese ethnic media aspire to be part of Australia's postcolonial structure that is inherently designed to exclude them. To be recognised by the dominant society, Chinese ethnic media imitate English counterparts uncritically or internalise inferiority in the media structure by positioning themselves news source providers or assistance. Chinese ethnic media's dependence on the hegemonic society generates biased activism. Chinese ethnic media advocate for communal interest while translating inter-ethnic racism from postcolonial Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For refugee migrants, proficiency in the language of their host country is a significant factor affecting their chance of integration and employment in their new society. For this reason, many Western nations provide host-country language training for such migrants. Australia thus offers English language training within its Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector to assist in refugee settlement. This study draws on qualitative interview data collected from a group of male Muslim refugee migrants attending these Australian training programs. Applying a Bourdieusian analysis to the data, the study's findings suggest that language training alone does not meet their linguistic and vocational needs. The paper argues first that the current language training programs need to be reconceptualised to consider the intersection of language training, work experience and vocational qualification; and second, that there must be a confluence of these three factors if refugee migrants are to have any chance of gaining meaningful employment opportunities. The notion of capital as 'vocational currency' is proposed as a new term to identify the complex relationships within this confluence. The article concludes with discussion of the implications of this study for language training within these VET programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian peer-reviewed journalLithuanian Papershas been published since 1987 in Hobart, Tasmania. The editor summarizes its history and invites readers to subscribe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an ontology that scopes the digital health ecosystem from a consumer–centered perspective. We used a mixed-method analysis on a set of papers collected for a comprehensive review to identify common themes, components, and patterns that repeatedly emerge within Australian-based digital health studies. Three major and four child themes were identified as the foundational aspects of the proposed ontology. The child themes have more precise concept definitions, inherited and distinguishing attributes. Out of 179 recognized concepts, 33 were related to the Healthcare theme; 23 concepts formed a cluster of employed devices under the Technology theme; 40 concepts were associated with Use and Usability factors. 60 other concepts formed the cluster of the consumer–user theme. The theme of Digital Health was seen as being connected to 2 independent clusters. The main cluster embodied 21 extracted concepts, semantically related to "data, information, and knowledge," whilst the second cluster embodied concepts related to "healthcare." Different stakeholders can utilize this ontology to define their landscape of digitally enabled healthcare. The novelty of this work resides in capturing a consumer–centered perspective and the method we used in deriving the ontology – formalizing the results of a systematic review based on data-driven analysis methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many motives for undertaking a counter-urban move appear to be associated with a search for a sense of 'home', such as moving for a sense of community, for affordable or larger housing, perceptions of a 'safer' area for children, or moving to a childhood hometown. However, rarely is counter-urban migration directly linked to the concept of home. In this paper, I make the direct link between counter-urban moves and the search for a sense of home using biographies of four (4) counter-urban movers to the Sunshine Coast, Australia. The participants each moved to the area in a search for a sense of home related to four key themes: housing, family, stability and familiarity, however they varied in their pre-move experiences and expectations of how the Sunshine Coast would improve their sense of home. These differences impacted their post-move experiences, as those participants with prior familiarity with the Sunshine Coast felt a greater sense of home post-move. This paper provides an important conceptual link between the search for a sense of home and counterurbanisation, to add further critical insight into motivations and experiences of counter-urban migrants, and the perceptions of a sense of home being better achieved outside of major cities.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2007, 'Closing the Gap' between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people has been an ambition of Australian state and federal governments in areas including education, employment, and health. This paper examines media responses to government policies aimed at closing the achievement gap in schools. The paper analyses print and online newspaper articles in national and capital city/state-based newspapers that reported on the implementation and success of Closing the Gap policies in Australia's schools. The paper argues that media narratives are often based on NAPLAN results, data sourced from the MySchool website, or newspaper-created metrics that support their own narrative. This paper highlights the narratives being purported to readers via the selective nature of newspaper data, and subsequently how these narratives attempt to influence the public discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses embodied geographies of power assisted devices (powered wheelchairs and motorised scooters) for disabled people in Australia to augment understandings of mobile disability politics. Deleuze and Guattari's notion of 'lines' is used to reimagine spatial thinking about mobile disability politics. Disability in this paper is understood as an emplaced, emergent, relational and embodied process that arises in the interaction between ideas, materials and bodies. A focus on the shifting affective capacities of everyday journeys can deepen an understanding of mobile disability politics through attention to sensations. To illustrate the notion of lines we draw on three 'portraits' from a qualitative project on power assisted devices in Ballina Shire, New South Wales, Australia. Each portrait provides an illustration of how mobility experiences of power assisted devices may reinforce and/or challenge normative ideologies and identities, alongside deepening understandings of how ideas and materials come together to produce enabling and/or exclusionary arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the composition, distribution, and history of school funding in Australia through a spatial lens (Soja 2010). We explore multi-scalar school funding policy through three layers of economic maldistribution. We sketch the funding disparities between the three school sectors (public, Catholic, and independent) exposing a spatial injustice in policies of school choice; the spatial and economic maldistribution between state jurisdictions; and the economic maldistribution within state public systems, including the ability of their school communities to contribute funds. Spatial injustice is uncovered in economic maldistribution within and across these policy layers, adding nuance to existing school funding debates. The Australian case is relevant to international explorations of school funding as an example of 'unjust practice' in the hierarchies between schools across sectors, between jurisdictions, and within systems of public [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By examining Bangladesh's educational policies and practices, this paper investigates the transition from technical vocational education and training (TVET) to HE (HE). This study specifically focuses on two areas: how TVET graduates' access to HE looks like in Bangladesh and what role HE institutions can play in boosting TVET graduates' engagement in HE in Bangladesh by taking a cue from the Australian TVET system. Based on Marginson's 'high participation systems' theory, it focuses on how TVET courses can lead to HE and how universities can facilitate TVET diploma holders' access to bachelor's degrees in their fields of study in Bangladesh. The qualitative content analysis of policy documents served as the foundation for this paper. This paper aims to advance our understanding of how structural obstacles (elitism) affect pathways from TVET to HE and how international 'best practices' can be localized in the Bangladeshi context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent passage of the Offshore Electricity Infrastructure Act (2021) (Cth) opened up the potential for Australia to produce renewable energy at unprecedented scale. Six regions have been identified as potential locations for developing offshore wind projects, promising thousands of new local jobs to legacy industrial regions. This paper charts the regulatory framework for Australia's offshore wind industry and how it positions local economic benefits in the licencing of projects. It then draws on interviews with key stakeholders supported by media and policy analysis to examine the early development of offshore wind capability in one of the proposed regions, the Illawarra, in NSW. Here existing steelmaking capacity positions the region to play a key role in supply chains for local and potentially national projects, but considerable structural and geographical constraints in the labour market will need to be addressed. In light of overseas experience indicating that economic benefits often fall short of promises, greater attention by policy makers is required to ensure hosting communities can develop local skills in the industry and facilitate their relative supply chain capabilities. This paper also calls for careful evaluation of early projects to allow for adjustments to policy settings as the industry matures domestically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Australian Higher Education sector, the gendered, racialised, and heteronormative culture of neoliberalism means that for minoritised teachers the university classroom is always a contested, and often hostile, space. Our gendered and racialised bodies become objects under the gaze of our students and the deafening headwinds of post-truth anti-intellectualism render our stories difficult for our students to hear. This paper probes our experiences as minoritised educators who through a decolonial framework, actively challenge deeply entrenched narratives through critical teaching and consider how that translates into student feedback. We employ a collaborative autoethnographic approach to offer an understanding of how Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) are used as a tool of disciplinary control in the neoliberalised university. We argue that SETs are racialised and gendered tools of power that can be hostile and biased towards minoritised teachers, and urge reconsideration of their overuse in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dam failures that cause significant adverse downstream impacts continue to occur globally. Hence, effective, adequately resourced dam safety regulation is critical for the safety of dams and downstream communities. This paper explores options for regulatory funding and resourcing according to a selected set of relevant key factors along a continuum of dam safety assurance. An international comparative analysis of 15 jurisdictional case studies against the key factors identifies trends representing indicative precedents. A procedure is developed to help identify increasingly relevant precedents for guiding target jurisdictions on potentially suitable options. Illustrative application to a real case in Australia is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Australia as a case study to analyse restrictions on international movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions on inbound and outbound travel have been a key tool deployed by governments across the globe to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic. We use 'COVID zero' Australia as a case study to assess an extreme response to restricting international movement. We look at the recent complaint launched before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The action was raised with the support of a group of Australian citizens stranded abroad with the assistance of the expert in Australian constitutional law who is the second author of this paper. We argue that the measures implemented by Australian governments to effectively eliminate COVID-19 domestically have provided insufficient consideration of, and alternatives to, the current system's failure to facilitate essential international travel. For this reason, Australia's framework for restricting international movement lacks proportionality and necessity from the perspective of human rights and freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The six papers in this special issue describe a deep schism in the relationships between research, teaching and practice, with a focus on Australia. There are many reasons why translating urban research and pedagogy into practice has increased in importance in recent years. This introduction provides three negative factors—decreasing funding, relevance and voice—and two more positive factors—the rise of the ‘pracademic’ and increasing social media forms of interaction. The papers describe how the empirical and theoretical foci of planning research are symbiotic, presenting challenges and opportunities for linking practice, teaching and research into positive change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper highlights that the proliferation of Indigenous sport research has not been focused on examining Indigenous games and sports. Additionally, no one has to date produced a framework for understanding them on their own merits even though these games now form part of a national physical education curriculum. The overwhelming majority of research focuses on Indigenous engagement with the British imports of cricket, the rugby codes, soccer, and Australian Rules football. We argue that this focus serves to diminish Indigenous cultures and adaptability to colonial forces, that, while disruptive, never eliminated Indigenous games and sports which go back as far as 60,000 years. We lay out such a framework in the hopes that future research will ensure that Indigenous games and sports are understood historically and in the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian collecting institutions and heritage agencies have been returning Ancestral Remains and secret-sacred objects to Australian First Nations communities for over 30 years. In recent years, calls for repatriation have expanded to include what have often been called 'secular' objects. This paper considers the varying levels of sacredness potentially inherent in the types of 'traditional' secular objects that are characteristic of many museum collections. In museum collection management typologies, objects are often divided into discrete categories of secular, ceremonial and sacred. This paper considers how the divide between sacred and secular objects is actually far more complex, with associated impacts for collection management and repatriation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasingly complex and demanding research landscape has seen university libraries rapidly evolve their services. While research data management, bibliometrics, and research impact services have predominantly featured in the literature to date, the full scope of support libraries are currently providing to their institutions is unknown. This paper aims to present an up-to-date view of the scope and extent of research support services by university libraries across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. A coding process analyzed content data from university library websites. Eleven research support areas were identified. Service delivery is split between synchronous and asynchronous modes. This paper describes a lived experience of an evidence-based library and information practice approach to improving research support services at two Australian university libraries, and while it highlights continued maturation of research support services, more research is needed to better understand influences on service development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable food practices are increasingly of interest to scholars and practitioners concerned with the impacts of food production, consumption, and waste in an age of climate change. Attention has been paid to households as actors in addressing sustainability concerns. This paper draws on a national survey of Australian sustainable household practices to offer insights into the ways households are practicing sustainability across three everyday entanglements with food: (1) growing food, (2) consuming food and (3) wasting/disposing of food. The paper explores the types of practices enacted across the three entanglements and provides an understanding of the prevalence and barriers for households adopting sustainable food practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon farming presents an opportunity for the land sector to generate income and transition to more sustainable land management practices. In Australia, establishing a carbon project and earning carbon credits is complex, with project proponents needing to satisfy eligibility requirements and adhere to rigorous measurement, verification, and reporting protocols of approved methods. To address these challenges, a human centered design (HCD) approach was used to deliver a digital solution, serving landowners' needs related to method discovery and reconfiguring how the methodological and scientific complexity of abatement potentials was delivered. The solution, called LOOC-C (pronounced "Look-see"), supports the discovery of abatement methods that are available for a given land area and provides an initial estimate of the potential quantum of carbon sequestered/emitted and the nature of co-benefits associated with each eligible method. Reporting on LOOC-C development and its observed impact demonstrates the role that human centered digital tools have in promoting land management actions that are both sustainable and reasonable to undertake. It equally demonstrates the power of integrating environmental market and user requirements with a robust design methodology. With similar opportunities in environmental markets globally, additional applications of an HCD approach are proposed. In 2012, the Australian government established the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) to reward landowners (via awarding Australian Carbon Credit Units, or ACCUs) for the implementation of management practices that either sequester carbon and/or reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Rigorous eligibility and method requirements are intended to provide confidence in abatement outcomes, but they introduce significant complexity that participants must overcome. 11 years later, uncertainties in the implementation and ACCU generation potential of ERF projects and implications on productivity/co-benefits have limited uptake and the quantum of ACCU generation of land sector enterprises. Digital tools that support the discovery of options and provide estimated potential outcomes, such as the LOOC-C tool described in this paper (), can generate interest and empowerment, helping to initiate decisions toward market participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools for specific purposes (SSP) are and have been a significant feature of the education ecosystem since the roll out of mass schooling in Australia and elsewhere. SSPs serve some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. While their social and emotional worth to their communities (students, educators, families) is rarely questioned, the role of SSP in the pursuit of equity and inclusivity remains contested. This has significant implications for those charged with leading such schools, particularly principals. Drawing on the emerging field of relational studies, this paper undertakes a relational inquiry into the provision of education (RIPE) analysis of specific purpose schools for students with moderate and high support needs in the Australian state of New South Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to our understanding of Islamist extremism by examining the relationship between early educational interests and ideas associated with Islamist-jihadist ideology. The article uses data collected through the Islam in Australia survey and specifically compares STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) with HSS (humanities and social science) fields of educational interest in relation to respondents' identification with political Islamist and militant typologies, identification with Islam as a political system, understandings of jihad and views on the caliphate as an Islamic religious obligation. The article found Muslim Australians who expressed an interest in STEM fields at high school were more likely than those interested in HSS to: (1) identify with the political Islamist and militant typology; (2) believe Islam advocates a political system; (3) believe establishing a caliphate is a religious obligation; and (4) define jihad as defensive and offensive rather than as defensive only. As discussed in the article, these findings support those of other research), which have identified an overrepresentation of STEM and an underrepresentation of HSS among Islamist-jihadists. This article adds weight to the assertion that the mindset of Islamist-jihadists, may be present prior to undertaking tertiary education and may predispose some to support extremist ideologies. This paper finds that an Islamist-jihadist ideological orientation has a relationship with the STEM fields broadly and Islamic studies specifically during adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comprehensively illustrates how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Australia is reflected in the broad literature. By utilising a systematic literature review, this research divides literature into four groups: 1. The BRI narratives in the Australian media; 2. Economic opportunities and political influence of the BRI in Australia; 3. Exploring why Australia has refused the BRI; and 4. The growing China threat rhetoric. This paper not only fills in the literature gaps by offering an exhaustive knowledge of the BRI in Australia, but also, to some extent, contributes to a broader understanding of China in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role that guilt plays in Australia's construction of its outsiders by focusing on contemporary migrant experience. I build upon Sarah Ahmed's work on the politics of emotion to read migrant interviews in relation to media: films, political speeches, and other discursive structures that facilitate social organization in Australia. In the first part of this paper, I argue that a 'multicultural narrative' positions the nation as a 'happy home,' and examine how this can displace feelings of guilt in the migrant by rendering possible social transgressions positive steps towards attaining a greater social good. In the second section of this paper, I discuss Australia's 'hatred narratives.' I do not define hatred as a necessarily aggressive emotion, but instead, demonstrate the way particular words can be affectively charged because of the histories they invoke, and show how this affect can be mobilized to create outsiders who are not welcome in the national imaginary and Australian society. These narratives however, are not fixed: political parties can appeal to tropes that have accumulated in affective value – such as the 'home' – in order to achieve different political goals, and to organize social groups by aligning individuals with or against affectively charged objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the possibility of using diachronic case study comparisons to shed light on continuity and change in policy interventions to manage plant closures. It compares the early results of a survey of workers retrenched in the 2017 closure of Australia's passenger vehicle manufacturing industry with the results of a similar survey of workers who lost their jobs in the 2005 closure of Mitsubishi's Adelaide engine-casting and components plant. Despite the 12 years of accumulated expertise in plant closure and structural adjustment management, this comparison shows remarkable similarities in the profile of the cohort of retrenched workers and remarkable similarities in their employment outcomes. The discussion reflects on conditions that produce continuity and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Counter-urbanisation' has attracted international attention for decades, as an elusive concept that runs against the overwhelming trend of an urbanising world. In Australia, interest in counter-urbanisation waned after the peak interest from the 1970s until the early 2000s, however a recent resurgence of interest has grown due to anecdotal evidence of rising migration out of major cities. Advances in the ability to telecommute, the impacts of COVID-19 and lockdowns in major cities, and the impact of climate change on migration movements are some contemporary changes prompting the need for a renewed critical and theoretical analysis of counter-urbanisation. This editorial introduces the special issue that offers renewed insights to counter-urbanisation in Australia. We present three arguments to ground the elusive concept of 'counter-urbanisation' that underpins this special issue. We argue (1) that the contemporary examples of counter-urbanisation we are witnessing presently in Australia involve migration from major cities to regional spaces; (2) counter-urbanisation is determined by geographical context, in this case Australia and places within, and (3) Australian counter-urban movements are strongly linked to amenity and lifestyle migration. This editorial then introduces the special issue papers which together define and challenge the concept of counter-urbanisation within the Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost 50 years ago, Edward Said wrote on 'the other' in relation to race and gender in his path-breaking book Orientalism (1978). While much has evolved around notions of gendered and racialised otherness since then, Said's conceptualisation still resonates today. Our paper reports on a 2020/2021 survey of Women of Colour in the Australian workplace. The survey was conducted during the pandemic by Women of Colour Australia, a not-for-profit group, working with the lead author. We focus on the qualitative answers from participants, many of which detail sometimes painful and extremely personal workplace experiences. More than 500 Women of Colour, including seven per cent who were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, completed the survey. Sixty per cent said they had experienced discrimination in the workplace, despite 59 per cent of participants saying their workplace had a Diversity and Inclusion policy. Participants had to 'perform' their identities whilst being subjected to intersectional issues of racism and sexism, some of which the pandemic exacerbated. Our paper describes the harmful ramifications of gendered othering of Women of Colour for Australian organisations and society in the years of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 1, 1915, Gool Badsha Muhammad and Mullah Abdullah shot at a picnic train as it left the city of Broken Hill, Australia, headed towards the village of Silverton, killing four and wounding seven. Had it not been for this horrific act and tragic loss of life, it is likely that little would be remembered of the perpetrators. The focus of this paper is to provide a reassessment of the often-reiterated claim that Mullah Abdullah was the mullah, imam, or "Islamic priest" of the Cameleer community in Broken Hill. After examining scholarly literature evidence will be drawn, primarily from newspaper reports of the period to assess what, if any, support there is for this claim. The paper will utilize comments made within the newspaper reports regarding Mullah Abdullah in order to examine the extent to which he could have been considered a religious leader amongst his community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper explores unstable, interconnected and dynamic processes of diasporic nation-building and memory-making of adult members of the Greek diaspora in Australia as they recall their childhood experiences. The paper makes two key original contributions. First, we identify the importance of the re-membered and embodied diasporic child and childhood spaces to hybrid Greek and Australian adult national identities. Second, the paper provides an empirical example of the contribution that adults' re-membered childhoods can make to children's geographies – these are not direct representations of the past but are creatively, affectually, individually and collectively re-membered timespaces. These contributions emerge through three interconnected themes emerging from the adults' accounts: the importance of childhood 'work', particularly language acquisition, to being an embodied adult Greek and Australian; nostalgia towards homelands and, crucially and originally, Australian childhood diasporic spaces; and Forging hybrid subjectivities: the presence of the diasporic child in the Greek and Australian adult. Therefore, the paper brings together in novel ways, work on diasporic childhoods and memories, the ways in which adults in diaspora use these past timespaces in present processes of nation-building and national belonging and the value of using re-memories as a method on children's geographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National equity policy debates in education are often driven by issues of disadvantage, opportunity, and achievement. However, little is known about how a disadvantaged position mediates people's ability to transform opportunities into valuable achievements. Using African refugees in Australia as an empirical case, and drawing on a mixed method of research, this paper aims to address this knowledge gap. The main sources of data were policy documents, population census reports, and national higher education statistics. The findings highlight limitations with existing higher education equity policies in Australia and the extent to which African refugees have benefited from generic equity programs. In making sense of the data, the paper develops a new conceptual model by innovatively synthesizing the capability approach to social justice and a theory of social reproduction. The model offers an analytical lens to understand the dialectical interplay between objective contexts and subjective conditions that mediate substantive opportunity, conversion ability, and educational choice of the refugee youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]