Low allozyme variation in snapper, Pagrus auratus, in Victoria, Australia

The population genetic structure of snapper, Pagrus auratus (Bloch and Schneider), in Victoria was investigated using six polymorphic allozyme loci. Fish were sampled from four sites in Victoria and single locations in South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand. Although there were distinct genetic differences between the snapper populations from each of the Australian states and New Zealand, only minor and largely insignificant differences were detected among Victorian populations. The results are consistent with previous genetic and tagging studies that indicate no mixing between snapper stocks in Victoria and Spencer Gulf in South Australia. This justifies separate management of the snapper fisheries in these regions. The low levels of polymorphism and heterozygosity in Victorian snapper suggest an isolation by distance model of population structure rather than one of discrete subpopulations.

Who is `us`? Students negotiating discourses of racism and national identification in Australia

This article explores the political beliefs and the forms of reasoning about racism, national identity and Other developed by young Australian women and men from different ethnic and class backgrounds. The interviews on which the discussion is based are drawn from a larger longitudinal study of Australian secondary school students which examines how young people develop their sense of self and social values over time. The present article has two overall purposes: to add to understandings of how the cultural logic of racism functions in one national setting, and to consider political reasoning about race and ethnicity in relation to processes of young people's identity positioning. Three main lines of argument are developed. The first concerns students' positioning of themselves vis-a `-vis the current 'race debate' in Australia, and in relation to us as researchers, including their negotiation of the protocols for speaking about 'race' and racism. This includes consider ation of the methodological and political effects of white Anglo women asking questions about racism and ethnicity to ethnic minority students who are routinely constituted as 'Other': what blindnesses and silences continue to operate when posing questions about racism directly? A second and related focus is the range of emotional responses evoked by asking questions about racism and about an Australian politician (Pauline Hanson), who has been prominent in race debates. Third, the authors examine young people's construction of 'us and them' binaries and hierarchies of Otherness and whiteness. They argue throughout that reasoning about race, national identity and Others, and the taking up of 'political positions', is intimately linked to identity formation and to how we imagine ourselves in the present, the past and the future.

"Disturbing practices":dehumanizing asylum seekers in the refugee "Crisis" in Australia, 2001-2002

Throughout late 2001 and 2002, the Australian Government, seeking re-election, campaigned on a tough line against so-called "illegal" immigrants. Represented as "queue jumpers," "boat people," and "illegals," most of these asylum seekers came from Middle Eastern countries, and, in the main, from Afghanistan and Iraq. This paper explores the way particular representations of cultural difference were entwined in media and government attacks upon asylum seekers. In particular, it analyzes the way key government figures articulated a negative understanding of asylum seekers' family units--representing these as "foreign" or "other" to contemporary Australian standards of decency and parental responsibility. This representational regime also drew upon post-September 11 representations of Middle Eastern people, and was employed to call into question the validity of asylum-seekers' claims for refugee status. Manufactured primarily through the now notorious "children overboard" incident, these images became a central motif of the 2001 election campaign. This paper concludes by examining the way these representations of refugees as "undeserving" were paralleled by new Temporary Protection Visa regulations in Australia.

Postmodern rituals : contemporary Australia responds to Bali

AFTER BALI, OCTOBER 12, 2002, A RANGE OF PUBLIC rituals took place in Australia to remember those who had been killed in the bombing. In Melbourne, the most visible, and collective ritual was the laying of flowers by members of the public on the steps of the State Parliament building, at the highly visible apex of Bourke St. This was a much-publicized event that took place over a period of two weeks. It was a riveting and moving sight/site for many people, who left notes expressing grief and regret, promises of remembrance, and of revenge. The choice of the site, and what would happen there, was prompted by talk-back listeners to Radio 3AW's Nell Mitchell, who called in with many different suggestions as to where and why the laying of flowers should take place. This essay seeks to understand the processes and purposes of the popular, public rituals after Bali, asking who made them, what was made, and how popular--that is, open to formation by those not primarily and directly connected with the mass media and party politics--were the constructions? Further, in calling such an event a "postmodern ritual," the essay will inaugurate an analysis, through cultural studies methodologies, of the attributes of public rituals in contemporary Western cultures.

Equal to life: empowerment through drama and research in a drama group for people with disabilities

This article draws from findings of qualitative research of a community- based drama and theatre group for adults with intellectual disabilities. The article considers constraints experienced by people with disabilities and explores the ways that experiences in drama and theatre can be particularly empowering for them. The article also reveals the ways that participants can increasingly become collaborators in the research and are empowered through the research process and through the opportunity to have their voices heard.

The relationship between education and food consumption in the 1995 Australian national nutrition survey

Objective: To assess the relationship between education and the intake of a variety of individual foods, as well as groups of foods, for Australian men and women in different age groups.

Design: Cross-sectional national survey of free-living men and women. Subjects: A sample of 2501 men and 2739 women aged 18 years and over who completed the National Nutrition Survey (NNS) 1995.

Methods: Information about the frequency of consumption of 88 food items was obtained using a food-frequency questionnaire in a nation-wide nutrition survey. Irregular and regular consumers of foods were identified according to whether they consumed individual foods less than or more than once per month. The relationship between single foods and an index of education (no post-school qualifications, vocational, university) was analysed via contingency table chi-square statistics for men and women. Food group variety scores were derived by assigning individual foods to conventional food group taxonomies, and then summing the dichotomised intake scores for individual foods within each food group. Two-way analyses of variance (education by age groups) were performed on food variety scores for men and women, separately.

Results: While university-educated men and women consumed many individual foods more regularly than less-educated people, they were less likely to be regular consumers of several meat products. The relationship between education and food consumption was less apparent when individual food scores were aggregated into food group scores. University-educated men and women exhibited higher scores on total food group variety than the other educational groups.

Conclusions: Higher education is associated with the regular consumption of a wider variety of foods. Aggregation of individual food consumption indices into food variety scores may mask the apparent effects of educational background on food consumption.

Vitamin D in Australia : issues and recommendations

BACKGROUND A significant number of Australians and people from specific groups within the community are suffering from vitamin D deficiency. It is no longer acceptable to assume that all people in Australia receive adequate vitamin D from casual exposure to sunlight.

OBJECTIVE This article provides information on causes, consequences, treatment and prevention of vitamin D deficiency in Australia.

DISCUSSION People at high risk of vitamin D deficiency include the elderly, those with skin conditions where avoidance of sunlight is required, dark skinned people (particularly women during pregnancy or if veiled) and patients with malabsorption, eg. coeliac disease. For most people, deficiency can be prevented by 5–15 minutes exposure of face and upper limbs to sunlight 4–6 times per week. If this is not possible then a vitamin D supplement of at least 400 IU* per day is recommended. In cases of established vitamin D deficiency, supplementation with 3000-5000 IU per day for at least 1 month is required to replete body stores. Increased availability of larger dose preparations of cholecalciferol would be a useful therapy in the case of severe deficiencies. * 40 IU (international units) = 1 µg

The Left in Australia: time for a new renewal?

For the purpose of the article the author takes as a starting point the approach taken by the Italian writer, Norberto Bobbio, who identifies the Left with egalitarianism and distinguishes left leaning positions which support equality, from right wing ones which support inequality. Thus, in its broadest form, the term `Left' refers to ideas and philosophies, people, groups and political and social movements whose normative base is embedded in a commitment to an egalitarian society. However, the term 'equality,' like the term 'Left,' is not always straightforward.

The experiences of Vietnamese in Australia: the racist tradition continues

The aim of this paper is to explore and document the racism experienced by the Vietnamese people in Australia. After presenting a brief review of the role that racism towards non-Anglo immigrant groups has played in Australian society over the last century, it reports on a study in which 50 Vietnamese were asked to describe their experiences of racism. These experiences were categorised according to a taxonomy derived from the data, and interpreted with reference to those reported by indigenous participants in a previous study. It is concluded that, although the racism reported is less pervasive and frequent than that reported by Indigenous Australians, the tradition of racism toward non-Anglo immigrants continues.

A benchmark study on housing defects in Victoria, Australia

The construction industry consists of many small businesses employing less than five people. A challenge to the construction industry is to ensure that the many small firms and sub-contractors keep producing quality housing to meet the needs of their customers and clients. In attempts to continually improve the quality of housing various policies and mechanisms have been adopted. These have included industry sponsored quality programs and industry administered builder registration. However, these attempts have failed because of consumer mistrust of industry-sponsored programs. In addition, these mechanisms have been introduced in isolation and not as a part of an integrated industry initiative that includes education and training from the trade to tertiary level construction management courses. This work contributes to knowledge through a detailed on-going study of housing quality and defects. This research identifies the common forms of defects, which occur in housing and their incidences. The overall aim of this paper is to report the identification of defects in housing and the establishment of benchmarks (or a baseline) for the incidence defects in various functional elements within a house. It also suggests the areas where defects are likely to occur. From the knowledge gained from the study, industry and governments may make informed decisions of where resources may be directed to the areas where it will be most beneficial both to the house builder and the end user (customer). For this to occur the findings of this research will be disseminated into the housing industry and eventually integrated into tertiary courses in building and construction
management.

Re Alex: adolescent gender identity disorder and the family court of Australia

'People with gender identity disorder live with a conviction that their physical anatomy is incompatible with their true gender role. They have an overwhelming desire to live and function in the opposite biological sex' . The manifestation of the disorder in children and adolescents is dominated by secrecy, confusion and shame. The purpose of this article is to promote discussion amongst the legal fraternity of the difficult issues confronting the Family Court of Australia when asked to make decisions with life-altering ramifications for the young and vulnerable.

Re-examination of the taxonomy of the macrobrachium australiense holthuis (Decapoda: Palaemonidae) species-complex: molecular evidence for a single species

The freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium australiense is distributed throughout the majority of inland, north-west, north-east and eastern drainages. Owing to the large amount of morphological divergence, both between and within catchments, this species has proven to be taxonomically difficult and, until recently, consisted of three separate species, each with subsequent subspecies. This study uses nucleotide sequences from the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene region to investigate the genetic relationships between populations and confirm the taxonomic status of M. australiense. The results from sequencing an approximately 450-bp fragment from this gene region from M. australiense sampled from 12 locations across inland, eastern and northern Australia identified very little variation. The variation found between 16S M. australiense haplotypes is much less than that found between Macrobrachium species, indicating that it is in fact a single species. The results are concordant with a recent morphological revision of Australian species in which nominal taxa of the M. australiense complex were synonymised.

The experience of Asian expatriates in Australia

Workforces in individualistic countries, such as the US, the UK and Auslralia, are becoming increasingly culturally diverse. In Australia, the population now comprises people from more than 220 nationalities, approximately 45% of whom were born overseas. It is expected that. by the year 2030, 25% of the Australian population will be of Asian origin Nankervis. Compton, & McCarthy, 1999). Despite large Asian expatriations, the small number of Asian permanent residents in Australia (i.e. 4.7% of 18m people) infers that Asians may be having difficulty fitting into the Australian context. This paper will highlight the unaddressed racial tension in Australian workplaces and discuss the experience of Asian expatriates in light of the racial and value dissimilarity associated with Asian (collectivist) and Australian (individualist) cultures.

Sink or swim- ageing in Australia

As the number of people under the age of 65 declines, the number over 65 will double in the next half century. By 2031, it is estimated those over 65 will account for more than a quarter of the Australian population. The fastest rate of growth will be in the over-85-years category, projected to double over the next 20 years and to triple over 50 years to include 2.3 million people. Health care providers cannot afford to wait for the inevitable crises this vast demographic shift will provoke. To meet these future demands, educational and health care institutes should consider establishing interdisciplinary think-tanks for multidisciplinary research, policy development and innovations in aged care and health service delivery.
Aust Health Rev 2005: 29(2): 146-150