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After a 14-year gap, Australia's 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper advanced a 'comprehensive framework to advance Australia's security and prosperity in a contested and competitive world' (Australian Government 2017a, "2017 Foreign Policy White Paper." ., v). Focused on regional stability, partnerships and global cooperation, it identifies 'risks and opportunities' in an altered external environment. In this article, we argue that the neglect of gender and conflict prevention in the White Paper has implications for its stated aspirations with regard to peace and security. This is striking considering the attention that gender—particularly in the context of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda—has received in other policy areas and documents. Building on feminist security scholarship, conflict prevention approaches, and bringing in civil society voices, we argue that the White Paper contains a gendered, masculinist logic, separating domestic and international issues and paying insufficient attention to the structural and systemic causes of conflict. This article pursues a gender analysis in order to illuminate the gaps present in the White Paper and its limited vision of security and makes the case that conflict prevention from a gender perspective is key to sustainable peace, security and national interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper identifies major themes and recommends preferred strategies in Australia’s engagement with the world. These themes and strategies relate to geopolitics, economics and the ‘new international agenda’; there is also a more specific focus on Australia’s Pacific island neighbours and Timor-Leste. There is a strong emphasis on perceived Australian national interests throughout the document. The geopolitical discussion is primarily ‘realist’; economically the document is pro-globalisation; the discussion of the ‘new international agenda’ involves an Australian-oriented pragmatism; there is an assertion of Australian leadership in the South Pacific. With some minor criticism, Labor has accepted the general direction advocated in the White Paper. The document is thus indicative of the likely future direction of Australian foreign policy. Lack of US response indicates declining US engagement with Australia and the Asia-Pacific or Indo-Pacific region. China, as the other major power highly significant for Australia, has been low-key in its criticisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

The circulation of early films was highly ephemeral, since films were regarded as consumable, interchangeable objects. Their rapid passage through cinemas, staying for just a few days or weeks, left few traces that can be used to document their movement a century later. Even in the case of films featuring a phenomenally successful star like the Danish actress Asta Nielsen in the burgeoning early cinema market of Australia and New Zealand (known collectively as Australasia or the Antipodes), few records of silent-era distribution or exhibition companies have survived to reveal which Asta Nielsen films they may have imported and screened, let alone what audiences thought of the films they were able to view. Fortunately, the open-access digitization of extensive archival newspaper holdings in New Zealand (paperspast.natlib.govt.nz) and Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) has made it possible to recreate much of the circulation history of many early films, thereby indicating their popularity and relative profitability. Such archival material confirms that Asta Nielsen was a well-known, highly valued star in the Australasian cinema firmament, with nearly two dozen films in circulation over a four-year period preceding the First World War. This article demonstrates how Trove and Papers Past can be used to follow the movement of the Asta Nielsen film When the Mask Falls/Wenn die Maske fällt (1912) through Australasia, contextualize it as part of a much larger phenomenon of Asta Nielsen films in the Antipodes, and situate it within the larger context of Australasian cinema exhibition and distribution in the pre-First World War era. [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]

This article compares the law and policy frameworks for protecting marine species at risk in Australia and Canada. The sea of practical challenges is examined, including achieving listing of threatened commercial species; attaining timely and effective recovery planning; and identifying and protecting critical habitats. [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]

The article offers news briefs on the commonwealth countries. Investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in Malta in regards to the Panama Papers leak. Bangladesh and Myanmar take a stand to repatriate Rohingya Muslim refugees. Protests in India by Hindu fundamentalists against the screening of Rajasthan's royal queen related movie "Padmavati".

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 focus of this paper lies in our special interest in women leaders and those aspiring to leadership positions in schools and other educational contexts within Australia. Leadership is a gendered concept, and due to a myriad of factors including conscious and unconscious bias, and the challenges of balancing career with other life commitment, the reality is that women's career journeys are different from men's. Women's unique career trajectories have implications for achieving their leadership potential. In addition to reviewing some of the extant literature in the area of women in educational leadership, we share our experiences and reflections based on our research and the leadership development programmes we have run for women mainly in Australia. These programmes have reinforced to us their value, place, and contribution to enhancing women's capacities for leadership. In this paper, we address the following four key questions as they pertain to women leaders within the Australian context: (1) Why a focus on gender and leadership? (2) What are some of the barriers impeding women leaders? (3) Why is it important to have multiple faces of leadership? (4) Why is women's leadership development everyone's responsibility? [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]

How to compete successfully in an online environment raises numerous issues for both small and medium enterprises² (SMEs) and regulatory agencies. This paper considers these matters at two different levels: the macro-scale (how markets are structured and operate; access to electronic infrastructure; resale price maintenance activities, and market mergers), and the micro (how individual firms operate and interact with their customers, competitors and suppliers). Each of these issues is examined, with a special focus on regulatory activity in the Australian competition and consumer law arena to deal with such matters. Some observations are also made on certain unexpected by-products of the electronic commerce: the growing incidence of scams perpetrated against SMEs; the likely continuing rise of the informal sector; and potential changes to conventional franchising models. Finally, the way in which regulatory agencies respond to all these matters is discussed. [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]

This paper argues that amid intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry, middle powers in East Asia have contributed towards regional peaceful change through the exercise of good regional citizenship, a concept which draws on and modifies from the more commonly known good international citizenship which is closely associated with middle powers. Specifically, good regional citizenship involves proactively strengthening inclusive multilateralism, enhancing the rules-based order, and contributing to bridging efforts in East Asia. The paper examines the good regional citizenship of two middle powers, namely Australia and Indonesia. It finds that while both countries have exercised good regional citizenship, their specific strategies or the outcomes of their initiatives on regional dynamics have varied as a result of their relations with the respective major powers and their general foreign policy approaches. Australia's good regional citizenship has supported the preservation of U.S. leadership in East Asia vis-à-vis the rise of other regional powers, while Indonesia's good regional citizenship has helped to narrow the gaps among regional actors through mechanisms led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). [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]

This paper aims to investigate the nexus of relationships linking firm innovativeness (FI), supply chain agility (SCA), and firm performance (FP). Grounding on Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) and Dynamic Capability View (DCV), this study explores the role of three types of FIs (i.e. service innovativeness, process innovativeness and administrative innovativeness) on SCA and its impact on different dimensions of FP. Limited empirical evidence is available in the SCA literature that examines FI as antecedents of SCA and explores SCA benefits using diverse performance parameters. We test the proposed model using survey data of 238 Australian service firms and analyzed it using partial least square-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Our result found that three types of FI are positively related to SCA, and SCA is positively related to all dimensions of FP. Investment in innovation practices are often considered as core practices of service-oriented firms during an uncertain time. Our results offer some useful guidelines for practitioners. [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]

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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]

Most countries put significant amounts of time and effort in writing and issuing high-level policy documents. These are supposed to guide subsequent national defence efforts. But do they? And how do countries even try to ensure that they do? This paper reports on a benchmarking effort of how a few "best of breed" small- to medium-sized defence organisations (Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) deal with these issues. We find that most countries fail to link goals to resources and pay limited attention to specific and rigorous ex-ante or post-hoc evaluation, even when compared to their own national government-wide provisions. We do, however, observe a (modest) trend towards putting more specific goals and metrics in these documents that can be - and in a few rare cases were - tracked. The paper identifies 42 concrete policy "nuggets" - both "do's and don'ts" - that should be of interest to most defence policy planning/analysis communities. It ends with two recommendations that are in line with recent broader (non-defence) scholarship on the policy formulation-policy implementation gap: to put more rigorous emphasis on implementation (especially on achieving desired policy effects), but to do so increasingly in more experiential ("design") ways, rather than in industrial-age bureaucratic ones ("PPBS"-systems). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of an academic career has been characterised by competition and precarity, which can negatively impact individuals' academic aspirations. This paper examines academic aspirations of doctoral candidates by providing an in-depth analysis of their career prospects using Weber's notions of 'inward calling' and 'academic hazards'. It draws on qualitative research using semi-structured interview data with 32 aspiring academics, who are doctoral candidates at a research-intensive university in Australia. The paper discusses the 'essence of academia' that underpins 'inward calling' and is central to aspiring academics' motivation. Findings suggest a range of 'academic hazards' that aspiring academics expect to encounter in their academic pursuit. Despite the perceived challenges, aspiring academics distance themselves from an idealised 'golden' past, and demonstrate an acceptance of and adaptation to the current situation. The paper concludes by discussing some implications for improving the attractiveness of the academic profession in Australia. [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]

Digital inclusion research explores the complex inequalities among different societal groups that affect people's ability to fully participate in social, economic, and cultural life. Globally, digital inequalities exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and this paper contributes to a growing body of literature focused on Indigenous digital inclusion in Australia. This paper outlines how a team of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers developed an Indigenous research methodology to investigate the digital inclusion challenges, and opportunities, for Aboriginal families living in a remote community on Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. This methodology applies principles of decolonisation, through Indigenous yarning and photography, to foreground the voices of Indigenous people in articulating barriers and solutions to low levels of digital inclusion in their community. The findings detail the everyday and novel ways Indigenous families use the internet and digital devices, and how these insights might inform Indigenous-focused policy, practices and programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dawkins white paper of 1988 was introduced by the Australian government to reshape the Higher Education (HE) landscape. Dawkins' discussion paper of 1990, Nelson's policy document of 2003, the Bradley Review of 2008 and the Lomax-Smith Review of 2011 built on and extended Dawkins' white paper. Such policy reforms have transformed the culture of Australian HE and contributed to shaping the employment outcomes of graduates of Australian HE institutions (HEI). However, rather than HE qualifications enhancing a resume, such qualifications are now expected. Today, HE graduates in Australia can face long periods to secure full-time jobs with many experiencing underemployment and unemployment. Using document reviews to research for this article, the article contributes to the discussion of HE graduates in Australia in several ways. Firstly, it reviews five key policies that led to the massification of HE in Australia. Secondly, it presents a comparison of the composition of university graduates in the period from 1989 to 2019. Thirdly, it examines how policy reforms contributed to shaping graduate employment prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic occurring. Finally, and importantly, this article will assist as a point of reference when researching graduate employability outcomes post COVID-19 global pandemic. This article represents a knowledge base for all stakeholders in the HE sector to draw from in terms of policy and planning with the end goal to enhance the employment prospects and employability of HE graduates. This article also presents numerous areas for future research. [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]

Flipped classroom approaches have increasingly been adopted in the Australian higher education sector. However, current research on this approach is predominantly quantitative and focused on domestic students. Little is known about the flipped classroom learning experiences of undergraduate international students in Australia. This paper sets out to investigate undergraduate international students' challenges in a flipped classroom environment, based on thirty-two semi-structured interviews with undergraduate international students at an Australian university. We identified several challenges, including language issues, barriers to autonomous learning, as well as technical and technological challenges. International students in our study also provide constructive recommendations to improve the design of the flipped classroom. This paper contributes new insights into the nuances of undergraduate international students' challenges in a flipped classroom environment. [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]

Development of a hydrogen economy as part of the response to the challenges especially of climate change and energy security will depend upon the solution not only of technical problems, but also of legal and regulatory problems. Whereas these are most obviously related to health and safety, this paper focuses on the fact that support for hydrogen is increasingly contingent upon the method of its production and specifically upon the level of greenhouse gas emissions involved. The paper examines emerging arrangements in Australia and the EU as examples of likely future key hydrogen exporters and importers, respectively. [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 addresses debates on the role of agency in shaping the economic future of regions. Scholarship on agency departs from the earlier focus of evolutionary economic geography, which highlighted the role of pre-existing structural conditions. This paper challenges the notion that agency is only found in intentional action and is limited to key actors within a region. It questions exclusive focus on the impact of entrepreneurial leaders, place leaders and government, and identifies agency in the accumulated micro-decisions of multiple decision-makers, using the example of workers affected by the closure of Australia's passenger vehicle industry. In so doing, it underscores the twin roles of collective vision and meaningful implementation in the successful transformation of regions. [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]

Background: Incarcerated trans women experience significant victimization, mistreatment, barriers to gender-affirming care, and human rights violations, conferring high risk for trauma, psychological distress, self-harm, and suicide. Across the globe, most carceral settings are segregated by sex assigned at birth and governed by housing policies that restrict gender expression—elevating ‘safety and security’ above the housing preferences of incarcerated people. Aim/methods: Drawing upon the lived experiences of 24 formerly incarcerated trans women in Australia and the United States and employing Elizabeth Freeman’s notion of chrononormativity, Rae Rosenberg’s concept of heteronormative time, and Kadji Amin’s use of queer temporality, this paper explores trans women’s carceral housing preferences and contextual experiences, including how housing preferences challenge governing chrononormative and reformist carceral housing systems. Findings: Participants freely discussed their perspectives regarding housing options which through thematic analysis generated four options for housing: 1) men’s carceral settings; 2) women’s carceral settings; 3) trans- and gay-specific housing blocks; and 4) being housed in protective custody or other settings. There appeared to be a relationship between the number of times the person had been incarcerated, the duration of their incarceration, and where they preferred to be housed. Conclusions: This analysis contributes to richer understandings regarding trans women’s experiences while incarcerated. This paper also informs the complexities and nuances surrounding housing preferences from the perspectives of trans women themselves and considers possible opportunities to enhance human rights, health and wellbeing when engaging in transformative approaches to incarceration. [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]

For the last five decades, the development of "Asia-literate" students has been a key objective in Australian education policy. The contentions surrounding this educational goal have been well documented by academic literatures, policy documents and media commentary. This paper seeks to redress the absence of student voices in these debates by examining students' experiences with Asia-related curriculum in the context of Languages and History teaching and learning in secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. Engaging the lens of curriculum inquiry, we use select thematic episodes from qualitative interview data to interrogate students' understanding and evaluation of planned and experienced Asia-related curriculum. Their stories highlight the incongruences of Asia learning as framed by (and within) formal sites of learning, and students' lived experiences in other spaces. We argue that in order to effect a shift in the current expressions of Asia-related curriculum policy towards a more student-centred articulation, students' roles in shaping curricular knowledge warrant more attention and scrutiny. As our analysis suggests, a deeper understanding of students' experiences of curriculum-as-lived may be the catalyst for a long-overdue reorientation towards a curricular landscape of multiplicity, where new and authentic possibilities for Asia learning could be envisaged. [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]