National governments doing business on-line : an Australian look at current practice and future hazards

Governments around the world are taking advantage of the numerous benefits offered by the World Wide Web in order to provide client services to citizens. Australia has been a leader in this trend. The literature in this area focuses primarily on the pragmatic issues such as governmental accountability and transparency, interactivity, policy making, security and privacy, quality and costs. Along with the positive accounts of eGovernment development, however, some concerns are emerging in the literature. This paper examines such issues with particular reference to national governments. Although Australia can be proud of its position as a leader in bringing government business to the Web, it must also be cognisant of the concerns about eGovernment that are being more widely identified.

An integrated information strategy for ecommerce for export : enhancing networking in an international business context

Companies using electronic commerce to facilitate their export activities (EC4X) need information and support at all stages of their export development and eCommerce adoption. This need is especially pressing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper reports the findings of a study of EC4X information and support needs among a sample of Australian companies. Evidence from SMEs, business associations and the Victorian state government suggests that governments need to develop a strategy for cost-effective on-line EC4X material that incorporates both generic and specific information. On-line provision of information is an effective way to meet the needs of SMEs and is increasingly the preferred channel for government bodies seeking to promote EC4X capability. However, personal contacts and networks are still an essential part of international business. Thus, an effective government strategy will support the business networking and personal contacts so important to help SMEs develop both eCommerce and export activities.

Quality methods in Australian small and medium sized enterprises: a research framework

Quality methods in Australian industry gained much attention in the late 1980s and for most of the 1990s. In particular, quality methods such as quality systems and quality system certification had prominence, as Governments and large private sector firms attempted to improve their supply-chains. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a rigorous and holistic approach to investigating the applicability of quality methods in Australian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). It describes the research framework developed to further investigate the impact of quality methods on Australian SMEs, and illustrates how the framework leads to a broader exploratory study.

Egovernance : a growing paradigm in Germany and India

EGovernance is fast becoming a focal issue with governments worldwide, enabled by the ICT revolution. Many economies are adopting eGovernance as a medium of reaching out and empowering the average citizen, stretching tax revenues and cutting down transaction costs. In this paper, we have examined Germany and India, two disparate economies in terms of development yet similar in administrative structures against a backdrop of insightful socio-economic fabric. We have taken a positivist approach and used the exploratory research method, supported by the transaction cost economic theory to draw broad conclusions on similarities and differences in eGovernance adoption, within these economies.

New forms of organising : changing structures, processes and boundaries in a public sector institution

Globalisation, deregulation, privatisation, and advances in communications technologies have intensified competition and impacted on the structures, processes and boundaries that define organisations. Increased competition at both the local and global level calls for increased responsiveness and flexibility, and continuous improvement and innovation. As organisations endeavour to become more attentive and responsive to environmental trends, and customer needs and expectations, they are experimenting with different forms of organising. This has included flattening structures, devolving decision-making responsibility and encouraging greater collaboration and knowledge transfer across functional areas.

The William Angliss Institute of TAFE operates in the post-secondary sector which has experienced significant changes over the past decade as a result of: wide-ranging public sector reforms imposed by successive governments; budgetary cutbacks; accountability and performance improvement pressures; increased national and international competition, industrial relations changes and more demanding, sophisticated customers. This paper draws on the INNFORM Study's three organisational design dimensions of structure, process, and boundaries to examine the nature and degree of change that has taken place at the Institute. Case study findings indicate that while William Angliss has implemetted changes across the three design dimensions, the depth and breadth of these vary and this has impacted on overall performance outcomes. Its experience suggests that even when an organisation adopts a systemic approach and implements changes simultaneously across structure, process and boundaries, optimal performance benefits will not accrue unless these elemental changes are mutually reinforcing and complementary. It also suggests that improvement to processes, particularly communications and human resources practices must be an overarching consideration, as complementary change across all three design dimensions depends ultimately on the contribution and commitment organisational members are prepared to make.

Ecommerce strategy in a multi-sector trading environment - quandaries for SMEs

For nearly a decade the potential benefits of Business-to-Business electronic commerce for business efficiency and competitiveness have been vigorously promoted by business, industry groups and governments. The belief underpinning policy is that from a small initial step, eCommerce will become a central part of their business strategies. This paper considers the use of B-2-B electronic transactions by SME suppliers who trade with buyer companies across diverse industry sectors in Australia. We investigate the links between their business strategies and their views of electronic trading. A survey of 240 crosssector suppliers nationwide found little evidence that electronic trading was integrated with their overall business strategy. We suggest an approach to the understanding of cross-sector electronic trading strategies that emphasises the complex, inter-connected but fragmented trading milieu rather than describing the balance between drivers and barriers that operate for the individual firm.

A proposal for change to teacher education in and for rural and regional Australia

In recent years, much attention has been given to the preparation of teachers for rural and regional schools (for example, Marks et al, 2000, Marks et al, 2001, Jones, 2002). Rural and regional teacher education brings with it exciting opportunities for individuals and communities. However, it is also coupled with specific demands on governments, teaching staff and tertiary institutions. However, as yet little attention has been given to how to reform teacher education to address the identified issues (Green & Reid, 2004). At present, the teacher education course offered on the Warrnambool campus of Deakin University is identical to that offered on the metropolitan (Burwood) and regional (Geelong) campuses. The course is a traditional four-year course.

At the Warrnambool campus we are embarking on a project which aims to reconceptualise teacher education for rural and regional contexts. It seeks to: better understand the issues and challenges rural and regional stake holders face within the profession, including both pre-service and service dimensions; identify the context specific knowledge, skills and strategies rural and regional schools are looking for in graduate teachers; and develop and implement a revised Bachelor of Education program that reflects the needs of rural and regional education.

In this paper, we outline how we intend determining the demand for a community-based teacher education program in western Victoria and determining/negotiating community support for such an initiative.

Roles, responsibilities and futures of chief information officers (CIOs) in the public sector

This paper discusses in its entirety, the CIO (Chief Information Officer) position in the public sector. Governments are increasingly adopting Information Technology for internal processes and for the delivery of service to their citizens. It includes literature on CIO roles and responsibilities which is heavily based on the private sector, due to the recognition of the role in this sector over twenty years. The position is just evolving in the public sector, and due to the context in which the public sector operates there are some similarities as well as vast differences. An evaluation of existing CIO models and theories form the basis for research on CIO roles, responsibilities and future within the public sector.

Public finance and income redistribution in interwar Australia: towards a class analysis

In this paper I focus on a neglected aspect of Australian political history, the extent to which Australian governments actually redistributed income. The German sociologist Rudolf Goldscheid argued that 'the budget is the skeleton of the state stripped of all misleading ideologies'. In Australia a party that claimed to represent lower income earners, the Labor Party, was a major political force, but did Labor actually make a difference to the distribution of income across social classes, or did Labor's rhetoric of equity merely serve to incorporate workers into the capitalist system? A quantitative approach to the political history of labour may enable us to escape both nostalgia for old labourism (which the Howard years have encouraged) and a simple and undifferentiated rejection of labourism as a reformist agent of social integration.

This paper incorporates some material from a 2005 paper that examined overall expenditure patterns and taxation patterns across the states and Commonwealth from 1910 to 1940 but it goes beyond the aggregate approach of this paper to consider the extent which the varying patterns of taxation and public expenditure across Australia impacted on different social classes during the 1930s. It is very much a preliminary analysis based on existing compilations of taxation statistics. It is a static analysis and does not consider if nominally redistributive taxation and expenditure patterns might be rendered ineffective by consequent interstate migration.

Integrating cost-effectiveness evidence into clincal practice guidelines in Australia for acute myocardial infarction

 A teaching hospital is working with the Victorian State Government and universities, integrating cost-effectiveness evidence into clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), protocols and pathways for respiratory and cardiology interventions. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) findings are reported. Results will stimulate cost-effective practice and inform medical associations, federal and state governments and international organisations developing CPGs. Published CPGs by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Foundation for AMI in 1999 are reviewed by a large interdis- ciplinary hospital-based committee given cost-effectiveness evidence. Levels of evi- dence criteria rating on methodological rigor for effectiveness and costs are applied. National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grades of recommendation criteria for combinations of relative effectiveness versus relative costs and cut-off points are used. Extrapolating results between countries was addressed by applying the OECD's health purchasing power parity series. Recommendations for revisions to United States guidelines and for local application are formulated. United States Guide- lines require updating: Regarding angioplasty, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is cost-effective for men aged 60 years relative to recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA),with additional cost per life year saved of 274 ecu. PTCA with discharge after 3 days is cost-effective in low-risk AMI. Regarding GP llb/Illa drugs, Abciximab during intervention incurred equal mean hospital costs for placebabciximab bolus, and abciximab bolus+ infusion with incremental 6-month cost for the latter treatment costing US$ 293 per patient. Agent recouped almost all initial therapy costs with significant benefits. Incre- mental cost of abciximab per event prevent- ed is US$ 3,258.Tirofiban was compared to placebo after high-risk angioplasty for AMI or unstable angina.Tirofiban decreased the rate of hospital deaths, myocardial infarc- tion, revascularisation at 2 days by 36% relative to placebo (8% vs. 12%) without increased cost. Clinical benefits were similar at 30 days.Tirofiban+heparin+aspirin was compared to heparin+aspirin.Tirofiban arm resulted in net savings of 33,418 ecu per 100 patients for the first 7 days of treatment. Regarding thrombolytics,tPA is more cost- effective than streptokinase. Incremental costs for each life saved when streptokinase is substituted by recombinant tissue plasmi- nogen are 31%,45%, 97% higher in Germa- ny, Italy and the United States than in the United Kingdom. Regarding anticoagulants, enoxaparin is a promising alternative to unfractionated heparin for hospitalised patients with non-Q-wave myocardiai infarc- tion or unstable angina, saving C$ 1,485 per patient over 12 months with 10% reduction in 1 year risk of death, myocardial infarction or recurrent angina. Regarding anti- arrhymics, the cost-effectiveness of no amiodarone, amiodarone for patients with depressed heart rate variability (DHRV),and amiodarone for patients with DHRV plus positive programmed ventricular stimula- tion (PPVS) for high-risk post-AMI was investigated. Amiodarone for DHRV+PPVS patients was dominated by a blend of the two alternatives. Compared to no amioda- rone, the incremental cost-effectiveness of amiodarone for DHRV patients was US$ 39,422 per quality adjusted life year gained. Amiodarone for DHRV is the most appropriate. Other CPG updates concern serum markers, for example, cardiac troponin I assay (c-Tnl), cost advantages of ad hoc angioplasty and secondary prevention through antioxidants and pravastatin. Australian costs are reported later in the paper.

Australian law students' perceptions of their values: interim results in the first year--2001--of a three--year empirical assessment

This study attempts to answer an essential social policy question: what values are characteristic of the mass of Australian lawyers' in their last year of law school and their early careers, and how do these values develop or degrade over time? This question is important because of the concern felt in the community as to the activities of lawyers. In recent years the Australian legal profession has sustained more scrutiny by governments, regulators and consumer movements than in any previous period of our history. The perception that practitioners' competencies and ethics are deficient and materially linked both to reduced standards of performance and to higher levels of public complaints, has received attention from academics, law societies, parliamentary committees and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

The Long Game: Hamas, The IRA, and the Politics of Radicalization in Palestine and Northern Ireland

The value of a comparative study of the two conflicts stems from a remarkable similarity in the structural organization of political violence by its most influential practitioners: the IRA and Hamas. At the core, I have merely tried my best to approach a beguiling question in a fresh, dynamic way. The stultifying discourse of conflict that serves as lingua franca for the Israeli‐Palestinian issue has largely reduced strategic debate to how best the conflict can be managed – not ended. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s focus on “economic peace” and unwillingness to commit to a two‐state solution – the consensus that has governed peacemaking for decades – belies such thinking. The Clinton Administration’s cadre of Mideast negotiators operated amidst the most rapid institutionalization of Palestinian democracy in history ‐ yet remained obsessed with Israeli‐Arab “confidence‐building” measures, doing little to legitimize the gains of Oslo. So long as Palestinians continue to view the creation of Israel as “al‐Nakba” – the catastrophe – whilst successive Israeli governments refuse to grant their aspirations any legitimacy, there can be no progress. Peace requires empathy, a substantial compromise in the context of internecine conflict. The “long war” both conflicts have become mandates an equally expansive, broad‐based and labor‐intensive approach – a demanding process that can only be called The Long Game.

Investigating social marketing, benchmarking and public policy development in environmental management

This paper discusses, an application of social marketing relating to pro-environmental awareness and social change. The integration of consumer behaviour theory into social marketing has been highlighted in the literature as requiring greater attention. Social marketing campaigns, like all marketing activities, rely on an understanding of stakeholders' attitudes and motivations in regard to the issue of concern, as well as towards the desired modified behaviour or lack of behaviour. The study highlights the marketing paradigms of benchmarking and social marketing in a not for profit governmental environment. Serrated Tussock has been designated as a weed of national significance and therefore the program has national implications (Thorp 2000). Even though issues associated with introduced species are less publicised than other environmental issues on the world stage, the associated environmental problems are no less severe than those caused by production and consumption activities. Weed control is a widespread problem facing individuals, communities and governments at all levels. A triangulatory approach, involving three distinct phases and incorporating both qualitative and quantitative tools, was used for the research design. The qualitative phase involved focus groups and in depth interviews with landholders, focus groups with professionals in the field and a focus group of key stakeholders. The mail survey resulted in a representative sample of 608 usable responses from the infestation area. The research conducted in this study illustrates how the various stages in the social marketing process were achieved and recommendations consistent with social marketing theory were generated.

Income security of international students in Australia

Growth in the number of international students studying in English language countries has slowed in recent years and this development has generated extended debate amongst university managers and policy makers. In these discussions much attention has focussed on whether the slow down is to be explained by currency realignments, visa requirements, the quality of education, or the increasing competitiveness of the international education market. But what has attracted little attention is the fact that when parents and students choose in which country they will purchase a foreign education their choice is commonly influenced by the level of security that is perceived to characterise the range of options. What security means can take many forms and in this paper we focus on income security. Drawing on interview data from 9 Australian universities, we clarify the sources of international student income, the extent to which these students experience income security/insecurity, how they cope with income difficulties and/or ensure finances do not become a serious problem, and whether the nature of the information provided by governments and universities helps explain the extent of income insecurity manifest amongst international students in Australia. We argue that a significant proportion of international students studying in Australia do experience income insecurity and suggest that for both moral and economic reasons the government and the university sector should pay increased attention to this aspect of student need.

Handbook of teacher education : globalization, standards and professionalism in times of change

This book provides an international review of the current state of teacher education, with chapters from an international group of teacher educators. It focuses on major issues that are confronting teacher educators now and in the next decade. These include the impact of globalization on the profession of teaching, and how teacher education must deal with changing accountability requirements from governments and establish a set of minimum standards acceptable to enable a person to teach. The work also considers aspects of the three major phases of teacher education: the period prior to commencing in the profession, successful induction into the profession, and the ongoing professional development of teachers. Finally, it identifies ways in which new technologies can be used to improve the training and ongoing development of teachers. Cases from different countries are used to provide a rich base of data to help us understand how the profession is moving onwards.