It's time to determine the cost of a healthy diet in Australia

Economic factors are important determinants of food security. In terms of food access, financial resources determine an individual’s ability to procure food; on the supply side, the cost of food is equally important. The interplay of these two factors, financial resources and cost, is perhaps the most immediate and important determinant of what people do (or do not) put into their shopping trolleys or purchase at the takeaway and ultimately eat – if you cannot afford it you cannot eat it even if you want to!

Providing health services to migrants and refugees settling in Victoria, Australia: an analysis of the complexity, cost and policy implications for public health

The aim of the research was to identify factors related to the increased costs of providing health services to clients from a non-English speaking background (NESB), using a cross-sectional analysis of the administrative records of clients using community health services in the Northern Metropolitan region of Melbourne for the 2001/2002 financial year. The higher cost of providing services to NESB clients was influenced by four factors: increased consultation time, group attendance to an appointment, increased interpreting costs and the type of service provider. Family members and multilingual staff play a significant role in providing informal interpreting services or low-cost support for NESB consultants, and these activities should receive appropriate support. Additional funding is needed to support interpreting requirements when dealing with the health needs of NESB clients.

Seasonal storage for solar thermal systems in Australia?

Seasonal storage systems have been operating in various European countries since 1985. Combined with solar collectors, these systems are known as ‘central solar heating plants with seasonal storage’ (CSHPSS). While these systems have been shown to be technically feasible, their cost is still too high to make them competitive with fossil fuels.

In Australia, we have quite different conditions to those countries where CSHPSS have been trialled. In general, we experience higher radiation levels, ambient temperatures and cooling loads. Our heating loads and energy prices are also usually lower. As a result, any evaluation of CSPSS operating in a European context may not be valid for Australian conditions. To the authors’ knowledge, no evaluation of these systems has been carried out for Australia.

This paper therefore attempts an initial assessment of these systems and their viability for Australia. The paper first describes the various types of CSHPSS and then reviews their current status. The performance of one type of CSHPSS operating in several locations of Australia has been predicted using a TRNSYS model. The simulations indicated that the design guidelines for Europe are inappropriate for Australia and would result in greatly over-sized systems.

An indication of the financial viability of the system was determined by calculating a simple payback period for a variety of fossil fuels. This type of seasonal storage systems appears to be financially attractive in areas of southern Australia where the solar system is displacing LPG.

Defining corporate citizenship : evidence from Australia

This study reports the results of a survey of the attitudes to corporate citizenship and practices of corporate citizenship of 93 of the largest private and publicly listed corporations in Australia. The results suggest there was considerable hesitation in positioning corporate citizenship as a proactive, long term, internal culture process. Instead, corporate emphasis was generally on short-term community activities. Also, there was little variation in these results when respondents were classified by industry, international involvement and legal structure. Clearly, significant links have yet to be made by corporate Australia to connect the financial, social and environmental bottom lines.

Exploring our nation's capital: exploring the role of cultural institutions in the teaching of history and social education in the primary classroom

Explores the role of cultural institutions in the teaching of history and social education in the primary classroom in Australia. Keys to effective teaching and learning of history; Potential of cultural institutions to foster historical interest, relevance, importance and significance; Practicalities of accessing cultural institutions.

Balancing work and lifestyle : an exploratory study of chartered accountants in Australia

In today’s work environment, achieving a work-life balance is not only desirable, for employers it is a necessity to maintain a healthy workforce. Accounting careers are impacted by many factors, including technology and an increasing complexity in the demands for financial services, with resulting changes in where, when and how accountants perform their jobs. In addition, due to the general skills shortage faced by the businesses, the need for work-life balance has become a key determining factor for decisions regarding career choices.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (The Institute) has embarked on a long term goal of developing a work environment which helps Chartered Accountants (CAs) to gain work-life balance to complement the demand of the workforce. Three studies have been completed. The first study was conducted in 1995 in which the career expectations and barriers for women Chartered Accountants were examined amongst CAs in Victoria. In 2001, a follow-up survey of both male and female CAs was conducted in Victoria and Tasmania. The present study reports on the latest part of the project – a national survey of all 6,600 CAs regarding their work-life balance and expectations. This paper discusses the trend established by the three studies, and identifies some interesting scenarios of the accounting careers for CAs in Australia.

Publishing in six socially oriented journals - the state of play globally and in Australia/NZ

This paper overviews the institutional publishing performance within 6 socially oriented journals. It identifies that authors publishing in these works come from a diverse range of countries. Although there is a dominance of publishing by North American Academics within the area, Australia and New Zealand in fact perform relatively better than one might anticipate based on the region’s size. A review of publishing performance by institutions in the region identifies that socially oriented research in fact occurs in a diverse cross section of institutions within the region as well.

Client identification and money laundering control : perspectives on the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001

The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA) compels certain persons and institutions (defined as "accountable institutions'') to identify and verify the identity of a new client before any transaction may be concluded or any business relationship is established.1 Accountable institutions are listed in schedule ¹ to FICA and include banks, brokers, financial advisers, insurance companies, attorneys and estate agents. This duty to identify new clients came into effect on 30 June 2003. However, FICA also requires a similar procedure to be followed in respect of all current clients. Current clients are those with whom an accountable institution had business relationships on 30 June 2003.² After 30 June 2004 an institution may not conclude a transaction in the course of its business relationship with an unidentified current client, until it has established and verified that client's identity as prescribed. An institution that concludes any transaction in contravention of this prohibition, commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding R10 million or to imprisonment of up to 15 years.³

The majority of accountable institutions and their clients failed to meet the June 2004 current client identification deadline.4 This failure posed serious economic and legal risks. With a few days to spare, the minister of finance granted a partial and temporary exemption in respect of these requirements. This article explores the statutory scheme for identification and re-identification of clients and some of the practical problems that were encountered. The June 2004 exemptions from these requirements are also considered and proposals for law reform are made.

The discussion of the FICA identification scheme necessitates the following brief overview of the international and South African money laundering control framework.

1 s 21(1) of FICA.
2 s 21(2) of FICA. See also s 82(2)(b).
3 s 46(2) of FICA read with s 68(1) of FICA.

Implementing FATF standards in developing countries and financial inclusion : findings and guidelines

This report, emanating from a project commissioned by the FIRST Initiative, considers the impact of the implementation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) controls on financial inclusion in five countries (Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan and South Africa). Based on these findings, it develops a set of guidelines to assist the authorities in developing countries to design effective AML/CFT regimes that are compliant with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and supports financial inclusion.
The report and guidelines will be of benefit to countries striving towards the dual goals of protecting their institutions against money laundering and the financing of terrorism as well as extending financial inclusion, irrespective of whether protective measures are being considered in the process of implementing or amending AML/CFT controls to meet the Forty Nine Recommendations of the FATF or in order to meet other, related international requirements, such as those set out in the 2000 United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime or the 2003 United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The project was supervised and guided by a steering committee consisting of representatives from the FIRST Management Unit, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the South African National Treasury, the FinMark Trust and Professor Nikos Passas, an acknowledged world expert on AML/CFT standards and implementation.

Internationalising auditing standards : stakeholder views on Australia's strategic directions

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to examine and evaluate the internationalisation of Australian auditing standards by analysing the submissions to the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board's (AUASB) strategic directions paper (SDP) and comparing the proposed and approved strategic directions frameworks of the AUASB.

Design/methodology/approach: – A content analysis of the submissions to the SDP is conducted to identify the extent of support, and arguments for and against the proposed strategic directions. This study attempts to find a link, if any, between the proposed strategic directions, the views expressed by the stakeholders, and the final set of strategic directions issued by Australia's Financial Reporting Council.

Findings: – Overall, the final set of strategic directions released in April 2005 are consistent with the views expressed in the submissions, which support minimal divergence from International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and using the ISAs as the base for developing Australian auditing standards. Major changes from the SDP include a requirement for the AUASB to undertake research and monitor auditing standards issued by national standard setters. However, the AUASB is no longer obliged to contribute to the international standard arena and need only have regard to any program initiated by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.

Research limitations/implications: – The findings of this study provide an insight into the future of Australia's role in the international arena and increase awareness of stakeholders' views on the international harmonisation of auditing standards.

Originality/value: – While there have been several studies examining the international harmonisation of accounting standards, there is comparatively little research on the international harmonisation of auditing standards. This paper attempts to address this void, in part, and contribute to the literature on the convergence of auditing standards with ISAs.

Examining the behaviour of visitor arrivals to Australia from 28 different countries

Testing the integrational properties of visitor arrivals has important implications for policy, for if visitor arrivals are integrated of order one (nonstationary) then it implies that shocks to visitor arrivals are permanent. However, if visitor arrivals are found to be integrated or order zero (stationary) then this implies that shocks to visitor arrivals are temporary. In this paper we examine whether visitor arrivals to Australia are stationary or nonstationary, using the recently developed univariate and panel Lagrange multiplier tests, and the Im, Pesaran and Shin [Im, K.S., Pesaran, M.H., Shin, Y., 1997. Testing for Unit Roots in Heterogeneous Panels. Manuscript, Department of Applied Economics, University of Cambridge; Im, K.S., Pesaran, M.H., Shin, Y., 2003. Testing for Unit Roots in Heterogeneous Panels. Journal of Econometrics, 115, 53–74] panel t-test. Our exercise involves Australia’s 28 tourist source markets. Our main findings are: (1) that visitor arrivals to Australia from 28 tourist source markets are stationary, implying that any shock will have only a temporary effect and (2) the second structural break, which mainly coincides with the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Asian financial crisis, has slowed down the growth rate in visitor arrivals to Australia from 22 out of 28 (79%) of the tourism source markets.

Organisation change and its impact on Australian Building Societies' performance

The paper examines the relation between changing ownership structure and performance of Australian building societies. An analysis and discussion of the theories of organizational development and change is undertaken to explore the mutual building societies' motivation for change. The financial performance measures, provided by financial ratios of the major mutual building societies in Australia, are examined to assess the behaviour of building societies under different governance structures in the 1980s and 1990s. The theoretical and empirical literature has suggested that mutual deposit-taking institutions should have lov^^er profitability and higher operating expenses than their publicly listed counterparts. Accounting ratios are observed over time to investigate if governance change in mutual deposit-taking organizations accounted for any discernable differences in profitability and cost efficiency pre- and post- demutualization. The study finds support for the contention that demutualized building societies will have higher profitability and lower costs than their mutual counterparts. The study is confined to investigation of the six largest building societies that undertook the demutualization process. It could he extended to the entire building society sector. The results have implications for investors, managers and 'ovraers' of firms that retain their mutual structure, suggesting the demutualization vnû benefit these groups. There is no study that compares mutual deposit-taking institutions pre- and post-conversion in Australia.

Teaching educational leadership and administration in Australia

Despite the ubiquity of programmes in educational administration and leadership little is known about the resources used to teach them. This article reviews the sources currently employed in such programmes in Australia by examining the textbooks, book chapters and journal articles specified for 53 separate units (papers) offered at 15 of the key institutions that responded to requests for copies of their reading lists. Surprisingly, few of the units prescribed textbooks (35), relying instead on book chapters (243) and journal articles (362). While there was a very eclectic spread of sources across institutions, 10 major themes emerged. However, there appeared to be little emphasis on Australian research on educational leadership and little reference to major Australian authors of the previous decades. This may be because the field has become global. The second part of the article therefore examines an audit of the contributions made by Australian authors to the global literature represented by leading journals in the field. The audit shows that during the period 1977-2007 an average of 12-13% of papers in key journals were contributed by Australian authors, perhaps more than might be expected given the comparative size of the Australian community.

Enhancing patient engagement in chronic disease self-management support initiatives in Australia : the need for an integrated approach

♦ Although emphasis on the prevention of chronic disease is important, governments in Australia need to balance this with continued assistance to the 77% of Australians reported to have at least one long-term medical condition.

♦ Self-management support is provided by health care and community services to enhance patients’ ability to care for their chronic conditions in a cooperative framework.

♦ In Australia, there is a range of self-management support initiatives that have targeted patients (most notably, chronic disease self-management education programs) and health professionals (financial incentives, education and training).

♦ To date, there has been little coordination or integration of these self-management initiatives to enhance the patient–health professional clinical encounter.

♦ If self-management support is to work, there is a need to better understand the infrastructure, systems and training that are required to engage the key stakeholders — patients, carers, health professionals, and health care organisations.

♦ A coordinated approach is required in implementing these elements within existing and new health service models to enhance uptake and sustainability.