An examination of the sentencing remarks of Indigenous and non-Indigenous criminal defendants in South Australia’s Higher Courts

Recent Australian research on Indigenous sentencing primarily explores whether disparities in sentencing outcomes exist. Little is known about how judges perceive or refer to Indigenous defendants and their histories, and how they interpret the circumstances of Indigenous defendants in justifying their sentencing decisions. Drawing on the ‘focal concerns’ approach, this study presents a narrative analysis of a sample of judges’ sentencing remarks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous criminal defendants convicted in South Australia’s Higher Courts. The analysis found that the sentencing stories of Indigenous and non-Indigenous offenders differed in ways that possibly reduced assessments of blameworthiness and risk for Indigenous defendants.

The modern movement architecture of four South African cities

South Africa's modern architecture is not confined to the cities, but the ideas of the movement were mostly disseminated by architects and academics in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town, its four major urban centres. The lay out of significant areas of each city was also influenced by international modernist plans. In outlining the achievements and innovative designs of architects in these cities between the 1930s and 1970s, this article draws a picture of the importance of modernism in South African urban space, and of its diversity. It also draws attention to the political nature of the South African landscape and space, where modernist design was used for racial purposes, and to past and present conservation ideologies. The second part of the article concerns the conservation of modern buildings in these centres; it quotes bibliographies and lists the registers, those existing or under construction. It concludes with an overview of the conservation legislation in place and the challenges of conservation in a context of changing cultural values.

Dynamic analysis of on-board mass data to determine tampering in heavy vehicle on-board mass systems

Transport Certification Australia Limited, jointly with the National Transport Commission, has undertaken a project to investigate the feasibility of on-board mass monitoring (OBM) devices for regulatory purposes. OBM increases jurisdictional confidence in operational heavy vehicle compliance. This paper covers technical issues regarding potential use of dynamic data from OBM systems to indicate that tampering has occurred. Tamper-evidence and accuracy of current OBM systems needed to be determined before any regulatory schemes were put in place for its use. Tests performed to determine potential for, and ease of, tampering. An algorithm was developed to detect tamper events. Its results are detailed.

Thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometry (TG-MS) of selected Chinese kaolinites

Thermogravimetric analysis-mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize eight kaolinite samples from China. The results show that the thermal decomposition occurs in three main steps (a) desorption of water below 100 °C, (b) dehydration at about 225 °C, (c) well defined dehydroxylation at around 450 °C. It is also found that decarbonization took place at 710 °C due to the decomposition of calcite impurity in kaolin. The temperature of dehydroxylation of kaolinite is found to be influenced by the degree of disorder of the kaolinite structure and the gases evolved in the decomposition process can be various because of the different amount and kinds of impurities. It is evident by the mass spectra that the interlayer carbonate from impurity of calcite and organic carbon is released as CO2 around 225, 350 and 710 °C in the kaolinite samples.

Static accuracy and precision of heavy vehicle on-board mass systems

Objective • Feasibility programme for on-board mass (OBM) monitoring of heavy vehicles (HVs) • Australian road authorities through Transport Certification Australia (TCA) • Accuracy of contemporary, commercially-available OBM units in Australia • Results need to be addressed/incorporated into specifications for Stage 2 of Intelligent Access Program (IAP) by Transport Certification Australia

The inherent equitable jurisdiction and the plenary power of the Supreme Court of New South Wales to order the winding up of companies

Not all companies in Australia are amenable to a winding up order pursuant to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The Supreme Court of New South Wales has previously dealt with such winding up applications by apparently focusing on the inherent jurisdiction of the court to consider whether the court has jurisdiction to firstly consider the winding up application. This article proposes an original alternative paradigm: the plenary power provided to the court by s 23 of the Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW) can be utilised to initially attract the jurisdiction of the court and subsequently the inherent jurisdiction specifically utilising the equitable “just and equitable” ground is available to the court to consider and make such a winding up order if appropriate. Variation of such a paradigm may also be available to the court when considering the inherent jurisdiction in relation to corporation matters more generally.

Sex and sentencing disparity in South Australia’s higher courts

In Australia, studies examining sex differences in sentencing are limited. Using data from South Australia’s higher courts, this article explores a study on the impact of sex on the decision to imprison and the length of imprisonment. After adjusting for past and current criminality, results showed that men were significantly more likely than women to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment and that when sentence length was decided, men received longer periods of incarceration. Furthermore, the study’s results suggest that different factors may be important in determining sentencing outcomes for women and men.

Effect of poly(acrylic acid) molecular mass and end-group functionality on calcium oxalate crystal morphology and growth

A number of series of poly(acrylic acids) (PAA) of differing end-groups and molecular mass were used to study the inhibition of calcium oxalate crystallization. The effects of the end-group on crystal speciation and morphology were significant and dramatic, with hexyl-isobutyrate end groups giving preferential formation of calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD) rather than the more stable calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM), while both more hydrophobic end-groups and less-hydrophobic end groups led predominantly to formation of the least thermodynamically stable form of calcium oxalate, calcium oxalate trihydrate. Conversely, molecular mass had little impact on calcium oxalate speciation or crystal morphology. It is probable that the observed effects are related to the rate of desorption of the PAA moiety from the crystal (lite) surfaces and that the results point to a major role for end-group as well as molecular mass in controlling desorption rate.

Birthing practices of traditional birth attendants in south Asia in the context of training programmes

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training has been an important component of public health policy interventions to improve maternal and child health in developing countries since the 1970s. More recently, since the 1990s, the TBA training strategy has been increasingly seen as irrelevant, ineffective or, on the whole, a failure due to evidence that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in developing countries had not reduced. Although, worldwide data show that, by choice or out of necessity, 47 percent of births in the developing world are assisted by TBAs and/or family members, funding for TBA training has been reduced and moved to providing skilled birth attendants for all births. Any shift in policy needs to be supported by appropriate evidence on TBA roles in providing maternal and infant health care service and effectiveness of the training programmes. This article reviews literature on the characteristics and role of TBAs in South Asia with an emphasis on India. The aim was to assess the contribution of TBAs in providing maternal and infant health care service at different stages of pregnancy and after-delivery and birthing practices adopted in home births. The review of role revealed that apart from TBAs, there are various other people in the community also involved in making decisions about the welfare and health of the birthing mother and new born baby. However, TBAs have changing, localised but nonetheless significant roles in delivery, postnatal and infant care in India. Certain traditional birthing practices such as bathing babies immediately after birth, not weighing babies after birth and not feeding with colostrum are adopted in home births as well as health institutions in India. There is therefore a thin precarious balance between the application of biomedical and traditional knowledge. Customary rituals and perceptions essentially affect practices in home and institutional births and hence training of TBAs need to be implemented in conjunction with community awareness programmes.

Measuring the success of ABC training in South Africa: A case study in the production of Western Liberal broadcast news values

In 1993 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was contracted by the Australian Government to assist in the reshaping of the South African Broadcasting Corporation from a state-run broadcaster to a respected and trusted national broadcaster for all people in the newly democratic South Africa. Broadcast journalism training was identified by ABC consultant Bob Wurth as possibly the greatest need for SABC Radio. This thesis examines the ABC's role in South Africa and the effectiveness of its radio journalism training project considering the organisational, structural, cultural and political constraints of the SABC. This thesis will show through interviews and participant observation the difficulties in achieving the production of Western Liberal journalism values at the SABC within the time constraints set by the project funded by the Australian Government and the particular South African morays.