Revisiting the Australian code of banking practice: Is self-regulation still relevant for improving consumer protection standards?

The Code of Banking Practice is one of the oldest examples of consumer protection provided through self-regulation in the Australian financial services sector. However, since the Banking Code was first released in 1993, the volume of consumer protection legislation applying to banks has increased exponentially and parts of the Banking Code that once provided new consumer rights have now been largely superseded by legislation. In light of the increasingly complex set of laws and regulations that govern the relationship between banks and their consumer and small business customers it could be argued that the Banking Code has a limited future role. However, an analysis of the Banking Code shows that it adds to the consumer protection standards provided by legislation and can continue to facilitate improvements in the standards of subscribing banks and of other institutions in the financial services sector. Self-regulation and industry codes should continue to be part of the regulatory mix. Any regulatory changes that flow from the recent Financial System Inquiry should also facilitate and support the self-regulation role, but the government should also consider further changes to encourage improvements in industry codes and ensure that the implicit regulatory benefits that are provided, in part, because of the existence of industry codes, are made explicit and made available only to code subscribers.

The Australian curriculum: The arts - intent and big ideas for implementation

For the first time all Australian students having an entitlement to be engaged in all five art forms in Primary school. The Australian Curriculum: The Arts is based on the principle that all young Australians are entitled to engage fully in all the major art forms and to be given a balanced and substantial foundation in the special knowledge and skills base of each. This will have enormous implication on the expectations of what can be achieved in secondary schools, in tertiary institutions and ultimately on the cultural life and heritage for Australia.

Exploring the Potential to Educate “Good Citizens” through the Australian Civics and Citizenship Curriculum.

This chapter examines the ways in which notions of ‘a good citizen’ and ‘civic virtue’ have been conceptualized in the new Civics and Citizenship Curriculum for students in Years 3 – 10 in Australia. It argues that whilst Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) has, over time and in various ways, been recognized as a significant aspect of Australian education, only recently has attention been given to the relational and multidimensional conceptions of citizenship. Considerations of ‘morality’, ‘a good citizen’ and ‘civic virtue’ offer possibilities to engage with multidimensional notions of citizenship, which acknowledge that citizenship perspectives can be affected by personal, social, spatial and temporary situations (Cogan & Derricott, 2000). In the current statement on national goals for schooling in Australia, which informed the development of CCE, the Melbourne Declaration (MCEETYA, 2008) called for young Australians to be educated to “act with moral and ethical integrity” and be “committed to national values of democracy, equity and justice, and participate in Australia’s civic life” (MCEETYA, 2008, pp. 8–9). The chapter claims that this maximal emphasis (McLaughlin, 1992), based on active, values based and interpretive approaches to democratic citizenship which encourage debate and participation in civil society, was evident in the new Civics and Citizenship Curriculum. However, it contends that the recommendations of the recent Review of the Australian Curriculum: Final report (Australian Government, 2014a & b), will now limit CCE’s potential to deliver the sort of active and informed citizenship heralded by the Melbourne Declaration. This is because the Review advocates for a content-focused minimal (McLaughlin, 1992) emphasis on civic knowledge, with diminished attention to citizenship participation and processes. In doing so, the Review foregrounds conceptions of the ‘good citizen’ in more limited terms of responsibility, obligations and compliance with the status quo.

Jobs for creatives outside the creative industries: A study of creatives working in the Australian manufacturing industry

More creatives work outside the creative industries than inside them. Recent Australian Census data show that 52 per cent of creatives work outside of the core creative industries. These embedded creatives make up 2 per cent of manufacturing industry employees. There is little qualitative research into embedded creatives. This paper aims to address this by exploring the contribution of creative skills to manufacturing in Australia. Through four case studies of designers and marketing staff in lighting and car seat manufacturing companies, this paper demonstrates some of the work that embedded creatives undertake in the manufacturing industry and some of the ways that they contribute to innovation. The paper also considers perspectives embedded creatives bring to manufacturing and challenges involved in being a creative worker in a non-creative industry. This research is important to economic development issues, demonstrating some of the roles of key innovators in an important industry. This work also informs the education of creative industries students who will go on to contribute in a variety of industries. Furthermore, this research exemplifies one industry where employment is available to creatives outside of the creative industries.

A Deweyan experience economy for higher education : The case of the Australian Indie 100 Music Event

In this essay we argue that a Deweyan experience economy will best support the higher education (HE) sector in the future, and we draw a contrast between that economy and the sector’s current focus on informational concerns, as expressed by the recent rush to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and other mass online informational offerings. We base our argument on current developments in music education and music technology that we see as being preemptive of wider trends. We use examples from a three-year study of online and offline music pedagogies and outline a four-year experiment in developing a pedagogical experience economy to illustrate a theoretical position informed by John Dewey’s theory of experience,Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and capital, and recent work in economic geography on epistemic communities. We argue further that the future of the HE sector is local rather than global, experiential rather than informational, and that therefore a continued informational approach to the future of HE risks undermining the sector.

The links between public tendencies and the urban design framework of Brisbane’s public squares: Mapping urban design frameworks present in Brisbane public squares and the correlating activities of the Australian public

This research seeks to demonstrate the ways in which urban design factors, individually and in various well-considered arrangements, stimulate and encourage social activities in Brisbane’s public squares through the mapping and analysis of user behaviour. No design factors contribute to public space in isolation, so the combinations of different design factors, contextual and social impacts as well as local climate are considered to be highly influential to the way in which Brisbane’s public engages with public space. It is this local distinctiveness that this research seeks to ascertain. The research firstly pinpoints and consolidates the design factors identified and recommended in existing literature and then maps the identified factors as they are observed at case study sites in Brisbane. This is then set against observational mappings of the site’s corresponding user activities and engagement. These mappings identify a number of patterns of behaviour; pertinently that “activated” areas of social gathering actively draw people in, and the busier a space is, both the frequency and duration of people lingering in the space increases. The study finds that simply providing respite from the urban environment (and/or weather conditions) does not adequately encourage social interaction and that people friendly design factors can instigate social activities which, if coexisting in a public space, can themselves draw in further users of the space. One of the primary conclusions drawn from these observations is that members of the public in Brisbane are both actively and passively social and often seek out locations where “people-watching” and being around other members of the public (both categorised as passive social activities) are facilitated and encouraged. Spaces that provide respite from the urban environment but that do not sufficiently accommodate social connections and activities are less favourable and are often left abandoned despite their comparable tranquillity and available space.

Pull the plug or take the plunge: Multiple opportunities and the speed of venturing decisions in the Australian mining industry

Effectively capturing opportunities requires rapid decision-making. We investigate the speed of opportunity evaluation decisions by focusing on firms' venture termination and venture advancement decisions. Experience, standard operating procedures, and confidence allow firms to make opportunity evaluation decisions faster; we propose that a firm's attentional orientation, as reflected in its project portfolio, limits the number of domains in which these speed-enhancing mechanisms can be developed. Hence firms' decision speed is likely to vary between different types of decisions. Using unique data on 3,269 mineral exploration ventures in the Australian mining industry, we find that firms with a higher degree of attention toward earlier-stage exploration activities are quicker to abandon potential opportunities in early development but slower to do so later, and that such firms are also slower to advance on potential opportunities at all stages compared to firms that focus their attention differently. Market dynamism moderates these relationships, but only with regard to initial evaluation decisions. Our study extends research on decision speed by showing that firms are not necessarily fast or slow regarding all the decisions they make, and by offering an opportunity evaluation framework that recognizes that decision makers can, in fact often do, pursue multiple potential opportunities simultaneously.

Measuring sustainability performance within the Australian energy industry

Sustainability has become crucial for the energy industry as projects in this industry are extensively large and complex and have significant impacts on the environment, community and economy. It demands the energy industry to proactively incorporate sustainability ideas and commit to sustainable project development. This study aims to investigate how the Australian energy industry responds to sustainability requirements and in particular what indicators used to measure sustainability performance. To achieve this, content analysis of sustainability reports, vision statements and policy statements of Australian energy companies listed in the 2013 PLATTS Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings and government reports relating to sustainability has been conducted. The findings show that the energy companies extensively discuss sustainability aspects within three dimensions, i.e. community, environment, and economy. Their primary goals in sustainability are supplying cleaner energy for future, and doing business in a way that improves outcomes for shareholders, employees, business partners and the communities. In particular, energy companies have valued the employees of the business as a one of the key area that needs to be considered. Furthermore, the energy industry has become increasingly aware of the importance of measuring sustainability performance to achieve sustainability goals. A number of sustainability indicators have been developed on the basis of the key themes beyond economic measures. It is envisaged that findings from this research will help stakeholders in the energy industry to adopt different indicators to evaluate and ultimately achieve sustainability performance.

A taxonomic assessment of the Australian Dusky Antechinus Complex: A new species, the Tasman Peninsula Dusky Antechinus (Antechinus vandycki sp. nov.) and an elevation to species of the Mainland Dusky Antechinus (Antechinus swainsonii mimetes (Thomas))

In 2014, the northern outlying population of carnivorous marsupial Dusky Antechinus (Antechinus swainsonii) was nominated a new species, A. arktos. Here, we describe a further new species in the dasyurid A. swainsonii complex, which now contains five taxa. We recognise two distinct species from Tasmania, formerly represented by A. swainsonii swainsonii (Waterhouse); one species (and 2 subspecies) from mainland south-eastern Australia, formerly known as A. swainsonii mimetes (Thomas) and A. swainsonii insulanus Davison; and one species from the Tweed Caldera in mid-eastern Australia, formerly known as A. s. mimetes but recently described as A. arktos Baker, Mutton, Hines and Van Dyck. Primacy of discovery dictates the Tasmanian Dusky Antechinus A. swainsonii (Waterhouse) is nominate; the Mainland Dusky Antechinus taxa, one raised from subspecies within A. swainsonii mimetes (Thomas) is elevated to species (now A. mimetes mimetes) and the other, A. swainsonii insulanus Davison is transferred as a subspecies of A. mimetes (now A. mimetes insulanus); a species from Tasmania, the Tasman Peninsula Dusky Antechinus, is named A. vandycki sp. nov. These taxa are strongly differentiated: geographically (in allopatry), morphologically (in coat colour and craniodental features) and genetically (in mtDNA, 7.5-12.5% between species pairs).

The equity and efficiency of the Australian share market with respect to director trading

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of directors breaching the reporting requirements of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and the Corporations Act in Australia. Further, it seeks to assess whether directors in Australia achieve abnormal returns from trades in their own companies. Design/methodology/approach – Using an event study approach on an Australian sample, abnormal returns for a range of situations were estimated. Findings – A total of 13 (seven) per cent of own‐company directors trades do not meet the ASX (Corporations Act) requirement of reporting within five (14) business days. Directors do achieve abnormal returns through trading in shares of their own companies. Ignoring transaction costs, outsiders can achieve abnormal returns by imitating directors' trades. Analysis of returns to directors after they trade but before they announce the trade to the market shows that directors are making small but statistically significant returns that are not available to the market. Analysis of returns to directors subsequent to the ASX reporting requirement up to the day the trade is reported shows that directors are making small but statistically significant returns that should be available to the market. Research limitations/implications – Future research should investigate the linkages between late reporting by directors and disadvantages to outside shareholders and the implementation of internal policies implemented to mitigate insider trading. Practical implications – Market participants should remain vigilant regarding the potential for late/non‐reporting of directors' trades. Originality/value – Uncovering breaches of reporting regulations are particularly important given that directors tend to purchase (sell) shares when the price is low (high), thereby achieving abnormal returns.

The differential impact of monetary policy announcements and explanatory minutes releases on the Australian interest rate futures market

Unlike US and Continental European jurisdictions, Australian monetary policy announcements are not followed promptly by projections materials or comprehensive summaries that explain the decision process. This information is disclosed 2 weeks later when the explanatory minutes of the Reserve Bank board meeting are released. This paper is the first study to exploit the features of the Australian monetary policy environment in order to examine the differential impact of monetary policy announcements and explanatory statements on the Australian interest rate futures market. We find that both monetary policy announcements and explanatory minutes releases have a significant impact on the implied yield and volatility of Australian interest rate futures contracts. When the differential impact of these announcements is examined using the full sample, no statistically significant difference is found. However, when the sample is partitioned based on stable periods and the Global Financial Crisis, a differential impact is evident. Further, contrary to the findings of Kim and Nguyen (2008), Lu et al. (2009), and Smales (2012a), the response along the yield curve, is found to be indifferent between the short and medium terms.