Opportunity lost? Victorian Labor's enactment of community development 1999-2006

The idea of community development has been evoked by Australian governments over many decades. The expressions of community have differed widely, often as a result of politics rather than informed policy. In 1999, after seven years of radical neo-liberal restructuring in Victoria, the Bracks government found itself unexpectedly elected to power. They faced new challenges such as a diminished public sector, growing social inequality and climate change. The first two terms of Victorian Labor were a seminal period in terms of the role they would invoke for ‘community’. Did grass roots participation take a central place, or did rhetoric rule over substance? The evidence points to a government maintaining a neo-liberal trajectory, and thereby losing an opportunity to enable an active citizenry.

The Australian Labor Party and its various constituencies

This paper discusses whether and how the Australian Labor Party (ALP) can balance the arguably conflicting interests and outlooks of its blue-collar 'heartland' and the socially progressive, middle-class, professional elements of its constituency. The paper includes analysis, in socio-geographical detail and in historical perspective, of the results of the November 2001 national Australian election as well as opinion poll trends and academic survey results and interpretations before and since that time. Debate intensified after Labor’s 2001 election defeat about the supposedly irreconcilable character of different Labor Party constituencies. Much of this debate however was (and remains) characterised by derogatory and judgemental categorisations of various ill-defined social groups. On the eve of the 2004 national Australian election, based on careful consideration of a range of demographic and electoral evidence, this paper contends that, while there are, at times, conflicting interests and outlooks between different elements of the ALP's constituency (just as there is amid the support base of many social democratic parties in western nations), the party's electoral future will be best served by standing on and extending as far as possible the considerable common ground between these various elements. This common ground, it is argued, consists of egalitarian economic policies which promote security in people's lives and which thus build scope for the pursuit and acceptance of more compassionate, outward looking social policies. Its consolidation requires leadership by the Party in shaping public opinion rather than mere reaction to what is assumed to be static public opinion.

Putting the Australian Labor Party in international perspective

This paper assesses the Australian Labor Party's current debates over future directions with reference to attempts by the left of centre political parties in other western nations, especially in Western Europe, to deal with the end of the economic "golden age" since the early 1970s and the widespread resurgence of neo-liberal ideologies since the late 1970s. The dominant recent view of such comparisons has been through the ideological lens of the "Third Way". This vision however tends not to see relevant variations between the experiences of social democratic parties in individual Western European nations as they have sought to deal with adverse circumstances since the early 1970s. Nor does the Third Way view sufficiently extend to the widely varying background landscapes: that is, the different levels of historical achievement by left of centre parties in the different nations. Some social democratic parties in European countries are pursuing more progressive political agendas than the British Labour Party under Tony Blair and they are starting from a very different basis of policy achievement and political strength than either the British or Australian labour parties. The nature and extent of these international differences need now to be highlighted from an Australian political perspective in order to better inform the current debate about the range of options for the ALP and the current comparative condition of the Australian party system. As part of this analysis, the relationship between the erosion of the traditional blue-collar support bases of the major left of centre parties in various nations, amid economic restructuring and challenges to traditional immigration patterns, and the rise of support for anti-immigrant policies and parties, need to be carefully examined and evaluated.

Interpretation — appropriation : (making) an example of labor process theory

In this article, the author explores ethically problematic relations that may be reproduced within a genre of interpretive organizational research: namely, (U.K.) labor process theory (LPT). Although the author endorses LPT’s critical and explicitly antioppressive values, he argues that interpretive practices employed by core authors contradict the genre’s value base and function to silence and appropriate challenging empirical elements to affirm LPT’s valued interpretive schema. The author draws out deeply problematic implications of such appropriation through highlighting parallels between interpretation, appropriation, and colonization. The author ends by considering the nature of, and possibility for, more ethical “critical” interpretive organizational research.

Antioxidant vitamin supplements and markers of bone turnover in a community sample of nonsmoking women

Background: Whereas several epidemiological studies suggest that low dietary intake of vitamins C and E is linked to increased hip fracture in smokers and antioxidants (dietary and endogenous) are reduced in elderly osteoporotic women, none has demonstrated an effect of supplemental antioxidants on bone turnover.

Methods: In an observational study of 533 randomly selected women, we investigated the associations among the use of antioxidant supplements, vitamins C and E, serum levels of biochemical markers of bone turnover (C-telopeptide [CTx] and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase [BSAP]), and whole body bone mineral density (BMD).

Results: Twenty-two women were identified as current users of supplemental vitamin C or E. Duration of antioxidant supplement use was negatively associated with age-adjusted and weight-adjusted serum CTx, such that mean CTx levels (natural log transformed) were 0.022 units lower for each year of exposure. No significant differences were detected for adjusted serum BSAP or whole body BMD.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that antioxidant vitamin E or C supplements may suppress bone resorption in nonsmoking postmenopausal women. Coupling of bone formation and resorption may explain the absence of an effect on bone formation markers, given evidence of enhanced effects of antioxidants on osteoblast differentiation; this warrants further investigation. This work adds to the growing body of evidence that antioxidants may play a role in preventing osteoporosis.

Victorian Labor and the environment : a legacy to be proud of?

From October 1999 through to November 2010, Victoria was governed by Australian Labor Party (ALP) led governments. The ALP‟s defeat at the November 2010 election provides the opportunity to take stock of their policy achievements in the environmental domain, with a particular focus on how the concept of sustainability was considered in the strategic directions pursued and policy and institutional reforms introduced. In assessing their performance, the context within which the ALP governed is considered, an account of the policy trajectory of their three terms in government provided, and the adequacy of this trajectory assessed. While the analysis is focused on Victoria, the lessons drawn may have wider relevance.