Prison foodservice in Australia : systems, menus and inmate attitudes

This paper presents results from three studies in 25 custodial facilities in three Australian states, including nutrient analyses of menus and focus groups exploring inmate attitudes. Both cook-fresh and cook-chill production systems are used. Non-selective cycle menus of 4-6 weeks are common but inmates can supplement meals by purchase of additional food items (‘buy-ups’). Menus included adequate variety and met most nutritional standards, with the possible exception of fruit. The sodium content of menus is above recommended levels. Protein, fibre, vitamins A, C, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, iron and zinc were more than adequate, and the percentage energy from fat is close to or meets national recommendations. Focus groups identified 16 themes, including meal quality, food available at ‘buy-ups’, cooking facilities, and concerns about possible food safety risks associated with inmates storing food in cells. Many complaints were about factors not under the control of the foodservice manager.

Advance Australia Fair : social democratic and conservative politicians’ discourses concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and their health 1972–2001

This paper reports research undertaken as part of a larger project in which we examined whether and how values and beliefs communicated by Australian politicians have shaped decades of health policy and influenced health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of Australia. To first characterise those values and beliefs we analysed the public statements of the politicians responsible nationally for the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 1972–2001, using critical discourse analysis. We found that four discourses, communicated through words, phrases, sentences and grammatical structures, dominated public statements over the study period. These four discourses focused on the competence and capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to “manage”; matters of control of and responsibility for the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as “Other”; and the nature of the “problem” concerning the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Analysis of the discursive elements contributing to shaping these four discourses is reported in this paper.

Consumer guarantees in Australia : putting an end to the blame game

The focus of this article is on the proposed consumer guarantees component of the Australian Consumer Law. The Productivity Commission (PC), in its review of Australia’s Consumer Policy Framework, noted that it had not ‘undertaken the detailed analysis necessary to reach a judgment on the adequacy or otherwise of the existing regulation in this area, or the merits of alternative models such as those adopted in countries such as New Zealand’. Accordingly, it recommended that: ‘The adequacy of existing legislation related to implied warranties and conditions should be examined as part of the development of the new national generic consumer law’.

The creative sector in New Zealand : mapping and economic role : report to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise

The New Zealand creative sector was responsible for almost 121,000 jobs at the time of the 2006 Census (6.3% of total employment). These are divided between • 35,751 creative specialists – persons employed doing creative work in creative industries • 42,300 support workers - persons providing management and support services in creative industries • 42,792 embedded creative workers – persons engaged in creative work in other types of enterprise The most striking feature of this breakdown is the fact that the largest group of creative workers are employed outside the creative industries, i.e. in other types of businesses. Even within the creative industries, there are fewer people directly engaged in creative work than in providing management and support. Creative sector employees earned incomes of approximately $52,000 per annum at the time of the 2006 Census. This is relatively uniform across all three types of creative worker, and is significantly above the average for all employed persons (of approximately $40,700). Creative employment and incomes were growing strongly over both five year periods between the 1996, 2001 and 2006 Censuses. However, when we compare creative and general trends, we see two distinct phases in the development of the creative sector: • rapid structural growth over the five years to 2001 (especially led by developments in ICT), with creative employment and incomes increasing rapidly at a time when they were growing modestly across the whole economy; • subsequent consolidation, with growth driven by more by national economic expansion than structural change, and creative employment and incomes moving in parallel with strong economy-wide growth. Other important trends revealed by the data are that • the strongest growth during the decade was in embedded creative workers, especially over the first five years. The weakest growth was in creative specialists, with support workers in creative industries in the middle rank, • by far the strongest growth in creative industries’ employment was in Software & digital content, which trebled in size over the decade Comparing New Zealand with the United Kingdom and Australia, the two southern hemisphere nations have significantly lower proportions of total employment in the creative sector (both in creative industries and embedded employment). New Zealand’s and Australia’s creative shares in 2001 were similar (5.4% each), but in the following five years, our share has expanded (to 5.7%) whereas Australia’s fell slightly (to 5.2%) – in both cases, through changes in creative industries’ employment. The creative industries generated $10.5 billion in total gross output in the March 2006 year. Resulting from this was value added totalling $5.1b, representing 3.3% of New Zealand’s total GDP. Overall, value added in the creative industries represents 49% of industry gross output, which is higher than the average across the whole economy, 45%. This is a reflection of the relatively high labour intensity and high earnings of the creative industries. Industries which have an above-average ratio of value added to gross output are usually labour-intensive, especially when wages and salaries are above average. This is true for Software & Digital Content and Architecture, Design & Visual Arts, with ratios of 60.4% and 55.2% respectively. However there is significant variation in this ratio between different parts of the creative industries, with some parts (e.g. Software & Digital Content and Architecture, Design & Visual Arts) generating even higher value added relative to output, and others (e.g. TV & Radio, Publishing and Music & Performing Arts) less, because of high capital intensity and import content. When we take into account the impact of the creative industries’ demand for goods and services from its suppliers and consumption spending from incomes earned, we estimate that there is an addition to economic activity of: • $30.9 billion in gross output, $41.4b in total • $15.1b in value added, $20.3b in total • 158,100 people employed, 234,600 in total The total economic impact of the creative industries is approximately four times their direct output and value added, and three times their direct employment. Their effect on output and value added is roughly in line with the average over all industries, although the effect on employment is significantly lower. This is because of the relatively high labour intensity (and high earnings) of the creative industries, which generate below-average demand from suppliers, but normal levels of demand though expenditure from incomes. Drawing on these numbers and conclusions, we suggest some (slightly speculative) directions for future research. The goal is to better understand the contribution the creative sector makes to productivity growth; in particular, the distinctive contributions from creative firms and embedded creative workers. The ideas for future research can be organised into the several categories: • Understanding the categories of the creative sector– who is doing the business? In other words, examine via more fine grained research (at a firm level perhaps) just what is the creative contribution from the different aspects of the creative sector industries. It may be possible to categorise these in terms of more or less striking innovations. • Investigate the relationship between the characteristics and the performance of the various creative industries/ sectors; • Look more closely at innovation at an industry level e.g. using an index of relative growth of exports, and see if this can be related to intensity of use of creative inputs; • Undertake case studies of the creative sector; • Undertake case studies of the embedded contribution to growth in the firms and industries that employ them, by examining taking several high performing noncreative industries (in the same way as proposed for the creative sector). • Look at the aggregates – drawing on the broad picture of the extent of the numbers of creative workers embedded within the different industries, consider the extent to which these might explain aspects of the industries’ varied performance in terms of exports, growth and so on. • This might be able to extended to examine issues like the type of creative workers that are most effective when embedded, or test the hypothesis that each industry has its own particular requirements for embedded creative workers that overwhelms any generic contributions from say design, or IT.

Voter behaviour and constitutional change in Australia since 1967

Australian Constitutional referendums have been part of the Australian political system since federation. Up to the year 1999 (the time of the last referendum in Australia), constitutional change in Australia does not have a good history of acceptance. Since 1901, there have been 44 proposed constitutional changes with eight gaining the required acceptance according to section 128 of the Australian Constitution. In the modern era since 1967, there have been 20 proposals over seven referendum votes for a total of four changes. Over this same period, there have been 13 federal general elections which have realised change in government just five times. This research examines the electoral behaviour of Australian voters from 1967 to 1999 for each referendum. Party identification has long been a key indicator in general election voting. This research considers whether the dominant theory of voter behaviour in general elections (the Michigan Model) provides a plausible explanation for voting in Australian referendums. In order to explain electoral behaviour in each referendum, this research has utilised available data from the Australian Electoral Commission, the 1996 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data, and the 1999 Australian Constitutional Referendum Study. This data has provided the necessary variables required to measure the impact of the Michigan Model of voter behaviour. Measurements have been conducted using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Each referendum provides an overview of the events at the time of the referendum as well as the =yes‘ and =no‘ cases at the time each referendum was initiated. Results from this research provide support for the Michigan Model of voter behaviour in Australian referendum voting. This research concludes that party identification, as a key variable of the Michigan Model, shows that voters continue to take their cues for voting from the political party they identify with in Australian referendums. However, the outcome of Australian referendums clearly shows that partisanship is only one of a number of contributory factors in constitutional referendums.

Reconciling Nicci Lane : the 'unspeakable' significance of Australia's first indigenous porn star

This article will explore X-rated representations of Aboriginality in Australian-produced pornographic videos, particularly the image of Australia's first Indigenous porn-star, Nicci Lane. It investigates how pornographic narratives involving 'Aboriginal' characters or motifs are connected to broader embodiments of Aboriginality in popular culture. Drawing a parallel with Australian television drama and mainstream films, the article highlights how contemporary sexualized images of Aboriginal people are intimately tied to a politics of reconciliation. By surveying recent literature on pornography, which describe how certain pornographic narratives engage 'unspoken' community desires, my argument will discuss Nicci Lane's career as a unique development in the history of representations of Aboriginality. Through analysis of Lane’s Arigato Baby (1991), these ‘unspoken’ desires relate to showing Indigenous people in everyday sexual contexts, as romantic partners, friends and lovers. My argument will go on to suggest that, through Nicci Lane's performance and profile, the image of Australia’s first Indigenous porn-star offers the possibility for imagining new kinds of interracial intimacy within the Australian public sphere.

Questions of English : ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, and the formation of the subject in England, Australia and the United States

The impact and content of English as a subject on the curriculum is once more the subject of lively debate. Questions of English sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterise it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings Robin Peel, Annette Patterson and Jeanne Gerlach bring together and compare important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practice from England, Australia and the United States. They also discuss the development of teacher training, highlighting the variety of ways in which teachers build their own beliefs and knowledge about English.

Revisiting Industrial Relations

In 1999 I convened Industrial Relations, the annual ADSA Conference hosted by QUT in Brisbane. This event was promoted as ‘a conference exploring the links between theatre scholarship and professional theatre practice’. As well as academics, there was to be substantial representation by ‘industry professionals’, although interest from the latter category turned out to be modest. One day of the conference was designated a special ‘Links with Industry’ day, during which the Association launched its now defunct ADSAIL (ADSA Industry Links) initiative. Keynote speaker Wesley Enoch commented on ‘the very strong resistance in “the industry” to acknowledging any role of academics’. ‘What is the practical role of having them?’ he asked the ‘them’ gathered before him. In a letter declining our invitation to speak (he later changed his mind), David Williamson remarked that he always felt ‘uneasy at such conferences’: My view of my work is that I’ve successfully filled theatres for 30 years now, something dramatists are supposed to do. I suppose there’s part of me that hopes this will be celebrated. It often is, but rarely in academic drama departments …. Perhaps in fifty years time someone in academe will realise that I wasn’t just reinforcing the attitudes of the Anglo Celtic ruling class. Several years on it seems timely to revisit Industrial Relations; to look again at the extent to which problems of intercultural communication between industry and academy are being addressed. And what are the implications of this for the ADSA History project, which seeks to investigate ADSA’s contribution to the development of theatre / performance studies in Australasia? What are the ‘external’ impacts of ADSA’s ongoing conference enterprise, and how might these be measured? Reflections from delegates on these and other questions will be warmly encouraged.

Industrial Relations: Proceedings from the 1999 Australasian Drama Studies Association Conference

These papers were presented at “Industrial Relations”, the Australasian Drama Studies Association conference hosted by Theatre & Teaching Studies in the Academy of the Arts, Queensland University of Technology, from the 5th to the 9th of July, 1999. Conference delegates included scholars and artists from across the tertiary education and professional theatre sectors, including, of course, many individuals who work across and between both those worlds. More than a hundred delegates from Australia, New Zealand, England, Belgium and Canada attended the week’s events, which included: • Over sixty conference papers covering a variety of topics from project reports to academy/industry partnerships, theatre history, audience reception studies, health & safety, cultural policy, performance theory, theatre technology and more; • Performances ranging from drama to dance, music and cabaret; • Workshops, panel discussions, forums and interviews; • Keynote addresses from Wesley Enoch, Josette Feral and Keith Johnstone; and • A special “Links with Industry” day, which included the launch of ADSA’s “Links with Industry” brochure, an interview between Mark Radvan and David Williamson, and a panel session featuring Jules Holledge, Zane Trow, Katharine Brisbane, John Kotzas, Gay McAuley and David Watt.

User-Created Content and Online Social Networks

Traditional media are under assault from digital technologies. Online advertising is eroding the financial basis of newspapers and television, demarcations between different forms of media are fading, and audiences are fragmenting. We can podcast our favourite radio show, data accompanies television programs, and we catch up with newspaper stories on our laptops. Yet mainstream media remain enormously powerful. The Media and Communications in Australia offers a systematic introduction to this dynamic field. Fully updated and revised to take account of recent developments, this third edition outlines the key media industries and explains how communications technologies are impacting on them. It provides a thorough overview of the main approaches taken in studying the media, and includes new chapters on social media, gaming, telecommunications, sport and cultural diversity. With contributions from some of Australia's best researchers and teachers in the field, The Media and Communications in Australia is the most comprehensive and reliable introduction to media and communications available. It is an ideal student text, and a reference for teachers of media and anyone interested in this influential industry.

An ecological assessment of secondary poisoning risk in the Australian sugarcane industry

Rodenticide use in agriculture can lead to the secondary poisoning of avian predators. Currently the Australian sugarcane industry has two rodenticides, Racumin® and Rattoff®, available for in-crop use but, like many agricultural industries, it lacks an ecologically-based method of determining the potential secondary poisoning risk the use of these rodenticides poses to avian predators. The material presented in this thesis addresses this by: a. determining where predator/prey interactions take place in sugar producing districts; b. quantifying the amount of rodenticide available to avian predators and the probability of encounter; and c. developing a stochastic model that allows secondary poisoning risk under various rodenticide application scenarios to be investigated. Results demonstrate that predator/prey interactions are highly constrained by environmental structure. Rodents used crops that provided high levels of canopy cover and therefore predator protection and poorly utilised open canopy areas. In contrast, raptors over-utilised areas with low canopy cover and low rodent densities, but which provided high accessibility to prey. Given this pattern of habitat use, and that industry baiting protocols preclude rodenticide application in open canopy crops, these results indicate that secondary poisoning can only occur if poisoned rodents leave closed canopy crops and become available for predation in open canopy areas. Results further demonstrate that after in-crop rodenticide application, only a small proportion of rodents available in open areas are poisoned and that these rodents carry low levels of toxicant. Coupled with the low level of rodenticide use in the sugar industry, the high toxic threshold raptors have to these toxicants and the low probability of encountering poisoned rodents, results indicate that the risk of secondary poisoning events occurring is minimal. A stochastic model was developed to investigate the effect of manipulating factors that might influence secondary poisoning hazard in a sugarcane agro-ecosystem. These simulations further suggest that in all but extreme scenarios, the risk of secondary poisoning is also minimal. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that secondary poisoning of avian predators associated with the use of the currently available rodenticides in Australian sugar producing districts is minimal. Further, the ecologically-based method of assessing secondary poisoning risk developed in this thesis has broader applications in other agricultural systems where rodenticide use may pose risks to avian predators.

Consumer trends in digital news and information in Australia

We all know that the future of news is digital. But mainstream news providers are still grappling with how to entice more customers to their online sites. This paper provides context for a survey currently underway on user intentions towards online news and entertainment, by exploring: 1. Consumer behaviours and intentions with regards to accessing online news and information; 2. Current trends in the Australian online news and information sector; and 3. Key issues and emerging opportunities in the Australian (and global) environment. Key influences on use of online news and information are pricing and access. The paper highlights emerging technical opportunities and flags service gaps. These gaps include multiple disconnects between: 1. Changing user intentions towards online and location based news (news based on a specific locality as chosen by the user) and information; 2. The ability by consumers to act on these intentions via the availability and cost of technologies; 3. Younger users may prefer entertainment to news, or ‘infotainment’; and 4. Current online offerings of traditional news providers and opportunities. These disconnects present an opportunity for online news suppliers to appraise and resolve. Doing so may enhance their online news and information offering, attract consumers and improve loyalty. Outcomes from this paper will be used to identify knowledge gaps and contribute to the development of further analysis on Australian consumers and their behaviours and intentions towards online news and information. This will be undertaken via focus groups as part of a broader study.

Vibration of ship structures and its control

Noise and vibration in complex ship structures are becoming a prominent issue for ship building industry and ship companies due to the constant demand of building faster ships of lighter weight, and the stringent noise and libration regulation of the industry. In order to retain the full benefit of building faster ships without compromising too much on ride comfort and safety, noise and vibration control needs to be implemented. Due to the complexity of ship structures, the coupling of different wave types and multiple wave propagation paths, active control of global hull modes is difficult to implement and very expensive. Traditional passive control such as adding damping materials is only effective in the high frequency range. However, most severe damage to ship structures is caused by large structural deformation of hull structures and high dynamic stress concentration at low frequencies. The most discomfort and fatigue of passengers and the crew onboard ships is also due to the low frequency noise and vibration. Innovative approaches are therefore, required to attenuate the noise and vibration at low frequencies. This book was developed from several specialized research topics on vibration and vibration control of ship structures, mostly from the author's own PhD work at the University of Western Australia. The book aims to provide a better understanding of vibration characteristics of ribbed plate structures, plate/plate coupled structures and the mechanism governing wave propagation and attenuation in periodic and irregular ribbed structures as well as in complex ship structures. The book is designed to be a reference book for ship builders, vibro-acoustic engineers and researchers. The author also hopes that the book can stimulate more exciting future work in this area of research. It is the author's humble desire that the book can be some use for those who purchase it. This book is divided into eight chapters. Each chapter focuses on providing solution to address a particular issue on vibration problems of ship structures. A brief summary of each chapter is given in the general introduction. All chapters are inter-dependent to each other to form an integration volume on the subject of vibration and vibration control of ship structures and alike. I am in debt to many people in completing this work. In particular, I would like to thank Professor J. Pan, Dr N.H. Farag, Dr K. Sum and many others from the University of Western Australia for useful advices and helps during my times at the University and beyond. I would also like to thank my wife, Miaoling Wang, my children, Anita, Sophia and Angela Lin, for their sacrifice and continuing supports to make this work possible. Financial supports from Australian Research Council, Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization and Strategic Marine Pty Ltd at Western Australia for this work is gratefully acknowledged.

Phylogenetically distinct Staphylococcus aureus lineage prevalent among indigenous communities in northern Australia

The aim was to determine the evolutionary position of the Staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 75 (CC75) that is prevalent in tropical northern Australia. Sequencing of gap, rpoB, sodA, tuf, and hsp60 and the multilocus sequence typing loci revealed a clear separation between conventional S. aureus and CC75 and significant diversity within CC75.

Innovation

Innovation can be defined broadly to include the development and uptake of new technology, the introduction of new products, the utilisation of new market opportunities and the implementation of new business processes including new forms of work organisation or management structures and approaches. Innovation, or the commercial application of new knowledge, is of increasing importance to economic competitiveness given the growth in production and trade in high technology industries and knowledge intensive service sectors such as business services (Edquist, Hommen and McKelvey 2001). An important field of innovation in modern economies is associated with the rapid development and application of information and communications technologies (ICTs). ICTs constitute an increasing share of value added, growth and employment and also impact on employment and productivity in other industry sectors. The structural transformation of modern economies associated with ICTs has led to an increase in the importance of information and knowledge resources (rather than physical capital) as inputs or factors of production. Technology and product innovations are often given central attention in innovation research, however, organisational and managerial changes have been recognised as critical. Over the last two decades, understandings of the nature and process of innovation have advanced significantly. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a view that innovation resulted from basic research, or in essence that scientific research acted as a 'push' for innovation. As such there was a great deal of emphasis on formal research and development, undertaken either by governments or research and development units within business organisations. Radical innovations involving new products and new technological trajectories were thought to derive from basic research (Freeman 1995).