Contrasting models of land use regulation: Community, government and tourism development

This paper assesses the capacity of local communities and sub-national governments to influence patterns of tourism development, within the context of a globalizing economy. Through a comparison of the contrasting examples of Hawaii and Queensland, the paper indicates the consequences of different approaches to land use regulation. It points to the importance of planning and policy processes that integrate community interests, in order to achieve long-term, sustainable tourism development. Effective regulation of development can minimize the social and environmental impacts of tourism. The paper illustrates how community organizations and sub-national governments can articulate local interests, despite the global demands of investors for more deregulated markets in land.

Issues in Australian Foreign Policy January to June 2001

The first half of 2001 saw traditional issues dominating the foreign policy agenda, with both Australia's relationship with the United States and the policy of Asian engagement still holding centre stage. But those old issues generated fresh anxieties. In the United States, the incoming Bush administration displayed a genuine radicalism in its approach to foreign policy, and that raised concerns in many Western capitals — including Canberra — about a new mood of unilateralism in Washington. At the same time, the emergence of the thesis that Australia was becoming a "branch office economy", where key decisions were taken in the capital markets of New York and London, made the government noticeably more cautious and selective in its endorsement of globalisation. Further, the issue of Asian engagement grew steadily more complex: Australian policy-makers searched unsuccessfully for a new focus for the policy of Asian engagement, as Japan's economy wallowed and Indonesia's democratic government tottered.

Anxious futures: Magpie2 and 'new generationalism' in Australian youth-specific theatre

The field of contemporary youth-specific theatre in Australia is one of change and, in some cases, anxiety. While Drama Studies continue to grow in popularity in schools, previously conventional developmental paradigms have become less mandatory for theatre, for, by, and about young people outside the school context. Instead, 'new generation' approaches in youth-specific performance are placing greater value on young people's own preferences in cultural activity. Yet this development is being tempered and further complicated by a cultural 'generationalism', particularly in larger arts organization as the youth sector becomes a more integral part of marketing strategies for the future. The resulting ambiguity in the representation, value, and positioning of young people and youth-specific arts in Australia's theatre industry is considered by focusing on Magpie2, a former youth-specific company attached to the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Magpie2 ceased operation in 1998 after experimenting with a 'new generation' approach to theatre for young people in the State Theatre realm. Both the artistic policy of Magpie2 Director, Benedict Andrews, and the critical reception of his two productions in 1997, Future Tense and Features of Blown Youth, demonstrate how competing systems of cultural value characterize the field of youth-specific theatre in Australia.

The future role of government in knowledge-based economies

In this article, we draw together aspects of contemporary theories of knowledge (particularly organisational knowledge) and complexity theory to demonstrate how appropriate conceptual rigor enables both the role of government and the directions of policy development in knowledge-based economies to be identified. Specifically we ask, what is the role of government in helping shape the knowledge society of the future? We argue that knowledge policy regimes must go beyond the modes of policy analysis currently used in innovation, information and technology policy because they are based in an industrial rather than post-industrial analytical framework. We also argue that if we are to develop knowledge-based economies, more encompassing images of the future than currently obtain in policy discourse are required. We therefore seek to stimulate and provoke an array of lines of thought about government and policy for such economies. Our objective is to focus on ideas more than argument and persuasion.

Performance measurement in child protection

The increasing use of performance measurement by government means that child protection services are under pressure to demonstrate effectiveness in protecting children from harm and efficiency in the use of public funds to help children and families. From a policy perspective, the way performance measurement is conceptualised and implemented can have major consequences for service delivery. This paper examines key issues raised in the literature about performance measurement, the context for its introduction in child protection, how the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency are dealt with, how client outcomes are defined, and assumptions about 'good performance'. An overview of performance measurement in child protection in Australia is provided. The paper argues that a critical approach to performance measurement in child protection can contribute to improved service delivery to clients.