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This article calls for papers for the symposium titled "Re-assessing Employee Involvement and Participation: International Perspective" that will be held at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland, on August 15, 2012.

Cities all over the world have activated policy support for urban consolidation in recent decades. Rationales for urban consolidation focus on its perceived ability to achieve sustainability goals, including decreased automobile dependence, increased social cohesion and greater walkability. Despite this, there are few international examples of urban consolidation policy implementation that has achieved its stated aims. This paper explores the nature and character of perceptions of urban consolidation held by urban planners, developers, architects and local politicians. The perspectives held by these ‘city shapers’ are integral to urban consolidation debates and delivery, yet the nature and character of their specific views are underexplored in urban studies literature. This paper combines the theoretical lens of Social Representations Theory with the methodological approach of Q-methodology to understand the common sense understandings of urban consolidation held by city shapers in Brisbane, Australia. It identifies, synthesises and critically discusses the social representations employed by city shapers to understand, promote and communicate about urban consolidation. Findings indicate that urban consolidation debates and justifications diverge significantly from stated policy intentions and are based on differing views on ‘good’ urban form, the role of planning and community consultation and the value of higher density housing. We conclude that there is utility and value in identifying how urban consolidation strategies are influenced by the shared beliefs, myths and perceptions held by city shapers. Understanding these narratives and their influence is fundamental to understanding the power-laden manipulation of policy definitions and development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on several conferences of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), including the IFLA World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) 2008 to be held in Quebec, Canada on August 10-15, 2008, the IFLA WLIC 2009 to be held in Milan, Italy in August 2009, and the IFLA WLIC 2010 to be held in Brisbane, Australia in 2010.

This paper presents a reconstruction of the Holocene evolution of the Inskip Peninsula in SE Queensland. The peninsula links two major dune fields, the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south and K'gari (Fraser Island) to the north. Geomorphic features of this peninsula include remnant parabolic dunes, numerous beach ridges with foredunes, and a series of spits. Together these features provide insight into Holocene coastal evolution and changing marine conditions. A remnant beach ridge/foredune complex at the northern portion of Inskip may have been connected to K'gari and a river/tidal channel near Rainbow Beach township which separated it from the Cooloola Sand Mass to the south. This channel avulsed northward in the early mid-Holocene (after 8.8 ka) with spit development from the south. This was followed by a phase of beach-ridge/foredune complex development that started by ~6.7 ka. Stratigraphic evidence from the highest and best developed parabolic dunes in the northern portion of Inskip Peninsula indicates dune development from the mid-Holocene beach complex by 4.8 ka. Beach ridges with foredunes continued to prograde but notably declined in size during the late-Holocene. In the latest Holocene (<4.8 ka) many of the late-Holocene beach ridges/foredune complexes have been truncated by a re-orientation of the shoreline and longshore sediment transport has promoted the growth of the modern spit at the northern end of the peninsula. Erosive and longshore processes continue to be highly active because of tidal interactions between Great Sandy Strait and the Coral Sea. This detailed study of Inskip Peninsula's evolution aids significantly in future coastal management decisions, and provides evidence for World Heritage Area extension for the Cooloola Sand Mass, including the incorporation of Inskip Peninsula itself. It also contributes to the global understanding to coastal evolution in an area of strong wave and tidal interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines home renovators’ decision in choosing do-it-yourself (DIY) or hiring contractors. DIY may reduce financial pressure but may lead to potential domestic discord and perils of incompetence; hiring contractors may alleviate time pressures but may require more financial resource. This choice is modelled as analogous to Williamson’s corporate strategic decision between ‘outsourcing’ and ‘internalisation’ in the context of vertical integration, and extended via Richardson’s capabilities-based theory, with social reputation effect taken into account. Based on a survey of Brisbane home renovators, it is found that the Richardson’s thesis seems stronger than the Williamson’s when applied to housing renovation and that ‘trust’ issues in respect of contractors are paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to examine firearm suicide in Queensland. In 2006, statistical data were gathered from all closed paper coronial files for the 12-month period of December 2003-December 2004. Of the 567 people who committed suicide in Queensland during this period, 48 (8.5%) used firearms. The following results emerge from this data: first, gun suicides are continuing to decrease in Queensland, most likely as a function of ongoing gun controls, a decrease accompanied by a lesser increase in other methods of suicide, thereby providing little support for substitution theory; second, men continue to be more likely to shoot themselves, particularly elderly men; third, firearms are more likely to be used in rural settings, and by those with no known history of mental illness or previous suicide attempts. Finally, in spite of otherwise very high suicide rates, Aborigines rarely employ firearms, using instead the culturally significant method of hanging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates a relational framework for ‘political ecology’, based on an analysis of a controversy over the aggressive behaviour of the dingoes on Fraser Island and brought to prominence by the death of a 9-year-old tourist in 2001. In contrast to the authorities' treatment of Fraser's environment as an essentially enduring entity, readily compliant with instrumental interventions, the ‘partial perspectives’ of their local critics emphasize co-constitutive relationships between people and non-humans, including dingoes. This latter view — that the form, character and content of human activities and the world are intimately interdependent — resonates with Latour's ‘experimental metaphysics’, which is intended to achieve the ‘progressive composition’ of people and their worlds. However, while Latour's framework relies on conventional notions of knowledge at odds with these local ‘situated knowledges’, Haraway illuminates how their experiential and affective qualities ensure the ethical character of ‘progressive composition’. I call this consolidation of Latour and Haraway's ideas ‘affirmative cosmopolitics’, and briefly discuss its broader implications and resonance with Australian Aboriginal cosmology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education is central to achieving high-quality education for all students and is a recognised commitment of the Australian government under international human rights law. However, Australia's lack of commitment to move away from segregation is reflected in its persistence in maintaining and funding segregated (special) settings. Queensland led the way with the introduction of an inclusive education policy in 2018; nonetheless, this does not go far enough, as there is no commitment to diminish segregated schooling for students with disability. This lack of action works against the effective implementation of the policy. Using the Framework of Drivers for and Barriers to the Closure of Special Schools, we conducted a thematic analysis focussing on societal, systemic, school and family drivers for and barriers to educational desegregation. Our findings indicate where and why discrimination, segregation and exclusion remain strongly embedded in our society and education system. We provide recommendations for future reforms to the Disability Standards for Education in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite evidence of sub-standard working conditions and low rates of pay, drivers working on the Uber platform report varying levels of job-satisfaction. In order to better understand driver experience most research conducted to date differentiates driver experience by driver investment (time) on the platform. While this approach offers insight into driver motivations, it obfuscates key socio-political aspects of the globalised labour market; namely the precarity of many migrant workers. We present findings from a mixed methods study into migrant and non-migrant drivers on the Uber platform in Queensland, Australia. Specifically, our data illustrates key differences between migrants and non-migrants' motivations to drive, their dependency on the platform, and their sense of autonomy and agency. Our findings suggest that migrant drivers experience greater levels of job insecurity, specifically around factors of job tenure, agency, and personal safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents transcultural issues in the content, process, and group dynamics of consecutive meetings of a Balint clinical reflection group for community mental health workers at Inala, Australia. Balint work and the context and evolution of the group process are briefly described, as is the consultative research methodology. The process of a Balint group meeting is reported in detail, following the author’s consultation with group members. The collaborative work of a culturally diverse team of mental health professionals is examined in the context of discussion of a practitioner–patient relationship in which transcultural, gender, and family conflicts were the focus of affective and cognitive dissonance. For mental health workers engaging with communities of cultural diversity, Balint reflection groups can facilitate insight into cultural countertransferences that adversely affect clinical work. The group served to support the caseworkers’ engagement with patients of different cultures, and provided a safe environment for the creative consideration and exploration in fantasy of the emotional pressures and complex ethical dilemmas related to boundaries in transcultural client–practitioner relationships, including those in which open discussion would otherwise be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Daintree Rainforest is a prime attraction for Tropical North Queensland as a tourist destination. Visitation of the rainforest, specifically the Cape Tribulation section, has increased rapidly as impediments to self-drive access have been removed. This paper examines the potential for the local council to manage the volume of self-drive visitation to the Cape Tribulation region by price mechanisms. Access to the region is by river ferry only. The assessment is based on estimates of willingness to pay from a contingent valuation survey of self-drive tourists to the region, from which estimates of consumer surplus and price elasticity of demand are derived. It is concluded that increasing the price for ferry crossings could be an effective and efficient means of (a) reducing traffic volumes caused by self-drive visitors and thereby alleviating traffic- related social and environmental problems, and (b) significantly increasing the resource rent which the municipality can draw from tourism, with additional revenue from the ferry being available for the improved management of this prime tourist destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fatal shark bite of a scuba diver off the coast of Esperance in Western Australia in January 2020, followed in recent months by a further four fatalities in New South Wales and Queensland, has once again sparked debate about government policies to protect humans from potentially dangerous marine life. This debate is not new; during 2010–13 Western Australia experienced an unusually high level of human fatalities from shark bites. These events precipitated the introduction of the Western Australian Shark Hazard Mitigation Drum Line Program, a controversial and costly pre-emptive state government initiative that cost approximately $13.6 million for shark repellent responses, and the implementation of a Shark Response Unit. This research utilises official documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 1989 (Cth), together with interviews with relevant stakeholders, media reports, and public submissions to critically examine the political antecedents of a costly and flawed shark hazard mitigation program. It also provides lessons for how governments construct problems and manage marine environments and protected species. It concludes, utilising the theory of claims-making, that shark bite increases in Western Australia was a media constructed social problem, used to convince the government that a catch-and-kill policy of an internationally protected species was necessary to avert a perceived economic downturn in tourism revenue and to appease an invented public outcry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses adjustment strategies of women from the former Yugoslav Republics who have settled in Australia since 1991. The majority of these recent immigrants have been humanitarian settlers and refugees, and this has had specific implications for their adjustment strategies. In-depth interviews were conducted during 1996-97 with 52 former Yugoslavian-born women who resided in southeast Queensland. The women's assessments of their decision to immigrate resulted in three adjustment strategies: (1) loss orientation, (2) ambivalence and (3) future orientation. Described separately, this typology delineates only ideal types, but is predictive of the kinds of settlement and coping issues that are faced by individual immigrants. The adjustment strategies are primarily affected by the women's status as independent immigrants or refugees and humanitarian settlers, social capital and social constraints in the host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The public library has historically been entrusted with the design and delivery of services and programmes aimed at supporting the information literacy needs of the community-at-large. However, despite that central role little research has been devoted to understanding the ways in which public librarians, the conduit between the programme and the public, constitute the very concept (information literacy) they are delivering. This study has sought to redress that inequity by way of a phenomenographic study into the ways in which public librarians constitute information literacy. Data was collected via 20 semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with public librarians working in Queensland, Australia. The study revealed that the respondents constituted information literacy in four ways, as: intellectual process, technical skills, navigating the social world and gaining the desired result. Those findings and the attending study will help to provide a new evidence base that assists in the design and delivery of activities supporting future information literacy endeavors in the nation's public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There appear to be considerable differences in the outcomes of group string teaching programs in Queensland. Some teachers appear to be able to generate, manage, and administrate highly efficacious programs; others seem to experience difficulty transferring the knowledge and skills required for students to become successful string players. As a case study with multiple participants, this investigation set out to document the reflections of mid-career group string teachers, observe the outcomes of their programs and teaching methods, and establish a preliminary collective profile of skills, knowledge, and attributes. Key findings include a high degree of overlap in the participant profiles, and the potential for further research into undergraduate training and post-tertiary supervision of group string teachers entering the workforce. Implications of the study include the need to appraise current undergraduate programs preparing group instrumental teachers in Australia, and the necessity for developing strategies to mentor these graduates in their early teaching years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between industrial relations and productivity is contentious. It is often argued that particular industrial relations models are more or less conducive to greater productivity. However, this article, in exploring this issue through an examination of the Queensland coal industry since 2001, finds no evidence of such a link. Instead, it finds that the more employer-friendly industrial relations system that has prevailed in Queensland coal mining since 1996 has been associated with both rising (1996–2000 and 2011–2013) and falling (2001–2011) productivity. Instead, the only correlation that seems to hold true is that between the productivity and the state of the labour market. Since 1996, on every occasion that productivity rose (1996–2000 and 2011–2013), employment was falling. Conversely, when employment rose (2001–2011), productivity fell. Suggestively, rising employment was always associated with rising coal prices, while falling employment was always correlated with declining price. If there is no evidence of a link between industrial relations settings and productivity, this study nevertheless finds that a profound recasting of industrial relations has occurred in this sector. This has involved systematic attempts to circumvent not only the unionized workforce, but also, more recently, the Central Queensland coal communities themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The waste and recycling sector has been identified as a green industry and, as such, jobs within this sector may be classed as ‘green jobs’. Many governments have seen green jobs as a way of increasing employment, particularly during the global financial crisis. However, the methods used to define and quantify green jobs directly affect the quantification of these green jobs. In December 2010, Queensland introduced a waste strategy that stated intent to increase green jobs within the waste sector. This article discusses the milieu and existing issues associated with quantifying green jobs within Queensland’s waste and recycling sector, and provides a review of the survey that has sought to quantify the true size of the Queensland industry sector. This research has identified nearly 5500 jobs in Queensland’s private waste management and recycling sector, which indicates that official data do not accurately reflect the true size of the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1993, contrary to the trend towards enterprise bargaining, and despite an employment environment favouring strong managerial prerogative, a small group of employers in the Queensland commercial health and fitness industry sought industrial regulation through an industry-specific award. A range of factors, including increased competition and unscrupulous profiteers damaging the industry’s reputation, triggered the actions as a business strategy. The strategic choices of the employer group, to approach a union to initiate a consent award, are the inverse of behaviours expected under strategic choice theory. This article argues that organizational size, collective employer action, focus on industry rather than organizational outcomes and the traditional industrial relations system providing broader impacts explain their atypical behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Vegetation changes of tropical Lizard Island (Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, Australia) over the last 8000 years are derived from palaeoenvironmental analysis of a 475 cm long sediment core. During early-Holocene sea-level rise, flooding of the continental shelf and thus isolation of Lizard Island, the pollen record shows the gradual establishment of a mangrove forest paralleled by contraction of the near-coastal palm and grass-dominated vegetation. Subsequently, mid-Holocene relative environmental stability supported a diverse, Rhizophora-dominated mangrove and open, mixed sclerophyll vegetation inland. Around 6000 years ago, a profound disturbance of the mangrove is recorded by a siliciclastic layer and we hypothesise that this deposit documents the impact of a storm or cyclone. Postevent environmental conditions were strongly altered with enhanced estuarine conditions supporting a Sonneratia and Bruguiera-dominated mangrove forest. During late-Holocene sea-level fall and stabilisation, progradation and contraction of the mangrove forest was paralleled by the expansion of a palm-dominated swamp. Freshwater taxa continued to dominate the record, however, a distinct disturbance signal from anthropogenic activity is recorded in the last century. Although Sonneratia dominated the post-event mangrove, late-Holocene environmental instability led to the extinction of this genus on the island. Local environmental changes in the freshwater swamp and rainforest also led to the loss of Arenga and Ilex from the island’s ecosystems. Our record implies that long-term ecosystem and biodiversity change on Lizard Island is: (a) primarily reflected in the spatial extent of the island’s vegetation communities and the species dominance within them and (b) driven by an interplay between climate, sea-level and potentially human activity. In addition, a short-term impact provoked the reconfiguration of the mangrove, potentially causing long-term ecosystem instability and thus impacting on mangrove biodiversity development on the Great Barrier Reef islands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In support of the call for international comparative analysis of commercial structure due to globalisation of commercial services, this study investigates the locational dynamics of shopping centres in Denver, USA, and Brisbane, Australia. The analysis is led by two dimensions: the centripetal and centrifugal forces for commercial activity movement and the newer-bigger-farther away hypothesis for shopping centre development. The analysis reveals several interesting similarities and dissimilarities in the shopping centre locational dynamics in Denver and Brisbane. Among the major dissimilarities is Brisbane’s ability to keep many of its central-city shopping centres from suburbanising and Denver’s inability to do so. Reasons for this dissimilarity include different shopping centre development policy and property ownership patterns in the two cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the past decade, issues concerning Islam and Muslims have featured prominently in public and media discourse. Much of this discourse is stereotypical, anecdotal and often unsubstantiated. Indeed, relative to the extent of comment on Islam and Muslims, few factual data exist on what Muslims really think. This article presents the views and opinions of the Queensland Muslim community based on the findings of a survey conducted at the 2009 Muslim Eid Festival in Brisbane. The findings of this research contradict many of the assumptions made about Australia’s Muslims concerning their views and opinions on a range of social and political issues. The research shows that Muslims highly value Australia’s key social and political institutions, including its democracy, judiciary, education and health-care systems. However, Muslims do express a lack of trust in certain institutions, namely the mass media. Also, consistent with the views of people globally, Muslims are deeply concerned about conflicts in the Middle East as well as the environmental crisis. This article suggests the need for a shift in public discourse to more accurately reflect the commonality, rather than incongruity, between Muslim views, opinions and concerns and those of the wider society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from three different home waste treatment methods in Brisbane, Australia. Gas samples were taken monthly from 34 backyard composting bins from January to April 2009. Averaged over the study period, the aerobic composting bins released lower amounts of CH4 (2.2 mg m- 2 h-1) than the anaerobic digestion bins (9.5 mg m-2 h-1) and the vermicomposting bins (4.8 mg m-2 h -1). The vermicomposting bins had lower N2O emission rates (1.2 mg m-2 h- 1) than the others (1.5—1.6 mg m-2 h -1). Total GHG emissions including both N2O and CH4 were 463, 504 and 694 mg CO2-e m- 2 h-1 for vermicomposting, aerobic composting and anaerobic digestion, respectively, with N2O contributing >80% in the total budget. The GHG emissions varied substantially with time and were regulated by temperature, moisture content and the waste properties, indicating the potential to mitigate GHG emission through proper management of the composting systems. In comparison with other mainstream municipal waste management options including centralized composting and anaerobic digestion facilities, landfilling and incineration, home composting has the potential to reduce GHG emissions through both lower on-site emissions and the minimal need for transportation and processing. On account of the lower cost, the present results suggest that home composting provides an effective and feasible supplementary waste management method to a centralized facility in particular for cities with lower population density such as the Australian cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In light of declining trade union density, specifically among young workers, this article explores how trade unions recruit, service and organize young people. Our focus is the way in which trade unions market their services to the young. We use, as a lens of analysis, the services and social marketing literature and the concept of an 'unsought, experience good' to explore trade union strategy. Based on interviews with a number of union officials in the state of Queensland, it is clear that unions see the issue of recruitment of young people as significant, and that innovative strategies are being used in at least some unions. However, the research also indicates that despite union awareness, strategies are uneven and resource allocation is patchy. While the research was carried out in one state, the results and conclusion are broadly applicable to the Australian labour movement as a whole, and have implications for union movements in other Anglophone countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a large body of literature has addressed many of the issues relating to flexible working from both a supply and demand perspective, less attention has focused on situations where these two positions conflict. This research explores a secondary, qualitative data set consisting of over 200 cases of alleged family responsibilities discrimination reported to a community advocacy organization in Brisbane, Australia. Findings indicate that discord in the work environment occurs in relation to (r) requests for part-time work; (z) altered duties during or after maternity leave; (3) requests for changes to rostered work hours; (4) having to take leave to care for sick children; and (5) opportunities for recruitment or promotion. Direct family responsibilities discrimination was evident in only six cases, while the remainder were indirect. A small number of cases were formally lodged for redress although financial compensation was limited. Economic factors such as a shrinking labour force highlight the importance of finding solutions to situations where business imperatives and the well-being of families collide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight, multicentury, Porites coral cores were used to develop a 373-year chronology by cross-dating techniques adapted from dendrochronology. Characteristic patterns of distinct luminescent lines within the coral skeletons were matched between coral cores from inshore and mid-shelf reefs in the central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Skeleton-plots of luminescent banding were produced for each core and combined into a master chronology back to AD 1615. In addition to improving dating control, the luminescence master chronology provides a proxy for Burdekin River runoff and Queensland summer rainfall. Variations in the magnitude of the correlation between the luminescence master and the Mann et al. (2000) NINO3 sea-surface temperature reconstruction provides insights into the long-term stability of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections. Burdekin River runoff was significantly inversely related to ENSO variability for much of the period from the AD 1650s to 1800, suggesting that ENSO-related teleconnections were as dominant then as in recent decades. The extremely dry mid-1760s to mid-1780s stand out as a period of anomalously positive correlation between river runoff and the NINO3 reconstruction. Weak ENSO teleconnections are apparent from the 1800s to 1870s, when conditions were possibly similar to those reported for the 1920s-1950s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports the results of a descriptive study conducted in Brisbane, the administrative capital of Queensland, Australia. Between December 1996 and July 1997, 139 Thai women completed a structured questionnaire to collect information on their general physical and psycho-logical health, current diseases, the impact of these on daily activities, their use of health services, changes in social, reproductive and physical health, and social and demographic characteristics. Of these women, 17 also partici-pated in in-depth interviews with the first author, which provided further information regarding women s own opinions and experiences of immi-gration and health. Mental health emerged as an important issue. Women described the feeling of sadness (mai sa bai jai) when being interviewed. Inability to communicate effectively in English and inability to gain employ-ment were identified as important factors influencing psychological well-being. Lack of support and limitations in their relationships with families and friends, and limited options for information through informal social networks, affected their ability to address psychological problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive, long-lived corals in inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef contain yellow-green fluorescent bands. These bands are due to terrestrial humic and fulvic compounds incorporated into the coral skeleton during high river flow events. Fluorescence measurements are presented for two colonies of Porites spp. from locations in the path of the Burdekin River floodwaters - the major river in north Queensland draining into the Coral Sea. The records extend from AD 1737 to 1980 and 1644 to 1986, respectively. The two independent coral records show a high degree of similarity. The two series are combined and used to reconstruct Burdekin River runoff for the period AD 1655 to 1980. The regression model accounts for 83% of the annual (water year) variability of Burdekin River flow and is verified over independent data. The 337-year reconstruction thus increases by threefold the length of record for considering interannual to decadal climate variations in northeast Australia. Instrumental and reconstructed Burdekin River runoff are closely related to an index of summer monsoon rainfall in Queensland. Thus, the reconstruction provides insights into the behaviour over the past three centuries of both a major tropical river system and the highly variable summer monsoon rainfall in northeast Australia. The reconstructed series shows wetter conditions (higher runoff) in the lae-seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries and in the late-nineteenth century. Drier conditions (lower runoff) are reconstructed in the late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries and in the mid-twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]