Search

An introduction to the journal is presented, in which the authors talk about the 23rd Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) conference held in Newcastle, New South Wales in February 2009 and offer an overview of articles based on the conference published within the issue including one by Gregor Murray on globalization and another by Michael T. Schaper and John Lewer on federal competition law in Australia.

Waste solar photovoltaic (PV) panels are considered as one of the fastest-growing future waste streams under the category of large electronic waste (e-waste). The lifespan of solar panels varies from 20 to 30 years, and an appropriate reverse logistics network design is essential to manage the waste stream efficiently once their lifetime expires. Mixed-integer programming-based RL model is proposed in this paper for New South Wales, Australia that minimizes the overall cost by identifying optimal locations and sizing of the collection points while determining optimal capacities for recycling facilities. Using the historical data (2001–2017) on the installed capacity of solar panels in the state, the potential waste generation (at council-level) is estimated and optimized solutions are proposed for the year 2047. The results of the study show that the highest waste solar PV will be generated at Murrumbidgee, Berrigan, Balranald, and Bogan councils. Out of 129 councils in the state, the model identifies 78 optimized-locations of the collection points that would be required in the councils. In the councils of Newcastle, Narrandera and Wagga Wagga, three major recycling facilities would need to be established. This is the first systematic attempt in designing an optimized RL network in Australia focusing on waste solar PV. Policy-makers will find this research highly valuable in decision-making on local recycling infrastructure development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes caregiver-reported patterns of mental health service use for 347 pre-adolescent children in foster and kinship care in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Children’s mean time in care and mean time with their present caregivers were 4.3 and 3.3 years respectively. Forty-four percent of children received individual therapy or counselling, 45% received interventions in the form of clinical guidance for their caregivers, and 31% received both forms of service. Among children scoring in the clinical range on any CBCL sub-scale (N = 191), equivalent rates of mental health service use were 60%, 55% and 41% respectively. Although not directly comparable, these findings describe a higher rate of service use than that reported for children in care elsewhere. While children with more complex and severe difficulties had higher rates of service use, there was no evidence of variable access for treatment of different types of disorder. Predictors of service use are reported and contrasted with previous findings. The paper considers several features of the NSW child welfare, health and education systems that may account for the relatively high rate of service use. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is widespread concern about the reduction in the number of students in Australia studying calculus-based mathematics courses in the final year of secondary education. Over the last 20 years in New South Wales, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students studying general mathematics in place of calculus courses. The concern arises because students graduating from high school with no calculus are often not well equipped for many aspects of university-level study. This paper explores one potential reason for this in New South Wales, namely the scaling algorithm used to derive the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. At a time when we are encouraging students to study higher mathematics, this paper contributes to the discussion by illustrating some empirical evidence, based on an analysis of published output from the application of the scaling algorithm used to derive Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks, as to why students may be opting for lower level mathematics at the Year 12 level in great numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compact city urban policies are promoting higher density housing outcomes across many metropolitan areas. Consequently, the development of higher density housing in the form of apartments is becoming a major feature of the contemporary urban housing market. Understanding the demand driving this market has therefore become a critical issue for planners. However, traditional housing market analyses offer limited insight into what is essentially a three-dimensional housing market operating in a spatially fragmented manner. This paper uses the concept of spatially discontinuous housing markets to unpack the structure of the current demand for apartments in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s largest cities. It therefore offers a new analytical tool to improve understanding of high density housing markets as well as providing new insights into how such markets are structured at a time when planning policies and markets are delivering significantly greater quantities of this form of housing in many comparable urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Australia, there is a dearth of research applying the theoretical lens of critical race theory to explore Muslim university students' experiences in higher degree education institutions. The prevailing approach has been to focus on institutional barriers and policies. This article deviates from such studies by framing the analysis in terms of a comparison between Muslim and non-Muslim white students in higher degree education institutions in New South Wales (NSW) Australia in order to operationalize whiteness in Australia's settler colonial society as a central category of analysis. The article seeks to explore how Muslim and non-Muslim students experience and respond to the university as a white institution, considering how Muslim students engage in both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies in response to the university as a white institution, and how white, non-Muslim students experience the normativity, invisibility and hegemony of whiteness in the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many suburban areas in Australian cities built between the 1930s and 1960s are facing major challenges from socio-demographic change, ageing housing, long-term disinvestment and entrenched pockets of social disadvantage. Yet despite emerging relative disadvantages, these middle ring or ‘third city’ suburbs are experiencing locally generated piecemeal market-led reinvestment and renewal. This paper explores housing, household and housing investment characteristics and trends in the older parts of Sydney’s western suburbs drawing on analyses of socio-demographic and development application data. Policy options to achieve more appropriate urban renewal outcomes under broad social sustainability criteria are canvassed. Similarities and differences to the American ‘first suburb’ phenomenon are noted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the redevelopment of the site of Sydney’s 2000 summer Olympics, locating it within debates over the legacy of these events. The paper describes some of the key stakeholders involved in the redevelopment and planning of the site. It provides an overview of the regulatory context and governance bodies that have structured the space since the staging of the Olympics, then identifies two key areas of private-sector involvement, in event space and in business development, where tensions emerged over how the site should best be governed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Critical urban research arising from the ‘new urban politics’ rich heritage has conventionally privileged the politics of accumulation and the city’s downtown over the politics of social reproduction and everyday, residential spaces. This paper focuses on residential spaces and the politics involved in recasting everyday practices of social reproduction through private neighbourhood governance. Focusing on the masterplanned estates increasingly prevalent across Sydney’s residential landscape, it explores the material practices and subjectivities shaped by these estates’ contractual governance and the contours and limits to the formation of self-governing middle-class consumer citizens. The paper highlights a granular fabric to urban politics produced as residents engage with meeting the demands of daily urban life and providing the means of middle-class social reproduction in a neo-liberalised context. Finally, it points to opportunities for a more complete grammar of contemporary urban politics provided by this expanded focus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a lack of knowledge about effective implementation of intensification policies. The paper concentrates on the intensification experience of Sydney, Australia, and Toronto, Canada. Historical narratives, which document intensification efforts and outcomes since the 1950s, paint different pictures. For much of the period, Sydney adopted a medium-density strategy sustained by public-sector incentives and regulations. In Toronto, in contrast, the focus has been on high-density developments driven mostly by market trends. Lately, however, the Sydney intensification strategy has shifted to high-density projects. The paper concludes by drawing out findings that are relevant to intensification policies in the selected metropolitan regions and elsewhere: the ubiquity of NIMBY reactions; the importance of senior government involvement because less sensitive to anti-density NIMBY reactions; the possibility of framing intensification strategies in ways that avoid political party confrontation; and the role of major environmental movements in raising public opinion support to intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores how formal and informal institutional arrangements are mobilised in unique ways to secure development approval on Sydney's fringe. The institutional configuration mobilised to secure approval rests on the identity and history of the developer and their project managers and their relations with state and development actors. This paper explores the differential enrolment of formal and informal institutions by those who principally operate within the area (local) and by those who have moved into the area from other regions (foreign). It becomes clear that local development actors are more likely to mobilise informal arrangements to secure approval, while foreign actors are more likely to use formal arrangements. However, this picture is complicated given that some foreign actors pursue local consultants in an effort to utilise existing development relations for their own purpose, while some local consultants avoid certain foreign developers for fear that existing relations will be damaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illegal drug use by police officers is a concern in many jurisdictions. The Police Integrity Commission, an independent oversight agency in New South Wales, Australia, conducted a large-scale project on the use of illegal drugs by some NSW police officers. This project, codenamed Operation Abelia, sought to provide a better understanding of the nature of the problem of officer illegal drug use and to identify what can be done to minimise such illegal drug use. This paper outlines how research and investigations were combined to identify areas where further intervention is most likely to assist in minimising illegal drug use by officers. It also provides an overview of the Police Integrity Commission's nine-part strategy for strengthening the NSW Police Force's approach to minimising illegal drug use by its officers. The paper ends with examples of some of the policy, procedural and legislative changes that have resulted from this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports that the New South Wales Law Reform Commission has issued a discussion paper which explores the arguments for and against allowing the blind and deaf to sit on juries.

Bucket dredging to mine and extract gold and tin from rivers is a global industry that has had a range of negative effects on physical environments. These include the destruction of riparian soil profiles and structures, artificial channel straightening and loss of in-stream biodiversity. In this paper we evaluate the immediate effects and long-term consequences of bucket dredging on rivers in Victoria and New South Wales during the period 1900–1950. High quality historical sources on dredge mining are integrated with geospatial datasets, aerial imagery and geomorphological data to analyse the scale of the dredging industry, evidence for disturbance to river channels and floodplains and current land use in dredged areas. The study demonstrates that the environmental impact of dredging was altered but not reduced by anti-pollution regulations intended to control dredging. An assessment of river condition 70–100 years after dredge mining ceased indicates that floodplains and river channels continue to show the effects of dredging, including bank erosion, sediment slugs, compromised habitat and reduced agricultural productivity. These findings have significant implications for river and floodplain management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an investigation of the workings of the contemporary politics of legal graffiti walls in Sydney, this paper aims to show the ways in which graffiti writers are variously included and excluded in networks of mobility. The analysis considers three lenses on mobility—spatial mobility, social mobility and policy mobilities—in order to interrogate the processes of socio-spatial exclusion faced by young (and not so young) graffiti writers, and the way that mobility can change as writers shift through complex youth–adult transitions. In post-industrial cities like Sydney, engaging the rhetoric of creative cities, the changing landscape of government policy, legislation and funded programmes has implications for the mobility of graffiti writers, with older, more experienced, graffiti writers able to draw on their network capital to facilitate mobile lives, while younger, less experienced, graffiti writers become further fixed in space, less mobile and more prone to the travails of social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background This paper presents the findings of three multisite evaluations of Experience-Based Co-design (EBCD) programmes conducted in Emergency Departments (EDs) and associated departments in seven public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia. Method Data for the evaluations were derived from: EBCD documentation provided by the participating sites; interviews with 117 key informants; performance data and the policy and academic literature on EBCD. Results Respondents described EBCD as a successful and sustainable method of improving the individual patient experience and the overall quality of a health service. Demonstrated successes were reported to lead to aspects of the EBCD approach spreading within services. However, like any quality improvement activity, EBCD was not without its challenges. The principal challenge particular to the EBCD projects outlined here was their deployment in ED settings. Because of their ambulant patient populations, these settings made sustaining consumer engagement for the duration of the project problematic and required tailoring EBCD to accommodate consumers' involvement preferences and constraints. Conclusion The primary strength of EBCD over and above other service development methodologies was reported to be its ability to bring about improvements simultaneously in both the operational efficiency and the inter-personal dynamics of care. However, careful consideration must be given to the constraints inherent in transient patient specialties and what needs to be done to tailor EBCD to suit the particular setting in which it is deployed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the controversial nature of illicit drug treatment, there is a relative lack of research on policy formation in this area. This paper draws on qualitative interviews with service providers and analysis of policy documents, conducted for an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council funded project entitled 'Comparing the role of takeaways in methadone maintenance treatment in New South Wales and Victoria', to examine the formation and implementation of drug treatment policy. In particular, it considers two forces widely acknowledged to be important to drug treatment, and often argued to be antithetical to each other: community values and scientific evidence. Separation of the 'social' and the 'scientific' in treatment is a much-used but conceptually limited distinction. Two alternatives to evidence-based policy are proposed. The first, values-based policy, is increasingly important to critical discussions of social policy and could potentially add much to debates around drug treatment policy. The second alternative is suggested by social studies of science (STS), in particular feminist STS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no consensus on the relationship between urban form and commuting behaviour in the international literature. However, there has been limited Australian research on commuting patterns. In this paper, an integrated spatial econometric model which utilises a number of proxies for urban form is employed to analyse the determinants of average commuting distance by occupation across Statistical Local Areas in the Sydney metropolitan area of New South Wales. It is found that, in contrast to a number of US studies, the jobs to residents ratio is an inadequate proxy for urban form and that both the minimum commute and measures of job proximity have superior explanatory power in concert with a range of socioeconomic variables, including occupational prestige, educational attainment and weekly hours of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interprets macroscopic charcoal (>250 μm), humification and loss-on-ignition over the last ∼14 200 cal. BP from Goochs Swamp, located to the west of Sydney in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. This study aimed to investigate relationships between humans, climate and fire through time, primarily by comparison of these palaeoenvironmental indices with archaeological evidence from the region. Climatic forcing can explain all periods of change in the history of fire at Goochs Swamp: fire activity was variable during the Lateglacial-Holocene transition, low during the relatively stable climate of the early Holocene, and high but variable after the onset of modern El Niño from the mid Holocene. Although the dominant control on fire in this environment during the Holocene appears to be climate, fluctuations in the late Holocene may reflect anthropogenic fire or human responses to climate change. The archaeological record of the Blue Mountains and other parts of the Sydney Basin illustrates that Aboriginal people altered subsistence, resource and land-use patterns in the late Holocene. We propose that these cultural measures were adopted to overcome new risks as the frequency of ENSO events increased, and the natural fire regime and resource reliability changed. These strategies perhaps included a more systematic use of fire. The most parsimonious interpretation of the evidence for changes in fire activity at Goochs Swamp in the light of nearby archaeological evidence is that Aboriginal people used fire within a changing climatic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environment & Urbanization is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

The Sri Lankan-born anthropologist, the late Chandra Jayawardena, was a pivotal figure in the development of Australian anthropology. He arrived at the University of Sydney in the late 1960s, a period of dramatic intellectual and political change. In the 1970s, he was at the centre of the ethical debate about the involvement of anthropologists in the Tribal Research Centre, a dispute which pitted him against W.R. Geddes. The article draws on his archived papers, including a previously unpublished essay on ethical practice, and locates the 1970s debate - which came at a crucial time in the development of Australian anthropology - in relation to contemporary debates about ethics and anthropological engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines changes in Australian and Japanese public-sector performance reporting and value-for-money (VFM) initiatives by second-tier government in these countries. It proposes a theoretical framework within which to consider performance reporting and VFM. It provides a case study report of developments in Hokkaido, Japan and New South Wales with respect to VFM and performance reporting. It explores several explanatory forces in the observed differences. The article concludes with an analysis of the effects of Japanese and Australian performance reporting on VFM.

This article discusses findings from a recent survey (n = 297) of teachers' views of both their own and their students' experiences during the 2021 enforced emergency remote schooling period occurring in New South Wales Australia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative analysis reported here explores teachers' views regarding teaching and learning during this challenging period. It identifies three latent constructs, learning, assessment, and interaction, and then uses structural equation modelling to identify the perceived impact of these constructs on student and teacher wellbeing. The remote schooling period had a significant negative impact for teachers and their students across a range of elements of teaching and learning, as well as wellbeing. Student learning experiences and their peer interactions were found to be strong predictors of students' wellbeing outcomes. Assessment design and teachers' feedback to students were significant in predicting levels of teacher wellbeing. Future research directions are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the controversy over sewage pollution on Sydney beaches and how it should be remedied is used to analyze the concept of 'closure', and what it means for technological controversies. Various parties to this controversy attempted to resolve it in several ways: by redefining sewage pollution as an aesthetic problem: by negotiating a consensus at the decision-maker's level about water quality standards: by putting forward what appeared to be 'sound arguments'; and by the use of rhetoric. The paper explores the difficulties in applying categories of 'closure', and its usefulness as a framework for understanding the dynamics of a controversy, and the power relationships between those involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the controversy over sewage pollution on Sydney beaches and how it should be remedied is used to analyze the concept of 'closure', and what it means for technological controversies. Various parties to this controversy attempted to resolve it in several ways: by redefining sewage pollution as an aesthetic problem: by negotiating a consensus at the decision-maker's level about water quality standards: by putting forward what appeared to be 'sound arguments'; and by the use of rhetoric. The paper explores the difficulties in applying categories of 'closure', and its usefulness as a framework for understanding the dynamics of a controversy, and the power relationships between those involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rurality is an identified point of disadvantage in measures such as the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) and school resourcing models. However, socioeconomic disadvantage is commonly used as an explanation for lower average student achievement in rural locations. Thus, policies are often directed towards reducing disadvantage associated with socioeconomic status, and rurality is overlooked. This research tests the validity of these assumptions using a matched study approach. We examine data on New South Wales (NSW) students, schools and courses to investigate how the English and Mathematics achievement levels of students in their final year of secondary school are associated with family and school characteristics across locations. The findings show that socioeconomic variation does not fully account for differences in achievement in rural locations. Instead, rurality appears to mediate other effects on student achievement in a complex interplay of factors contributing to lower average results. This highlights the need to consider the specificities of rurality in schooling, particularly the role of rural knowledges and perspectives in schooling and student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge co-production between academics and practitioners is increasingly a focus for university workplace contexts. While there is emerging interest in how social science academics can engage with industry to generate impact, little attention has been paid to how one form of practitioner organisation, trade unions, engages with academics to influence policy and member outcomes. In this article, we examine a case of research collaboration with an education trade union based in New South Wales, Australia, to explore the process of knowledge co-production with this partnership and its impact on education policy. In examining this decade-long partnership, we contribute to the literature on union strategy by depicting collaboration with researchers as a unique strategy for influencing policy outcomes (in this case, addressing teacher workload), while also contributing to emerging scholarship on knowledge co-production as a means to generate impact beyond the academy. As such, this article contributes a rare example of 'cross-over' between the worlds of academia and industry, which may inform future engagement and impact processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staffing rural and regional schools remains an intractable problem. This study identifies effective incentives for attracting teachers to difficult-to-staff rural and remote schools in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Compared to their urban counterparts, students in these schools are disadvantaged by teacher staff shortages, inexperience and attrition. The research investigated the ability for existing incentives of the NSW Department of Education, other education systems and other professions to attract professionals to rural and remote appointments using a discrete choice experiment methodology. The findings identify ways of attracting teachers of differing levels of experience and commitment to work in such areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a review of the Australian labour market in 2021. It describes patterns of employment, unemployment and other key labour market outcomes in the year, including wages. In the year to September 2021, total employment increased by 2.6% for males and 2.2% for females, driven by a growth in full-time employment. While most labour market indicators returned to their pre-pandemic levels in 2021, young adults, particular men, casual employees and the self-employed were most disadvantaged by COVID-19. New South Wales and Victorian residents were similarly adversely affected. Notwithstanding inflationary fears, in the year to September 2021, headline inflation increased by 3.0% and the wage price index by 2.2%, rendering a fall in real wages during the year. Despite record low unemployment at year's end and a positive economic outlook for 2022, the future remains unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By contrast with the flurry of legislative activity that accompanied the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the 2021 calendar year was a comparatively quiet one both in the Commonwealth and the States. Significant developments at the Commonwealth level included amendments to the FW Act to provide a definition of 'casual' employment; a 'class exemption' for small business collective bargaining and amendments to the laws around sexual harassment at work that were implemented in the wake of the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces. At State level, NSW implemented further changes to various laws in order to further cushion the impact of the pandemic on working people, and the NSW Modern Slavery legislation finally took effect, 3 years after it was first passed by NSW Parliament. In Victoria, enforcement provisions for unpaid entitlements were enhanced, and the new Wage Theft Act 2020 came into force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most public and scholarly debate about immigration in Australia has focused on irregular arrivals of asylum seekers by sea and the harsh system of externalised border controls designed to deter and contain them. This paper concentrates on the operation of Australia’s internal borders. We present a critical account of onshore migration policing networks in the Australian state of New South Wales, which are conceptualised as a distinctive form of policing. Using the techniques of nodal cartography described by Johnston and Shearing (2003) we identify the institutions, mentalities and technologies driving the development of migration policing networks and discuss their structure and internal dynamics. We then examine the means by which chains of public and private actors are recruited to perform a migration policing role, drawing on Garland’s ideas about government-at-a-distance (Garland, 1997). We identify responsibilising strategies that capitalise on overlapping organisational interests, others that are underpinned by the threat of legal sanctions, and others that are directed towards changing the behaviour of unlawful non-citizens themselves. We conclude that the Australian state is not diminished by adopting a networked approach to onshore migration policing, but instead garners significant resources which it can then invest in the construction of a multi-faceted, structurally-embedded and potentially ubiquitous border. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, specifically composed to provide a vision for theology in the University of Newcastle NSW, offers a series of reflections that suggest first, that at present the very idea of a "university" is itself under pressure and in danger of becoming meaningless; secondly, that theology, conceived broadly through a pedagogical model of paideia, can engage in critical conversation over the identity of the university; and, thirdly, that theology, as a university discipline, can be properly ordered in terms of an ongoing conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-regional general equilibrium model is used to estimate the effects of increased tourism on the economy of New South Wales, Australia's largest state. Simulations were undertaken of the effects of an increase in world, interstate and intrastate tourism on the economy of New South Wales focusing on the assumptions that generate maximum impacts. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for policy making from the perspective of New South Wales as a tourism destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study sought to examine resettled Iraqi refugees' recognition of trauma-related psychopathology and the association between recognition and help-seeking. Participants were 66 men and women aged 18 to 70 years with clinically significant symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) recruited from a larger, community-based sample in Western Sydney, Australia. Participants were presented with a vignette of a fictional character who had been exposed to trauma prior to leaving Iraq and who was suffering from symptoms of PTSD. Participants were then asked if they believed that they might currently have a problem such as the one described in the vignette. Approximately half (50.8%) of participants believed that they might currently have a problem such as the one described in the vignette and one third (33.3%) of participants had ever sought help for such a problem. Participants who believed that they might currently have a problem like the one described were 13 times more likely to have sought help for such a problem, controlling for demographic characteristics, trauma-related symptomatology, and levels of general psychological distress. Poor self-recognition level of trauma-related psychopathology among resettled Iraqi refugees may be a barrier to help-seeking and may therefore be an important target for health promotion and early intervention initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the relations between class formation, the emergence of a press industry, and the regulatory role of the state in New South Wales from 1800 to 1850. It examines the establishment of legal conditions for a capitalist press sector under the governorship of General Ralph Darling. It analyzes the failure of attempts to regulate the press by statute. It also discusses the absence of a radical working-class press generates a deformation of colonial working-class experience.

Australian feminists have struggled to define the International Labour Organisation's Equal Remuneration Convention' goal of gender pay equity and find a platform for achieving it. Approaches based on discrimination, or a male comparator, have proved unworkable. Networking nationally and internationally, the National Pay Equity Coalition (1988–2011) formulated many submissions to industrial tribunals and parliamentary inquiries. Early interventions argued the disadvantages to women of the decentralisation of bargaining in the 1990s, but following the failure of discrimination-based cases, this focus shifted. National Pay Equity Coalition submissions came to define the gender gap, not as one between women and male comparators, but as a recognition gap. They argued that indicators of a history of gender-based undervaluation should lead to a bias-free work value assessment. Bias lay in the distance between actual job demands and their characterisation in classification descriptions. It could be redressed by fuller recognition of the work value of feminised service roles. This approach to the recognition and remedy of undervaluation informed the 1998 NSW Pay Equity Inquiry and the NSW Equal Remuneration Principle, but is not recognised in federal labour law. No Equal Remuneration Principle yet applies in the federal jurisdiction which since 2009 has governed most Australian wage setting amidst growing social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authentic student-led inquiry and exposure to scientific research impact students' science career choices. Given Australian students decline in STEM skills, knowledge of whether such programmes impact student learning is critical. This research examined the short-term impact of an authentic, hands-on research mentor programme on rural student's science skills. Nine Year 10 students participated in a science academic research programme leading to scientific publications and students collecting of first-hand data from international experiments on a major world-wide health issue. The NSW Department of Education Year 10 VALID assessment scores of this intervention group were compared to a control group. Intervention students had significantly higher overall scores as well as significantly higher scores in 21st century skills. These results were supported by student's self-assessment of their learning growth. Our study suggests authentic science research mentor programmes are pedagogically advantageous for Year 10 high achieving rural students. Educators' willingness to embrace these innovative approaches has the potential to produce the next generation of scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the experiences of eight African refugees resettled in regional Australia. Informed by the notion/idea of intersectionality and others, this study utilised interviews to capture the role of gender, culture, contextual realities of Australia and the participants' family relations to analyse experiences of gender conflict. The study found that among other things, financial pressures, self-development and differences in power relations contributed to conflict and sometimes separation of couples. The article argues that this gendered experience of the participants both empowers and disempowers, and that social workers need to be aware of these tensions and use advocacy to improve clients' living realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian public school teachers work some of the longest weekly hours among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, particularly in the state of New South Wales where average hours are officially in, or near, the statistical category of 'very long working hours'. These reports of a high workload have occurred alongside recent policy moves that seek to devolve responsibility for schooling, augmenting teacher and school-level accountability. This article explores changes in work demands experienced by New South Wales teachers. As part of a larger project on schools as workplaces, we examine teaching professionals' views through interviews with teacher union representatives. Consistent with a model of work intensification, workload increases were almost universally reported, primarily in relation to 'paperwork' requirements. However, differences in the nature of intensification were evident when data were disaggregated according to socio-educational advantage, level of schooling (primary or secondary) and location. The distinct patterns of work intensification that emerge reflect each school's relative advantage or disadvantage within the school marketplace, influenced by broader neoliberal reforms occurring within the state and nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Comments on the inclusion of abstracts from the Australasian Society of Cardiovascular Perfusionist annual scientific meeting in Sidney, New South Wales. Collaboration between the organization and the periodical 'Perfusion'; Article on ultrafiltration in pediatric cardiac surgical practice.

Aims: To describe the perceived experiences of stigma and discrimination among people living with severe and persistent mental illness in assertive community treatment (ACT teams) settings in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Methods: The Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC) was used in this cross-sectional study with people living with severe and persistent mental illness. The DISC is a reliable and valid, quantitative and qualitative instrument used to explore and measure levels of negative, anticipated and positive discrimination. Relevant clinical history and socio-demographic information were also collected. Results: A total of 50 clients participated, with 40 (80%) reporting experienced negative discrimination in at least one life area. Negative discrimination was most commonly experienced in being avoided or shunned (n=25, 50%), by neighbours (n=24, 48%) and family (n=23, 46%). Anticipated discrimination was common, with half of participants (n=25, 50%) feeling the need to conceal their mental health diagnosis. Conclusion: Discrimination was highly prevalent in everyday aspects of life. While healthcare professionals often tend to increase perceived stigma and discrimination, this was only experienced in interactions with general health professionals, while interactions with ACT team members decreased perceived stigma and increased positive discrimination. This indicates that healthcare professionals potentially have a significant role in reducing stigma and discrimination in mental health and that such an effect may be optimised in an ACT team setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on topics related to health information service management. The author says that the specialist areas in health information management (HIM) include human resource management, financial management and disaster management. She states that she will be presenting a paper at the national Australian Department of Health and Aging (DOHA) conference to be held in Sydney, New South Wales.

Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are prevalent among primary school-aged children. Collaboration between speech and language therapists (SLTs) and teachers is beneficial for supporting children’s communication skills. The aim of this study was to investigate the needs of both professional groups and their preferences for service delivery when working with mainstream, primary school-aged children with SLCN. This study was undertaken within one education region in New South Wales, Australia, using a mixed-methods research design. In Phase 1, all teachers (schools n = 156) and all SLTs (n = 36) working within the region were invited to complete a questionnaire. Responses were obtained from 14 teachers and 6 SLTs. In Phase 2, a subsample of participants (n = 4) contributed to a focus group. Within the study sample, minimal collaborative practice was reportedly occurring. Teachers and SLTs expressed a desire for increased training and knowledge and more collaborative practice. Teachers and SLTs also expressed frustration at perceived systemic inadequacies with regard to funding, personnel and resources. Findings from this study suggest that change to service delivery needs to be considered at an individual, interpersonal and organizational level to enable better outcomes for children with SLCN and increased support for their families and the professionals who work with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on interview and survey data from a study of non-gay-and-lesbian-identified sex-partiers in New South Wales, Australia, to consider the ways that participants in ‘alternative’ sex sub-cultures (such as BDSM/fetish and swinging) challenge conventional understandings of heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual identity. It seeks to unpack the various meanings that ‘sexual identity’ might hold for those who are both strongly heterosexual and strongly same-sex-attracted. Drawing on queer theorists such as Sara Ahmed (2006) and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1990, 1994) and Margaret Robinson’s (2013) framework of ‘strategic identity’, it considers the ways that research participants who express strong, simultaneous affiliations with heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual identities might (productively) trouble academic research and sexual health policy frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical activity affords a host of physical and cognitive benefits for children. Physical education classes are one such venue where children can reap recommended amounts of physical activity. However, little research has explored evidence-based physical education instruction, particularly in culturally and linguistically diverse schools. No studies to date have provided recommendations for a range of educational stakeholders that serve these students. The Physical Activity in Linguistically Diverse Communities study examined the evidence-based physical education opportunities and barriers at six culturally and linguistically diverse high schools in New South Wales, Australia. This article provides implications and synthesized recommendations based on Phase One (systematic review) and Phase Two (prospective cohort study of students in six schools) of Physical Activity in Linguistically Diverse Communities for school leadership and psychologists targeting policy and practice changes on a systems level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses a study on the implementation of a care bundle in order to improve the quality of care delivered to people imminently dying in hospital. Prior to observational approach, data were extracted from inpatient files. The study suggests the possibility to integrate evidence-based care process into the care of dying through a care paradigm that is more typically reserved for critical care.

Cast in the framework of social capital theory, this research used case studies to investigate the settlement experiences of African migrants in Armidale, Tamworth and Coffs Harbour in Australia. Analysis of individual (n = 29) and one focus group interview data revealed that most migrants expressed some satisfaction with service provision in the areas of initial settlement support and the work of local community organizations. Problems still remained with regard to employment, family reunion and dealing with changes in family relations. The study concludes that there is a need to educate African migrants on mainstream Australian culture in order to enhance the migrants’ capacity to build social capital. Local governments need to make specific provisions within their policies, focusing on the settlement of migrants to address some of the gaps in services. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A low haematocrit during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is associated with adverse outcomes and often results in homologous blood transfusions. Oxygenators with improved venous reservoir designs aid in reducing the priming volume. Recently, we changed our small adult oxygenator model from the D905 EOS oxygenator (Dideco, Mirandola, Italy) to the Capiox FX1540 (Terumo Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). We conducted a retrospective study of 42 patents to evaluate the impact of the Capiox FX 1540 on blood transfusion requirements in small patients (body surface area (BSA) up to 1.8 m2). The D905 EOS group had a lower minimum intraoperative haematocrit than the FX1540 group (20 ± 3 v 22 ± 4, p = 0.029) with 73% of the patients receiving intraoperative blood transfusions compared with 30% in the FX 1540 group (p = 0.012). Patients in the D905 EOS group received one blood transfusion more during CPB than the FX 1540 patients (p = 0.002). The haematocrits at the end of CPB and in the early postoperative period were identical in both groups. The postoperative ventilation time, length of stay in the intensive care unit and postoperative chest drain bleeding were similar in both groups. In conclusion, the Capiox FX1540 was effective in reducing intraoperative packed red cell transfusions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To improve our understanding of skill requirements and skill formation, this article tracks long-term skill changes in the tiling sector of the Sydney construction industry from the 1950s to 2009. It examines how and why management changed the labour process and upgraded or degraded the skills and autonomy of employees. The late 1980s marked a dividing point in the circumstances and terms of employment for skilled tile-layers in this sector. Since then, a new component in the contractual chain has been established, that of ‘middlepersons’. Middlepersons have become the employers of tiling workers and, in contrast to prior comprehensive skilling of tiling workers, have implemented a subdivided and lower-skilled system of employment. This article reveals that management adjusts skill requirements and skill formation to the prevailing employment relations system, in this case, deploying new migrant workers to enhance profits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One measure of the impact of a high-stakes test is the attitudes that test takers hold towards it. It has been suggested that positive attitudes produce beneficial effects while real or anticipated negative experiences can result in the development of attitudes that erode confidence and potentially impact negatively on performance. This study investigated test taker attitudes by exploring the opinions, beliefs, and feelings of a group of overseas trained teachers preparing for a professional gate-keeping test, and examining correlations between attitudes and demographic and experiential factors. The participants were 105 candidates who were enrolled in a preparation course for the Professional English Assessment for Teachers. They were asked to complete a written survey questionnaire with three parts: to determine the nature of their attitude towards the test, to explore the relationship of attitudes and demographic data, and to investigate their perceptions of the sources of their attitudes. Results indicated that there was a slight predominance of negative attitudes, particularly among candidates who had unsuccessfully attempted the test. The main reported sources which correlated with a negative attitude were personal experiences and feelings as well as the impact of other people: notably teachers and other candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]