From the hustings to harbour views : electoral institutions in New South Wales 1856-2006

'Easy to enrol, easy to vote' was the slogan devised by the New South Wales electoral office in the 1980s. How did this system evolve from a British based model to a distinctively Australian one?

Judicial and Legislative Considerations in the Taxation of Compensation Receipts: An International Comparison

In 1995 the Federal Commissioner of Taxation released Taxation Ruling TR 95/35 - an attempt to comprehensively address the appropriate capital gains tax treatment of a receipt of compensation awarded either by the courts or via a settlement - still a lack of consensus regarding the appropriate treatment of such awards - a private binding ruling presently the only way a taxpayer can determine their liability with any certainty - the Australian position compared to that of the United Kingdom and Canada.

Performance and narrative, bodies and movement in the construction of places and objects, spaces and knowledges: The case of the Maltese megaliths

The article explores the ways knowledge and space are co-produced performatively through bodily movement in an examination of the Maltese megaliths the first complex stone structures in the world. It is argued that knowledge is best seen as spatialized narratives of human actions and objects as materialized forms of those spatial narratives. Rewriting our social and historical narratives so that the performativity of place, space and knowledge is restored opens new possibilities for rethinking the social and material order.

The initiation and administration of drugs for advanced life support by critical care nurses in the absence of a medical practitioner

Current legislation does not permit the administration of first line resuscitation medications by suitably qualified Division 1 registered nurses (RNs) in the absence of a medical officer. This omission by the Drugs,  Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) and the Drugs, Poisons and The Controlled Substances Regulations 1995 (Vic) leaves many critical care nurses in a vulnerable legal position.

The primary aim of this study was to gauge the view of critical care nurses with respect to lobbying for change to the current legislation. In addition, the study aimed to explore and describe the educational preparation, practice perceptions and experiences of RNs working in critical care regarding cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the administration of first line advanced life support (ALS) medications in the absence of a medical officer. It was anticipated that data collected would demonstrate some of the dilemmas associated with the initiation and administration of ALS medications for practising critical care nurses and could be used to inform controlling bodies in order for them to gain an appreciation of the issues facing critical care nurses during resuscitation.

A mailout survey was sent to all members of the Victorian Branch of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN). The results showed that the majority of nurses underwent an annual ALS assessment and had current ALS accreditation. Nurses indicated that they felt educationally prepared and were confident to manage cardiopulmonary resuscitation without a medical officer; indeed, the majority had done so. The differences in practice issues for metropolitan, regional and rural nurses were highlighted. There is therefore clear evidence to suggest that legislative amendments are appropriate and necessary, given the time critical nature of cardiopulmonary arrest. There was overwhelming support for ACCCN Vic. Ltd to lobby the Victorian government for changes to the law.

De Chirico and Walker in light of Nietzsche and Guattari: the enigma of partial bodies in illogical spaces

If one concedes that the Freudian unconscious is inseparable from a society attached to its past, for example, its phallocentric traditions, Guattari’s alternative model dealing with "the production of subjectivity" offers a new perspective (1995: 11). From this vantage point, it is possible to map the way "every individual and social group" models the creation of subjectivity, a subjectivity "composed of cognitive references as well as mythical, ritual and symptomatological references" (1995: 11).

Dissected debt : developing a better legislative response to FCT v Myer Emporium Ltd

After many decades of actual and proposed reform, Australia's rules for the taxation of debt arrangements remain deeply flawed. A notable problem is the absence of appropriate rules for dissected debt arrangements, where a creditor dissects a debt into interest and principal
repayment components and disposes of one or both of these separately, as occurred in the leading case ofFCT v Myer Emporium Ltd. The knee-jerk reaction to Myer by the High Court and the legislature is a model of bad tax policy and bad tax law. The approach adopted overseas, using the United States as the clearest example, is a logical one for Australia to follow.

Conspiring to run: women, their bodies and athletics training

Women's athletics commenced about 60 years after the start of the men's sport. Women's involvement in athletics was held back by the medical and general views that this was a strenuous sport requiring a level of exertion beyond the biological capabilities of female bodies. Their difficult initiation into athletics occurred under male gaze; they encountered opposition from the public, the medical profession and from the male-controlled athletics organizations. A serious participation in athletics requires significant exertion and dedicated training. While the prevailing view was that moderate physical exercise without strain enhanced women's health, the exertion required for athletics was deemed to be potentially dangerous. Within essentialist views of gender, women's involvement in athletics was thought to have implications for their nurturing and domestic roles. When the pioneer women athletes tried to excel, they were said to be straining themselves and their participation in the sport was brought into question. By using theoretical insights drawn mostly from Foucault, training manuals from the early decades of women's athletics and material from interviews with some of the first English female athletes are examined to investigate the attitudes of both genders to women in athletics and to analyse how they circumvented the potential veto of their sport by men.

Commonwealth legislative power and "non punitive" detention: a constitutional roadmap

In 2004 The High Court handed down a number of decisions concerning detention imposed for purposes allegedly unrelated to punishment. This paper outlines the way the Federal Constitution restricts (and also facilitates) the imposition of "non punitive detention" by our governments. Such laws (as passed by the Federal Legislature) are constitutionally valid provided they can be characterised as falling within a legislative head of power under  section 51 off he Constitution. The power to detain for non punitive purposes can be reposed by the Legislature in the either the Executive or Judicial arms of government. Detention by the Executive is non punitive (and therefore does not offend the separation of powers) even though it involves a deprivation of liberty, provided it is imposed for “legitimate non punitive purposes”.  Legitimacy is in turn determined by reference to the section 51 heads of power. Detention for non punitive purposes by the judicial arm of government is constitutionally valid provided that (i) a “judicial process ” is adopted and (ii) (arguably) there is some link (albeit tenuous) with a previous finding of criminal guilt. The continuing existence of the “constitutional immunity ”from being detained by other than judicial order identified by the High Court in its 1992 decision in Lim v Minister for Immigration is called into question.

Working with 'diverse bodies, diverse identities': an approach to professional education about 'diversity'

The complexity and diversity of populations in contemporary Western societies is becoming a significant public policy issue. The concept of 'diversity' has come to represent cultural, ethnic, racial and religious differences between the 'dominant group' and immigrant and indigenous populations. 'Diversity training' is amongst many strategies being implemented to address social and economic objectives in complex societies. This paper discusses and critically evaluates a professional education programme, 'Diverse Bodies, Diverse Identities', that is offered to human service practitioners and social work students in Victoria, Australia. It is concluded that a range of approaches is needed to address 'diversity' in contemporary societies.

Who thinks I need a perfect body? Perceptions and internal dialogue among adolescents about their bodies

The main aim of this study was to provide a detailed examination of the nature of the messages that adolescent boys and girls receive about their bodies. Forty adolescent boys and 40 adolescent girls participated in an in-depth interview to gain an understanding of the range of potential ‘sources’ of body-related messages. Messages were organized around the source of these messages (self, mother, father, brother, sister, female friends, male friends, media). There were consistent gender differences in the way that adolescents received and interpreted messages about their bodies. Overall girls received more positive and more negative messages than boys did. Boys reported having received virtually no negative messages from most people. The content of internal dialogue among adolescents revealed that messages about the body could be interpreted, distorted, and deflected. The implications of these findings for preventing body image-related problems and disordered eating among adolescents are discussed.

Schooling, normalisation, and gendered bodies : adolescent boys' and girls' experiences of gender and schooling

Dominant discourses construct boys and girls as two homogenous groups in need of particular, and uniform, kinds of interventions (Martino, Mills, & Lingard, 2005, Mills, Martino, & Lingard, 2004; Jones & Myhill, 2004). The boys and girls themselves, however, tell a much more complex story and challenge us to consider very different implications for addressing gender conformity and, more broadly, diversity in schools. In this chapter, the voices of students are used as text to explicate, first, how issues of gender, sexuality, social class, ethnicity and the body are implicated and interweave in girls’ and boys’ social experiences of schooling; and second, what the implications of this interweaving might be for addressing diversity in schools (Connell, 1995; 2002; Martino, 1999, 2000; Pallotta-Chiarolli, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2005). This work draws on and elaborates further our previous published research that investigates issues of gender and schooling. It locates such research within the broader international context of studies conducted into issues of gender and schooling that document student perspectives and voice (Fine & Weiss, 2003; Ferguson, 2001; Renold, 2003; Mac an Ghaill, 1994; Lees, 1993; Ornstein, 1995; Thorne, 1993; Mills, 2001; Hey, 1997; Willis,1977; Walker, 1988). The use of student voice as text is considered within that broader context and highlights the significance of gender regimes and power relations in students’ lives at school (Martino & Pallotta-Chiarolli, 2005; 2003; 2002; 2001; Pallotta-Chiarolli, 1998). We illustrate the extent to which the risky business of ‘fitting in’ involves negotiations around normative and transgressive masculinities and femininities and how such practices intersect with sexuality, race/culture, class, and geographical location (see James, 2003; Kumashiro, 2002).