Challenging the dominant discourses of the state aid debate

The state aid debate is one of the longest running and most intractable issues in the public policy sphere in Australia. Recent decisions by the Commonwealth government to increase funding to private schools has reignited the debate. But the traditional defences of public education have proved inadequate to the task of hanging the course of current neo-liberal education policy trajectories. As the percentage of students attending private schools continues to grow, and as the spectre of a residualised public education system looms larger, so the need to rethink Australian public education becomes a more urgent project. In this paper we analyse what is happening and why; identify a range of concerns from the standpoint of a social democratic educational agenda; and theorise some possible strategies which might be pursued by those committed to a vibrant public schooling
system in Australia.

From the private to the public : a pilgrimage of symbols and metaphors

The marks and imagery that visual artists use to form images often consist of, or incorporate, elements of a visual symbolic language. When the artist's personal set of symbols aligns with that of the society in which the artist works it would be anticipated that the works produced could be readily interpreted and appreciated by that audience or society.

Narrative analysis of female student 'resistance' in a Japanese private university

The thesis points to the emergence of a series of distinctive tensions which were informed by the author's position as a Western male researcher living in Japan, and the changing perceptions of what occured as notions of 'empowerment' and 'voice' touched the 'grounded' data. It argues that the generative narrative(s) constitutes a form of ongoing 'conversation' which succeed in producing an unstructured reading or pedagogy. Although the research does not achieve tangible liberatory outcomes, the generative narrative(s) provides the lens through which to view the student 'resistance' and, as such, permits the examination of an instance of student 'resistance' in Japan.

Intention to claim a Medicare rebate among women receiving private Victorian pregnancy termination service

Objectives: To determine the proportion of women who have pregnancy terminations as private patients in Victoria who do not intend to claim a procedure fee rebate from Medicare, to compare characteristics of women who intend to submit a Medicare claim with those who do not and to compare the findings to the results from a similar study conducted in NSW in 1992.

Design, setting and participants: This was a cross-sectional observational study over a 12-week period. Women having a pregnancy termination service in eight large Victorian private clinics were invited to complete a brief written questionnaire.

Outcome measurer: The proportion of women who did not have a Medicare card or who had a Medicare card but did not intend to use it to claim from Medicare.

Results: Of the 1,329 women who responded, 13.1% either did not have a Medicare card or did not intend to use their card to claim a Medicare rebate. A further 20.7% of respondents were not sure about whether they would submit a claim. Women who intended to claim a Medicare rebate were different from women who did not according to age, language spoken at home, residency, citizenship and distance travelled to the service. These results are very similar to the findings from the 1992 NSW study.

Conclusion: Between 13.1% and 33.8% of private Victorian pregnancy terminations were estimated to not be recorded at the Health Insurance Commission. Health Insurance Commission records of Medicare rebate claims for pregnancy terminations are an incomplete and somewhat biased record of the services that are provided and are likely to have been so for some time.

Travel undertaken by women accessing private Victorian pregnancy termination services

Objective: To investigate the extent and cost of travel undertaken by women accessing Victorian termination of pregnancy services.

Design, setting and participants: This was a multi-centre, cross-sectional observational study of women receiving privately funded pregnancy termination services, conducted between November 2002 and June 2003 at eight major pregnancy termination service providers in Victoria.

Main outcome measures: Distance travelled, money and time expended undertaking travel, and reasons women chose particular clinics.

Results: Of the 1,244 Australian resident respondents who resided in Victoria, 9.3% travelled more than 100 km to access services. Teenagers were 2.5 times more likely than other respondents to travel further than 100 kilometres (km) (18.2% compared with 7.8%, OR=2.5, 95% CI 1.5-4.2, p<0.001). Women originated from all Australian States and Territories except South Australia and 13.7% were from Statistical Divisions other than Melbourne. More than one-third of respondents (41.3%) chose their clinic because they were referred by a doctor or general practitioner.

Conclusion: Many pregnancy termination patients face substantial and immediate costs beyond the service fee, as well as the diffculties associated with poor continuity of care and signifcant time away from home. Patients and service providers should be consulted further to determine appropriate clinical services, support services and subsidy schemes for the sizeable proportion of patients who undertake long-distance travel to access pregnancy termination services.

Risk allocation in public-private partnership projects

Both the increasing private participation in public projects and the critical importance of appropriate risk allocation to the success of public-private partnership (PPP) projects justify specific research on the risk allocation practice in PPP projects, particularly whether the practice is value-for-money driven. In this paper, the risk allocation in construction projects is examined firstly. The risks associated with PPP projects and the concept of optimal risk allocation are then reviewed. More importantly, the risk allocation practice in PPP projects is examined, particularly in the Australian context. Important issues, such as the current practice, the governments' accountability, and achieving efficient allocation, are discussed. The discussion presented in this paper is expected to justify and elicit further research on how to achieve efficient risk allocation in PPP projects

Perceptions of representatives of public, private, and community sector institutions of the barriers and enablers for physically active transport

Active transport bridges many shared concerns in the public health and transport sectors. To positively affect opportunities for active transport, public health and transport professionals are engaging with other sectors, including urban planning, housing, recreation, retail, education, and employer groups. A first step in such inter-sectoral collaboration is to understand the perceptions of key players in all of these sectors. This paper describes the results of structured interviews with senior and middle-level administrators from public, private, and community groups in a rapidly developing region in Queensland, Australia, to assess the perceived barriers and enablers to active transport. Key themes emerged relating to infrastructure delivery, public transport services, walk- and cycle-friendly community attributes, political leadership and government coordination, and societal travel norms and culture. There were also themes relating to limits due to resources and limited relevant technical expertise, institutional and practitioner cultures, and agencies not identifying with their roles in active transport. Policies and cross-government initiatives were seen to hold promise, including economic incentives and built environment guidelines, campaigns targeting public attitudes and opinions, and community participation in policy-making. These elements are potential keys to positively promoting comprehensive active transport initiatives among gatekeepers and leaders across different sectors.

A comparison of business ethics commitment in private and public sector orgnaizations in Sweden

This paper reports the results of a study of the top 500 private sector organizations and the top 100 public sector organizations in Sweden. It is a replication of the study by Svensson et al. (2004). The aim of the study was to describe and compare the business ethics commitment of organizations across the two sectors. The empirical findings indicate that the processes involved in business ethics commitment have begun to be recognized and acted upon at an organizational level in Sweden. Some support is provided to show that codes of ethics are developing in some of Sweden’s largest private and public sector organizations – although this is happening to a lesser extent in the public sector. It is noted that an effect of a code of ethics on the bottom line of the business was acknowledged by respondents in both private and public sector organizations. We believe that the supporting measures of business ethics commitment appear to be underutilized in both private and public sector organizations in Sweden (among those that possess codes of ethics), thus indicating that the commitment to business ethics in Swedish organizations has potential for future development.

Measurement and structural properties of organizational codes of ethics in private and public Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the measurement and structural properties in a model of organizational codes of ethics (OCE) in Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach – The measurement and structural properties of four OCE constructs (i.e. surveillance/training, internal communication, external communication, and guidance) were described and tested in a dual sample based upon private and public sectors of Sweden.

Findings – Results show that the measurement and structural models of OCE in part have a satisfactory fit, validity, and reliability.

Research limitations/implications – The paper makes a contribution to theory as it outlines a set of OCE constructs and it presents an empirical test of and OCE model in respect to measurement and structural properties. A number of research limitations are provided.

Practical implications – It provides a model to be considered in the implementation and monitoring of OCE. The present research provides opportunities for further research in refining, extending, and testing the proposed OCE model in other cultural and organizational settings.

Originality/value – The OCE model extends previous studies that have been predominately descriptive, by using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.