Analysis of outsourcing in the Victorian public health sector

The research has uncovered a major reason for outsourcing in this sector as a desire to improve middle management, specifically their skill levels and familiarity with new operating procedures. Outsourcing negative outcomes were the result of decision-makers not considering the length of relationships between parties and the lack of information available to monitor quality and other contractual terms. Outsourcing has been performed for various reasons, but rarely have decision-makers considered the full range of factors that may potentially affect the optimal nature of the decision, or the organisational characteristics of their workplaces.

'Build it, fill it and bill it' : how work in the public housing sector has changed (and stayed the same)

This paper is an ethnographic account of how 'wicked' (i.e. entrenched and enduring) problems with the 'building, filling and billing' of public housing have shaped and influenced the work of public housing workers in Victoria, Australia. With a few exceptions, the front line work of housing staff is represented in the literature as smaller, constituent parts of some larger policy process, organisational event or procedural reform. In order to understand how housing work has been constructed over time, this paper attempts to consolidate these fragmented narratives (contained in old documents, training manuals, news articles and reports) into an historical account of 'what it was like' to work in the public/social housing sector. In this paper, I will construct this 'historical account' with the stories I gathered over twelve months of field work in three different public housing offices. In their stories, public housing workers tell me how subtle and incremental has been the change to their work, how increasingly complex are the needs of tenants and how dfficult their work has become. Their stories illustrate the complexity of undersdanding and addressing these 'wicked' housing problems when tenants change, staff change and
the public housing sector has a history of frequent 'restructuring'. This contextualisation of 'old and new stories' will allow the reader to understand how the organisational reality of present day housing work has been socially constructed ('sedimented') by generation, of workers, managers and tenants.

Exploring critical factors for achieving successful risk allocation in public-private partnership projects

Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as a procurement mechanism for infrastructure projects is becoming increasingly common. This is principally due to the value for money opportunities it offers the public sector sponsors. This value for money is primarily achieved through the optimisation of the allocation of risk inherent in the project being transferred from the public sector sponsors onto private sector bidders. This paper analyses the influence that these factors have on successful risk allocation with the aim of providing clearer parameters for optimal risk allocation in PPP projects. Through an extensive review of existing literature, the critical success factors for optimal risk allocation in PPP projects are identified. It is found that the optimisation of risk allocation in PPP projects is critically influenced by the identified factors, which will undoubtedly aid in the successful outcome for future PPP projects.

Restructuring the architecture of state regulation in the Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand cleaning industries and the growth of precarious employment

This paper examines changes in the commercial cleaning industry in Australasia which are occurring against a backdrop of significant transformation in the mode of labour market regulation in both countries. Specifically, whereas for most of the twentieth century both Aotearoa/New Zealand and Australia had systems of labour market regulation in which the state provided minimum wage and work protections through the interventions of arbitration courts, in the past few years these courts have either been abolished (in the case of New Zealand) or severely restricted in their ambit (in the case of Australia), all as part of a neoliberal effort to introduce “flexibility” into labour markets. The result has been an erosion of wages and a worsening of conditions of employment for cleaners and many other groups of workers. At the same time, this transformation in the architecture of labour market regulation poses significant challenges to unions seeking to represent cleaners and other low-paid service sector workers.

The epidemiology of giardiasis in New Zealand, 1997-2006

Aims New Zealand has a higher incidence rate of giardiasis than other developed countries. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of this disease in detail and to identify potential risk factors.

Methods We analysed anonymous giardiasis notification (1997–2006) and hospitalisation data (1990–2006). Cases were designated as urban or rural and assigned a deprivation level based on their home address. Association between disease rates and animal density was studied using a simple linear regression model, at the territorial authority (TA) level.

Results Over the 10-year period 1997–2006 the average annual rate of notified giardiasis was 44.1 cases per 100,000 population. The number of hospitalisations was equivalent to 1.7% of the notified cases. There were 2 reported fatalities. The annual incidence of notified cases declined over this period whereas hospitalisations remained fairly constant. Giardiasis showed little seasonality. The highest rates were among children 0–9 years old, those 30–39 years old, Europeans, and those living in low deprivation areas. Notification rates were slightly higher in rural areas. The correlation between giardiasis and farm animal density was not significant at the TA level.

Conclusions The public health importance of giardiasis to New Zealand mainly comes from its relatively high rates in this country. The distribution of cases is consistent with largely anthroponotic (human) reservoirs, with a relatively small contribution from zoonotic sources in rural environments and a modest contribution from overseas travel. Prevention efforts could include continuing efforts to improve hand washing, nappy handling, and other hygiene measures and travel health advice relating to enteric infections.

Positive association between ambient temperature and salmonellosis notifications in New Zealand, 1965-2006

Objective: To investigate the temporal relationship between the monthly count of salmonellosis notifications and the monthly average temperature in New Zealand during the period 1965–2006.

Methods: A negative binomial regression model was used to analyse monthly average ambient temperature and salmonellosis notifications in New Zealand between 1965 and 2006.

Results: A 1°C increase in monthly average ambient temperature was associated with a 15% increase in salmonellosis notifications within the same month (IRR 1.15; 95% CI 1.07 – 1.24).

Conclusion: The positive association found in this study between temperature and salmonellosis notifications in New Zealand is consistent with the results of studies conducted in other countries. New Zealand is projected to experience an increase in temperature due to climate change. Therefore, all other things being equal, climate change could increase salmonellosis notifications in New Zealand.

Implications: This association between temperature and salmonellosis should be considered when developing public health plans and climate change adaptation policies. Strategically, existing food safety programs to prevent salmonellosis could be intensified during warmer periods. As the association was strongest within the same month, focusing on improving food handling and storage during this time period may assist in climate change adaptation in New Zealand.

Australia, New Zealand and cultural diplomacy in the Cold War : an unanticipated consequence of the Colombo Plan

Considers the part planned, part accidental ventures in public diplomcy by Australia and New Zealand during the 1950s and 1960s, resulting from membership of the Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia.

Identifying attributes contributing to environmental sustainability of public-private partnership infrastructure projects

Due to increasing demands for new infrastructure and an aim to reduce initial public investment, Australian government agencies are increasingly using public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a form of delivery for infrastructure projects. Environmentally, there is growing pressure for the building industry in general to become more sustainable. Moreover, as the built environment continues to grow each year, the performance of buildings as a whole will need to continually improve purely for national energy consumption to remain stable. Based on a systematic and extensive review on relevant literature, this paper has identified the key attributes that will influence the environmental sustainability of infrastructure completed through a PPP. The key attributes are grouped into five groups defined by whom or what has the majority of control over the attribute. Meanwhile, the key attributes are explored and their influence on environmental sustainability justified. This paper was able to not only identify significant factors involved in creating environmental sustainability in infrastructure PPPs, but also trends of the key attributes. It has been found that (1) the longevity of the contract in a PPP project allows greater innovation into environmental sustainability than traditional methods of procurement, (2) innovation is a requirement for the improving upon environmental performance in the built environment, (3) improvements to environmental sustainability relies upon a positive relationship between economic and environmental benefits, and (4) the key attributes for PPP projects are decided upon relatively early in the contract. Due to space limit, detailed discussion on each of the identified attributes is not provided in this paper. Nonetheless, further research direction is discussed.

Vitamin D and health in pregnancy, infants, children and adolescents in Australia and New Zealand: a position statement.

The recommended level for serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in infants,  children,  dolescents and during pregnancy and lactation is ≥ 50 nmol/L. This level may need to be 10-20 nmol/L higher at the end of summer to maintain levels ≥ 50 nmol/L over winter and spring. • Sunlight is the most important source of vitamin D. The US recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D is 600 IU daily in children aged over 12 months and during pregnancy and lactation, assuming minimal sun exposure. • Risk factors for low vitamin D are: lack of skin exposure to sunlight, dark skin, southerly latitude, conditions affecting vitamin D metabolism and storage (including obesity) and, for infants, being born to a mother with low vitamin D and exclusive breastfeeding combined with at least one other risk factor. • Targeted measurement of 25(OH)D levels is recommended for infants, children and adolescents with at least one risk factor for low vitamin D and for pregnant women with at least one risk factor for low vitamin D at the first antenatal visit. • Vitamin D deficiency can be treated with daily low-dose vitamin D supplements, although barriers to adherence have been identified. High-dose intermittent vitamin D can be used in children and adolescents. Treatment should be paired with health education and advice about sensible sun exposure. Infants at risk of low vitamin D should be supplemented with 400 IU vitamin D₃ daily for at least the first year of life. • There is increasing evidence of an association between low vitamin D and a range of non-bone health outcomes, however there is a lack of data from robust randomised controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation.

Law, governance and risk: deconstructing the public-private divide in climate change adaptation

The article focuses on the public–private divide in law and which organizes principles for and governance. It analyzes the governance model of public–private divide regarding for climate change adaptation in context to a case study of water governance and flood risk. It compares the relationship between state and individual laws which helps in policy setting.

A governance of denial: hate crime in New Zealand and Australia

In Australia and New Zealand, the strategies employed by governments to remedy prejudice, intolerance and hatred occur on a continuum; ranging from global mission statements about multiculturalism/ biculturalism, through to the enactment of civil anti-discrimination and anti-vilification legislation. In some jurisdictions, these civil remedies have been extended to criminal codes and sentencing legislation, and enshrined in human rights charters. In the place of a comprehensive outline of each of the nine jurisdictions, case studies from throughout the region are presented as exemplars of the strategies employed and barriers faced in reducing prejudice-related violence.

The differences between the Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions belies a common theme that frames the delay in developing legislative responses to hate crime and the paucity of cases to reach the point at which they begin to establish an agreed set of norms and values about the abhorrence of prejudice and hatred. At most turns—whether political or public rhetoric, or legislative and policy development - there is a frontier denial, minimisation and negation of prejudice and hatred.

Virtual worlds in Australian and New Zealand higher education: Remembering the past, understanding the present and imagining the future

3D virtual reality, including the current generation of multi-user virtual worlds, has had a long history of use in education and training, and it experienced a surge of renewed interest with the advent of Second Life in 2003. What followed shortly after were several years marked by considerable hype around the use of virtual worlds for teaching, learning and research in higher education. For the moment, uptake of the technology seems to have plateaued, with academics either maintaining the status quo and continuing to use virtual worlds as they have previously done or choosing to opt out altogether. This paper presents a brief review of the use of virtual worlds in the Australian and New Zealand higher education sector in the past and reports on its use in the sector at the present time, based on input from members of the Australian and New Zealand Virtual Worlds Working Group. It then adopts a forward-looking perspective amid the current climate of uncertainty, musing on future directions and offering suggestions for potential new applications in light of recent technological developments and innovations in the area.

Developing IT professionals in New Zealand using project-based learning

The thesis shows that students gained skills required for entry to a career in IT, there was no direct involvement by the IT sector to link these skills to professional practice. This thesis suggests a holistic model for sector engagement, from secondary education through tertiary to graduate placement and employment.