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This paper examines the construction of avian influenza in Australian media and federal government policy, with a focus placed on discourses of contagion, preparedness and risk. The threat of an infectious disease outbreak, such as avian influenza, on social life is surrounded by a range of collective narratives which attempt to make it explicable. These narratives socially define the disease and provide explanations for its existence. The paper demonstrates that central to these narratives are depictions of the source of the outbreak and suggestions of appropriate responses to the threat. Methodologically, a narrative analysis of print media and government documents was conducted. This showed that conceptually both government and media discourses could be understood in terms of risk, contagion and blame. Furthermore, it was found that narratives linking the risk of avian influenza with globalised interconnectedness and contagion by the developing world underpin discourses of causation and frame the reactions to and preparation for a potential outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004 and 2005 the West Australian Labor Government significantly amended the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (WA) (the Act). These amendments followed over a decade of shifting power plays and uncertainty for the many stakeholders in the system. The significance of these state-based reforms cannot be underestimated, providing a localised example of a broader contestation between the interests of private business and the shifting terrain of industrial citizenship. This article documents the last decade of workers compensation reforms within Western Australia and a summary of changes which ultimately took effect in November 2005. In keeping with the post-modern emphasis on context, this paper locates the Western Australian changes within a broader discussion of the shifting landscape of rights and entitlements engendered through neo-liberal discourse. In particular, as this paper explores, the changes to Western Australian workers compensation policy can be read as a reflection on the way employers, government and the insurance industry interpret and engage with the continuing realignment of worker entitlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times critical approaches to educational policy studies have been subject to increasing interrogation over methodological issues, often by critical policy researchers themselves. In the main, their reflexive posturings have been informed by critique which proceeds that beyond brief descriptions of research logistics and a general commitment to the methodologies of a critical orientation, critical policy analyses offer few explicit accounts of the connections between the stories they tell about policy and the data used to tell them. As a way of addressing these silences, this paper proposes three methodological approaches within which to explore and explain matters of policy, each generating its own particular view of the (policy) issues worth looking for, where they can be found and how to look for them. Drawing on research into the production of Australian higher education policy during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the paper illustrates the characteristics of these approaches, referring to them as policy historiography, policy genealogy and policy archaeology. Without claiming absolute distinctions between their interests, the paper couples policy historiography with the substantive issues of policy at particular hegemonic moments, policy genealogy with social actors' engagement with policy, and policy archaeology with conditions that regulate policy formations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Western societies focus considerable policy and media attention on the 'epidemic of childhood obesity'. In this paper we examine the mobilisation of notions of responsibility and consumption in these discussions, and consider the implications they have for women as mothers. In particular, we are interested to explore the potential conflicts mothers face as care providers and nurturers when responsible care is framed as withholding or managing the food consumption of children. We argue that the competing discursive frameworks around mothers' food provision invite further theorisation that explicitly addresses nourishment and consumption as elements of maternal practice and care. We draw on the work of Neysmith and Reitsma-Street (2005) regarding 'provisioning' to undertake a critical examination of the discourses in the 'childhood obesity' epidemic, with particular attention to Australian media and policy discussions. According to Neysmith and Reitsma-Street, mothers are central to social 'provisioning', that is, the labour that secures the necessities of life. This provisioning framework captures paid market work and unpaid caring labour, policy settings and social locations, allowing for a rich conceptualisation of the conditions mothers negotiate as they provide for their children. Taking up the possibilities of this framework, we argue that, insofar as health risks and responsibilities are largely individualised, mothering is framed as primarily about giving, and childhood obesity is considered a disease of affluence and over-consumption, imperatives for maternal provisioning and nurture are potentially in conflict with critiques of consumption and excess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of social capital has acquired some currency amongst policy analysts to refer to the social norms, networks and trust that facilitate co-operation and provision of mutual support within or between groups. As yet there is no agreed definition of the concept; however influential Australian policy bodies are developing measures to track changes in social capital and relate these to policy changes. Most research is concerned with exploration of the concept in locality-based communities and its application to developing societies. This paper reviews research undertaken in Australia and overseas to determine the elements of social capital that may have importance in relation to policy development in response to an ageing population. It concludes that the concept could be of considerable value in understanding the determinants of policy success or failure, but that further research is required to understand the nature of social capital as it relates to older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital and community capacity have become key concepts in social policy responses to marginalised individuals and communities. Policy making has occurred in the context of heated debate about the roles of government and business institutions in strengthening community capacities. In this paper, we wilt explore theoretical positions about the role that these institutions play in building local social capital. We argue that the dominant conceptions of social capital in Australia fail to recognise the potential for non-local institutions to strengthen local community capacity. Drawing on a study of four geographically diverse communities we show that a substantial proportion of community members were disconnected from non-local government and business institutions. We conclude with some initial suggestions for extending the social capital discourse to recognise and build the role of non-local institutions in strengthening local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]