Wolf Creek, rurality and the Australian gothic

As with Crocodile Dundee before it, the recent Australian film Wolf Creek promotes a specific and arguably urban-centric understanding of rural Australia. However, whilst the former film is couched in mythologized notions of the rural idyll, Wolf Creek is based firmly around the concept of rural horror. Wolf Creek is both a horror movie and a road movie, one which relies heavily upon landscape in order to tell its story. Here we argue that the film continues a tradition in the New Australian Cinema of depicting the outback and its inhabitants as something the country's mostly coastal population do not understand. Wolf Creek skilfully plays on popular conceptions of inland Australia as empty and harsh. But more than this, the film brings to the fore tensions in the rural idyll associated with the ownership and use of rural space. As an object of urban consumption, rural space may appear passive and familiar, but in the context of rural horror iconic aspects of the Australian landscape become a source of fear – a space of abjection.

Observing privacy, modesty and hospitality in the home domain : three case studies of Muslim homes in Brisbane, Australia

A home embodies a sensorial space that is layered with personal memories and traces of history. The success of a home in providing a strong sense of place depends on various factors such as geographical location, climatic conditions, and occupants’ world-views and perceptions. This paper explores Muslims’ perceptions of privacy, modesty and hospitality within their homes through their lived experiences. This case study focuses on three Muslim families living in Australian designed homes within the same suburb of Brisbane, Australia. The study provides prefatory insight into the ways in which these families perform their daily activities and entertain their guests without jeopardizing their privacy needs. The study examines the significance of modesty in the design of Muslim homes as a means by which family members are able to achieve optimum privacy while simultaneously extending hospitality to guests inside and outside their homes. The findings of this study provide opportunities too, for expanding research into culturally adaptable housing systems to help meet the changing needs of Australian multicultural society.

Engaging, persuading, and entertaining citizens : mediatization and the Australian political public sphere

This paper draws upon public sphere theories and the “mediatization of politics” debate to develop a mapping of the Australian political public sphere, with particular reference to television. It discusses the concept of a “political public sphere,” and the contribution of both non-traditional news media genres, such as satirical television and infotainment formats, to an expanded conception of the political public sphere. It considers these questions in the context of two case studies: the Q&A program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and its uses of social media and interactive formats to engage citizens, and the comedy program Gruen Nation, also on the ABC, which analyzed the use of political advertising to persuade citizens during the 2013 Australian Federal election.

The flip side of fly-in-fly-out : the use of 457 visas by smaller firms in the Western Australian resources sector

The focus in this article is how the extensive use of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) working arrangements in the Western Australian resources sector has an impact directly and indirectly on smaller firms and their ability to recruit workers in remote locations. We argue that the growth of FIFO working arrangements has disadvantaged smaller resource-sector firms by increasing their employment costs and decreasing their ability to attract skilled workers. As a result, smaller resource-sector firms are recruiting skilled workers on 457 visas to secure their business stability and growth, despite the complexity, costs, and risks involved.

Spinning a sustainable yarn : environmental sustainability and brand story in the Australian fashion industry

In the Australian fashion industry, few fashion brands have intervened in the design of their products or the systems around their product to tackle environmental pollution and waste. Instead, support of charities (whether social or environmental) has become conflated with sustainability in the eyes of the public. Thus it is difficult to assess with any accuracy fashion brands’ response to sustainability. This article aims to address this through proposing a categorization system to structure the various interventions that a company may make. This system is applied to two case studies, analysing campaigns that respond to environmental sustainability by two established Australian brands, Country Road and Billabong. The case studies demonstrate how the interventions employed by a company, at least in the Australian context, are carefully developed to align with their brand story, revealing the interplay between the intangible aspects of a brand’s positioning and the tangible, measurable impacts of their garments.

Domestic violence (DV) service provision and the architecture of rural life: An Australian case study

This article uses the concept of the architecture of rural life to analyse domestic violence service provision in rural Australia. What is distinctive about this architecture is that it polices the privacy of the rural family. A tight cloak of silence is carved around instances of domestic violence. Imagined threats to rural safety are seen as coming from outsiders (i.e. urban influences or Indigenous), not insiders within rural families. This article draws on key findings from a study conducted in rural New South Wales, Australia. The study interviewed 49 rural service providers working in human services and the criminal justice system. The application of architecture of rural life as a conceptual tool demonstrates challenges with service provision in a rural setting. The main results of this study found that this architecture operates as a silencing form of social control in three distinctive ways. Firstly, shame about being a victim of domestic violence encourages rural women's complicity in remaining silent. Secondly, family privacy maintains a veil of silence that accentuates rural women's social and economic dependency on men. Thirdly, community sanctions act as a deterrent to women seeking help.

Studies of Brisbane municipal water quality using Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics

This research established innovative methods and a predictive model to evaluate water quality using the trace element and heavy metal concentrations of drinking water from the greater Brisbane area. Significantly, the combined use of Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry and Chemometrics can be used worldwide to provide comprehensive, rapid and affordable analyses of elements in drinking water that can have a considerable impact on human health.

Patient satisfaction from two studies of collaborative doctor : pharmacist prescribing in Australia

Background Pharmacist prescribing has been introduced in several countries and is a possible future role for pharmacy in Australia. Objective To assess whether patient satisfaction with the pharmacist as a prescriber, and patient experiences in two settings of collaborative doctor-pharmacist prescribing may be barriers to implementation of pharmacist prescribing. Design Surveys containing closed questions, and Likert scale responses, were completed in both settings to investigate patient satisfaction after each consultation. A further survey investigating attitudes towards pharmacist prescribing, after multiple consultations, was completed in the sexual health clinic. Setting and Participants A surgical pre-admission clinic (PAC) in a tertiary hospital and an outpatient sexual health clinic at a university hospital. Two hundred patients scheduled for elective surgery, and 17 patients diagnosed with HIV infection, respectively, recruited to the pharmacist prescribing arm of two collaborative doctor-pharmacist prescribing studies. Results Consultation satisfaction response rates in PAC and the sexual health clinic were 182/200 (91%) and 29/34 (85%), respectively. In the sexual health clinic, the attitudes towards pharmacist prescribing survey response rate were 14/17 (82%). Consultation satisfaction was high in both studies, most patients (98% and 97%, respectively) agreed they were satisfied with the consultation. In the sexual health clinic, all patients (14/14) agreed that they trusted the pharmacist’s ability to prescribe, care was as good as usual care, and they would recommend seeing a pharmacist prescriber to friends. Discussion and Conclusion Most of the patients had a high satisfaction with pharmacist prescriber consultations, and a positive outlook on the collaborative model of care in the sexual health clinic.

Go your own way : reporting of fundraising in Australian charity financial statements

Australian charities are facing increased public scrutiny of their financial reports, which must now be submitted to the national regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Some may wish to use reports to create so-called 'fundraising efficiency league tables'. This article seeks to provide a description of current best practice in fundraising financial reporting by examining annual reports that have been recognised with industry awards. We find a wide variation in how terms have been used, with no patterns discernible. Moreoever, reporting is influenced by regulatory requirements in the relevant jurisdiction, which differ substantially. It is unlikely that league tables will be meaningful if constructed from charities' current annual financial statements.

More than puppets : curriculum collections in Australian universities

This article reports a survey that sought to capture a contemporary snapshot of curriculum collections in Australian universities. It highlights best practice and issues in collection organisation, development and access, the challenges facing these collections, and possible future directions. Many themes emerged, including: the need to make spaces a vibrant part of the teaching and learning environment; the need to integrate print and digital collections to raise students’ awareness and use of resources; the need to demonstrate a link between collections and services and the students’ learning experience; the difficulties resulting from reduced budgets; and the need to actively engage academics.

The pragmatic approach : the myriad gene patents before the Australian courts

The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia in D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics [2014] FCAFC 115 recently upheld the validity of Myriad Genetics' Australian BRCA1 gene patent over isolated DNA sequences.

Publishing the perished : the visibility of foreign death in Australian quality newspapers

The issue of media coverage of death has been under discussion by only a few scholars, and there have existed some disagreements as to just how present death is in public discourse in the Western world. This study adds to the literature on death by investigating the Australian media context. Specifically, it examines how journalists at two Australian quality newspapers, The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald, cover death in their foreign news reporting. It finds that journalists express preferences for certain types of death, as well as for certain nationalities. Further, it sheds some light on just how visible death is in the news by arguing that, while present in the written word, the visual representation of death is still highly marginalised.