Analysis of Australian politicians speeches

While competing interpretations of Australian history occasionally attract controversy, there is a need for a comprehensive analysis, over time, of the significance of histories and history making for Australian politicians. In taking the longer view of Australian political speech and thought since the Federation, this data will provide a stronger foundation for both political engagement with historical themes and public appreciation of the continuing role of history in contemporary policy debates. The data comprises comprehensive qualitative analysis, using key search terms and themes, over time, of speeches of Australian politicians. Sources used include Hansard, other occasional speeches in public records, political party records, and Australian Parliamentary Library resources.

Women stay away from Indian politicians online

An analysis of some of the popular Twitter accounts of Indian politicians, political parties and journalists show that women voters do not follow them, finds USHA M RODRIGUES

Business associations and the food processing industry in Australia : how neoliberalism has reinforced employer collectivism

In this paper I argue that factors such as conflicting pressures for food regulation reform and continuing industry assistance programs have made conditions even more favourable for collective business interest representation in Australia's food processing sector. The push by firms for less onerous and more business-friendly regulation has run up against environmental and social pressures/or more rigorous regulatory controls, as awareness grows ofthe risks ofnew technologies. The case of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) illustrates the issues. The extent to which this association participates directly in the design and implementation of public policy is indicative of a decline in the autonomy of politicians and the state bureaucracy vis-a-vis the ideology and interests of business.

Fateful moments and the discourses of grief

This paper is concerned with the ways in which language functions in our making sense of death and loss, not only with the use of euphemisms for death, but also the wider discourses which frame meanings and understandings. Many bystanders and commentators on September 11, 2001, for example, likened the impact of the planes on the towers, and their subsequent collapse as “just like a movie ... I couldn’t believe it was happening”. From a culture whose primary experience of death and violence is mediated by film and television, the issue of how these experiences are communicated and understood – by the families of those who died, by the rescue workers and police, by the politicians and the military, and also importantly, by the media and their audiences – is crucial in understanding the ways in which what seem like natural responses are socially and culturally constructed.

Economic deprivation and its effects on subjective wellbeing in families of people with multiple sclerosis

Background: There has been limited research on the role of financial strain on the adjustment of people with multiple sclerosis.

Aims: This study examined the financial costs of MS and the impact of financial strain on the quality of life and adjustment of people with MS and their families.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with 16 health professionals, 26 people with MS and 11 family members of people who have MS.

Results: Economic deprivation impacted on the subjective well being of many families living with MS. Concerns included adjustment to a lower income if the person with MS reduced or ceased work, and meeting the costs of home alterations, mobility equipment, and special transport. The additional cost of living with MS is a stress factor, especially for people dependent on disability support pensions.

Conclusions: It is anticipated that the findings from this study will raise the awareness of health professionals and politicians regarding the potential impact of financial stress on people with MS and their families.

The economics and politics of wilderness conservation in Australia

Wilderness conservation has a checkered history in Australian politics. Initially, wilderness was protected in national parks, and specific areas or legislation did not exist. In the 1960s, wilderness conservation became an important issue in Australian politics. Pressure from environmental groups and the general public created several conflicts. Several successes were scored by the joint efforts of interest groups, the public, charismatic individuals, the media, and support of governments and politicians. A number of areas were declared wilderness areas and several states now have wilderness protected through legislation. The 1990s have not been as good as the previous decades for wilderness. Large forest areas are still being cleared and bias toward consumptive use of forest by governments is emerging. Clearly, wilderness protection in Australia is intensely political. It is important that interest groups maintain pressure to protect future wilderness. Efforts to obtain national legislation for wilderness and to couch wilderness in terms of other aspects such as biodiversity and ecosystems values may prove necessary.

Market virtues and public failures : antecedents to public sector reform in the contract state

This paper considers the historical factors that have contributed to the pressures for reform in the Australian State of Victoria which proved to be more radical than paths taken by the Commonwealth Government and any other Australian states. As public management in Victoria made tentative steps towards market orientated practices, the inexperienced public officials, together with a mixture of political, economic, administrative and social factors made the government more vulnerable to a perceived need for reform. Australia, like the United Kingdom and New Zealand with which it shares similarities of government structure, commenced the path of reform in a tentative manner with major reforms being implemented by powerful leaders. Powerful reformers were Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom, a group of like minded politicians from Treasury in New Zealand and in the Australian State of Victoria, Jeff Kennett. Each capitalised on a sense of crises to move their reform agenda forward at a rapid pace. Victoria is offered as an illustration of how the past provides a means of understanding why Premier Jeff Kennett was able during the 1990's, to implement public sector reform into Victoria in such a dramatic way.

The square from inside out: Federation Square, Melbourne

This XXlst Annual Conference of SAHANZ offers a timely opportunity for celebrating and critically reflecting on Federation Square, Melbourne - a project that continually crosses the line between the purely experimental and the built form (A Benjamin, 2003) and offers an opportunity to identify and investigate the different, often competing, limits within the discipline of architecture. Here in this project, considered by the city of Melbourne to point to its future aspirations; and by the RAIA as demonstrating 'the strength of design and the leap into the unknown which is where good design always comes from' (I McDougall, 2003), different approaches to the possibilities of 'limit' as a contemporary concern can be fruitfully explored. Architectural masterpieces are daringly imaginative and each in their own way challenges architects, engineers, builders and technologists - those who are to realise the dream - and makes administrators, politicians and governments put their credibility on the line. So how does Federation Square contribute to contemporary architectural debate, specifically to Melbourne architecture? How has it dealt with thresholds? Where has It approached, crossed and/or exceeded boundaries? This paper will deal with design aesthetics in the realisation of the Lab architects 'vision' in the context of historical, urban and political realities. Analysis will provide insights into the limitations imposed upon this architectural project and the limitations it now, in turn, imposes on the city. Two aspects will be dealt with: understanding Lab's overall vision, and juxtaposing the vision with the reality of Federation Square. The author's interview with Don Bates, principal Lab architecture studio, forms the frame argument about Federation Square in this paper.

A new nation : members of the Federation Conference recently held at Melbourne, Australia

The delegates are numbered and their names listed below the print: 1.M'Millan, 2.A. Inglis Clarke, 3.Sir John Hall, 4.Captain Russell, 5.Macrossan, 6.Sir Samuel Griffith, 7.Sir Henry Parkes, 8.Playford, 9.Premier Gillies, 10.Deakin, 11.Dr. Cockburn, 12.B.S. Bird, 13.Sir J. Lee Steere, 14. Secretary Jenkins.

Watt family group on the front steps of Arilpa

From left to right (back row): unidentified lady, Mrs Watt?, Hal (baby), William Alexander Watt; (front row): Eleanor, Rhona, unidentified child.

Anglo-Indians in Hollywood, Bollywood and arthouse cinema

Apart from a few disparaging remarks about offensive stereotypes by Anglo-Indian writers and politicians such as Gloria Jean Moore, Frank Anthony and Gillian Hart, critics have paid very little attention to the representation of “mixed-race” Anglo-Indians in the cinema. Drawing on screen theory and recent theories of cinema spectatorship, this essay provides a comparative analysis of how Hollywood, Bollywood and arthouse films represent Anglo-Indians. More specifically, it analyses three paradigmatic films: Bhowani Junction (1956), Julie (1975), and 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981). Combining formal analysis of narrative structure, mise-en-scegravene and genre with historical analysis, the paper examines the ideological work performed by these texts, which use Anglo-Indians to dramatise specific political conflicts in India such as those generated by the British partition of India in 1947 and the more recent issue of globalisation.