The taxpayers'€™ charter : a case study in tax administration

The Australian Taxpayers'€™ Charter was introduced in 1997 and a revised version in November 2003. This is therefore an appropriate time to review the contribution of this initiative. This article traces the development of such modern charters and then specifically the development of tax charters. The Australian Taxpayers' Charter and the Australian Tax Office'€™s ("€œATO"€) experience with it are then examined. Among other possible advantages, the Charter may be used as a measure of the ATO'€™s performance. Taxpayers’ views regarding the extent to which the ATO meets its obligations under the Taxpayers'€™ Charter, as expressed in two surveys of Australian voters (N = 2,040 and 2,374), are presented. Generally the taxpayers are supportive. The results of the survey also support the ATO'€™s view that the Charter fits in with compliance policy. Finally, the Charter demonstrates how initiatives in tax administration might he successfully achieved.

The valuation of fast-food outlets : analysis, methodology, and reliability

Fast-food outlets are a significant subsector of the hospitality and tourism property market in Australia, and have experienced significant growth and global change in the past 20 years. However, little attention has been given in professional and academic literature to the valuation methodology and analysis of these properties. This article proposes a working definition of a fast-food outlet, traces recent changes in the structure of the fast-food industry, investigates the major determinants of value with respect to asset value, and examines to what extent these have changed. In particular, it isolates the role of goodwill in assessing going-concern value.

Konflik di Aceh konteks, pemicu, katalis

Miller traces The Roots of the Acehnese conflict to Indonesian repressive policies, specifically: exploitation of Aceh's natural resources; violence against Acehnese Civilians by Indonesian security forces; and Jakarta's failure to honor commitments to Aceh's autonomy. This contradicts the prevailing Acehnese perception of the war as a liberation struggle against colonial domination. This contradicts the prevailing Acehnese perception of the war as a Liberation struggle against colonial domination. Regional discontent in Aceh grew into separatist insurgency in the 1970s. Regional Discontent in Aceh grew into separatist insurgency in the 1970s. This provoked an increasingly martial response from the government, which involved widespread violations of Acehnese human rights. This Provoked an increasingly martial response from the government, which involved widespread violations of Acehnese human rights. East Timor's successful bid for independence in the 1990s simultaneously strengthened both Acehnese' aspirations of self-determination, and nationalists' belief in preserving Indonesia's territorial integrity. East Timor's successful bid for independence in the 1990s simultaneously strengthened both Acehnese 'aspirations of self-determination, and nationalists' belief in preserving Indonesia's territorial integrity.

History of contact and change in the Goroka Valley, Central Highlands of New Guinea, 1934-1949

The thesis traces the interaction of the Goroka Valley people with European and coastal New Guinean intruders during the pacification stage of contact and change. In this 15 year period the people moved from a traditional subsistence culture to the threshold of a modern, European-influenced technological society. The contact experiences of the inhabitants of the Valley and the outsiders who influenced them are examined, using both oral and documentary sources. A central theme of this study is the attempts by Europeans and their coastal New Guinean collaborators to achieve the pacification of a people for whom warfare has been described as 'the dominant orientation'. The newcomers saw pacification as being inextricably linked with social, economic and religious transformation, and consequently it was pursued by patrol officers, missionaries and soldiers alike. Following an introductory chapter outlining the pre-contact and early-contact history of the Goroka Valley people, there is a discussion of the causes of tribal fighting in Highlands communities and two case studies of violent events which, although occurring beyond the Goroka Valley, had important consequences for those who lived within its bounds. The focus then shifts to the first permanent settlement of the agents of change -initially these were coastal New Guinean evangelists and policemen - and their impact on the local people. A period of consolidation is then described, as both government and missions established a permanent 'European presence in the Valley'. This period was characterised by vigorous pacification coupled with the introduction of innovations in health and education, agriculture, technology, law and religion. The gradual transformation of Goroka Valley society as a result of the people's interaction with the newcomers was abruptly accelerated in 1943, when many hundreds of Allied soldiers occupied the Valley in anticipation of a threatened Japanese invasion. Village life was disrupted as men were conscripted as carriers and labourers and whole communities were obliged to grow food to assist the Allied war effort. Those living close to military airfields-and camps were subject to Japanese aerial attacks and the entire population was exposed to an epidemic of bacillary dysentery introduced by the combatants. However the War also brought some positive effects, including paradoxically, the almost total cessation of tribal fighting, the construction of an ail-weather airstrip at Goroka which ensured its future as a town and administrative and commercial centre, and the compulsory growing of vegetables, coffee, etc, which laid the foundations for a cash economy and material prosperity. The final chapter examines the aftermath of military occupation, the return of civil administration and the implementation of social and economic policies which brought the Goroka Valley people into the rapid-development phase of contact. By 1949 Gorokans were ready to channel their aggressive energies into commercial competitiveness and adopt a cash-crop economy, to accept the European rule of law, to take advantage of Western innovations in medicine, education, transport and communications, to seek employment opportunities at home and in other parts of the country and to modify their primal world view with European religious and secular values. A Stone Age people was in process of being transformed into a modern society.

Community-based environmental education : government and community, economics and environment

This thesis contends that government focus on policy implicitly defines community education as a means of overcoming barriers to government-initiated change, rather than as an input to governmental decision-making. The role of education is thus viewed as instrumentalist rather than as dialectical in nature. I argue that this role has been reinforced and driven by economic rationalism, as a mechanism related to scientific theory and practice. The thesis addresses the role of government in non-institutional community-based environmental education. Of interest is environmental education under the dominance of economic rationalism and as expressed in government-derived policy, in its own right, and as enacted in two government funded animal management projects. The main body of data, then, includes a review of some contemporary environmental policies and two case studies of 'policy in practice'. Chapter One provides an overview of environmentalism as it has emerged as part of the discourse of Western political systems. Recognised as part of this change is a move to environmentalism embued with the rhetoric of economic theory. The manifestation of this change can be seen in an emphasis on management for the natural environment's use as a resource for humans. Education under this arrangement is valued in terms of its ability to support initiatives that are perceived as economically viable and economically advantageous, maintaining centralised control of decision-making and serving the interests of those who profit from this arrangement. Government-derived environmental policies are presented in Chapter Two. They provide evidence of the conjoining of environment with economic rationalism and the adoption of a particular stance which is both utilitarian and instrumentalist. Emerging from this is an understanding of the limitations placed on environmental debates that do not respond to complex understandings of context and instead support and legitimate centralisation of decision-making and control. Chapter Three presents an argument for an historical approach to environmental education research to accommodate contextual dimensions, as well as scientific, economic and technical dimensions, of the subject under study. An historical approach to research, inclusive of biographical, intergenerational and geographical histories, goes some way to providing an understanding of current individual and collective responses to policy enactment within the two study sites. It also responds to the concealing of history which results from the reduction of environmental debates to economic terms. With this in mind, Chapters Four and Five provide two historical case studies of 'policy in practice'. Chapter Four traces the workings of a rabbit control project in the Sutton Grange district of Victoria and Chapter Five provides an account of a mouse plague project in the Wimmera and Mallee regions of Victoria. The Sutton Grange rabbit project is organised and controlled by district landholders while the Wimmera and Mallee mouse project is organised and controlled by representatives from a scientific organisation and a government agency. Considered in juxtaposition, the two case studies enable an analysis of two somewhat different expressions of the 'role of government'. Chapter Six investigates the competing processes of community participation in governmental decision-making and Australia's system of representative democracy, Despite a call for increased community participation, the majority of policies remain dominated by governmental rhetoric and ideology underpinned by a belief in impartiality. The primacy of economics is considered in terms of government and community interaction, with specific reference to the emergence of particular conceptual constructions, such as cost-benefit analysis, that support this dominance. Of specific importance to this thesis is the argument that economic theory is essentially anthropocentric and individualist and, thus, necessarily marginalises particular conceptions of environment that are non-anthropocentric and non-individualistic. Finally, Chapter Six examines two major interrelated tensions; those of central interests and community interests, and economic rationalism and environmentalist. Chapter Seven looks at examples of theories and practices that fall outside the rationality determined by scientistic knowledge. It is clear from the examination of environmental policy within this thesis that the role ascribed to environmental education is instrumentalist. The function of education is often to support, promote and implement policy and its advocated practices. It is also clear from the examination of policy and advocated processes that policy defines community education as a means of manifesting change as determined by policy, rather than as an input to governmental decision-making. The domination of scientific, economic and technocratic processes (and legitimation of processes) allows only for an instrumentalist approach to education from government. What is encouraged by government through the process of change is continuity rather than reform. It promotes change that will not disrupt the governing hegemony. Particular perspectives and practices, such as a critical approach to education, are omitted or considered only within the unquestioned rationale of the dominant worldview. Chapter Seven focuses on the consequence of government attention to policy which implicitly defines community education as a means of overcoming barriers to change, rather than as an input to governmental decision-making. Finally a list of recommendations is put forward as a starting point to reconstruct community-based environmental education. The role considered is one that responds to, and encourages engagement in, debates which expose disparate views, assumptions and positions. Community ideology must be challenged through the public practices of communication and understanding, decision-making, and action. Intervention is not on a level that encourages a preordinate outcome but, rather, what is encouraged is elaborate consideration of disparate views and rational opinions, and the exposure of assumptions and interests behind ideological positions.

User participation in the performance assessment of school buildings : a study of six primary schools in the Bellarine Peninsula region

Young children spend a significant portion of their lives at primary school. This research traces the development of school facilities in Victoria and examines the performance of six primary schools from the users' perspective. Performance assessments were carried out using participatory evaluation methods that included Touring Interviews with small groups of students aged from six to twelve years. The study found that participatory evaluation methods with both student and staff users generate significant information to improve school facilities. User comments were analysed with respect to 14 aspects of building quality and serviceability including character, thermal environment, privacy and flexibility. The study concludes that school buildings do not meet a number of key user requirements. Children expressed dissatisfaction with furniture and equipment in their classrooms and the playground, and to a lesser extent with student toilets, security of their school bags and personal privacy. Staff were dissatisfied with the provision of withdrawal areas and specialist spaces. Department of School Education facilities guidelines do not address the concerns of school users or meet user needs.

Visual narratives in the children's picture story book : an investigation of the extent to which the formal structuring of a visual narrative retrieves a pastiche of past experiences and images which in turn shapes and redirects the story

Throughout this research, the notion that illustrators of children's books embark on two types of activity has been reinforced at every turn. On one hand the artist acknowledges the external world by organising images of actions and events in the contexts of place and time. This process involves bringing ideas into a physical form and demands the structuring of characters, settings, and story development. Planning and decisions are informed by imperatives that recognise the need for conventions of articulation and communication to a particular target audience. These then become a mayor priority of bookmaking and are constantly impacted on by publishers1 demands and ethical constraints. The other perspective sees the illustrator as expresser where the core of visual narratives for children celebrates the potency of imagination. Here dreams, fantasies, memories and the unconscious become the conduits to shaping sequential images. The artist is engaged not simply in visually telling a story, but rather telling facets of his or her own story. This exegesis traces the evolution of my own picture story book Eddie's Fantastic Fortnight published by Five Mile Press Publishers in tandem with the insights and reflections of five of Australia's most prominent illustrators. It examines whether the structure invested in a visual narrative liberates expressive response, ascribing to the premise that bookmaking plays an informing role to imagination. Equally it adopts the alternative position which asserts that the essence of children's books is indeed fantasy, memory and dreams. This proposition views imagination and inspiration as the primary catalyst around which illustrators build their narrative. In the often lengthy processes of bookmaking, these considerations constantly shift. I have attempted to explore and reveal these mobile and ever changing priorities, not only in my own work, but also through leading exponents in the field.

Narrativization of actuality : convergence of form and genre in film and television

The thesis concerns the treatment of actuality in film and television, particularly the narrativization of actuality images, and the context of their placement within audio/visual texts. Several instances of the convergence of media form and genre are analyzed, and the conventions of classificatory systems and boundaries that pertain to film and television representations are reconsidered in light of changes in the conventions of genre. The distinction between, and convergence of fictional and non-fictional conventions of narrative are therefore central to the thesis, as are the related issues of viewer response, the nature of subjectivity in the viewer, the connectivity of text and culture, and the relations of actuality to the text. The thesis traces the narrativization of actuality through textual, formal and genre boundaries, adopting a ‘line of flight or deterritorialization’ that enables the thesis to ‘change in nature and connect with other multiplicities.’This line of flight passes through the conventional separation of genre groupings and texts, and, similarly, has been applied in the thesis as a rationale for the diminution of theoretical boundaries. A multiperpectival approach is applied to the permeability of, or transcendent relations of the analysis to the boundaries between genres, between texts and culture, and between actuality and virtual representation. In the thesis there is also a theoretical deterritorialization that consents to a pluralism of theory, which is an approach demonstrated by Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus. The model of multi-perspectivalism adopted in the thesis engages in establishing connections and similarities between theories, rather than emphasizing contradictory and exclusive practices. The Foucauldian notion of the rules of formation in discourse, Nichols’ theories of documentary representation of reality, Bordwell’s schematic interpretation, and several other positions are critiqued, as the line of flight embarked upon in the thesis intersects with, and passes through both textual and theoretical boundaries. The thesis consists of two parts: firstly, a location of theoretical perspective, in which the issues of theory pertaining to actuality and narrative are explicated, and the methodological approach of the thesis is defined. The second part commences with an analysis of the most familiar instances of actuality in film and television, with particular attention to documentary forms. It then engages in the analysis of films that represent actuality but which, in the process of narrativization, display a convergence of genre conventions. The films selected for analysis include Steven Speilberg's Schindler's List, (1993) Oliver Stone's JFK, (1991) and Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump, (1994) and Contact, (1996). Hence the thesis is concerned with the application of a pluralist theoretical approach, with, however, an emphasis on the Deleuzo-Guattarian notions of rhizome and assemblage. Within this theoretical frame, the connections between actuality and the audio/visual text are explicated, and the formation of text as ‘a rhizome with the world’, is analyzed across a range of examples.

Helping teachers surf the information and communication technology tsunami

A range of factors, both internal and external, is creating changes in teaching and teachers’ professional lives. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is just one of the major changes impacting on the teaching profession. As teachers face intense pressure to adapt to this tsunami, this study aims to investigate ways in which teachers can be helped. In South Australia, where this study is set, all teachers in Government schools are expected to be "ICT Smart", i.e. able to use appropriate forms of ICT to enhance the teaching and learning environment of their classrooms. From the researcher’s involvement for over a decade in professional development for teachers, and from visits to many schools, it appears that numerous teachers have not reached this standard. The greatest need is in Reception to Year 7 schools where the average age of teachers is nearly 50. Because no state-wide data exists, this study is intended to establish if there is a problem and if there is, to identify specific needs and offer possible solutions. The study is comprised of four parts: Part A, the Introduction gives an overview of the inter-relationships between these parts and the overall Folio. It establishes the setting and provides a rationale for the study and its focus on Professional Development in Information and Communication Technology. Part B, the Elective Research Studies, follows the writer’s involvement in this field since the 1980s. It establishes the theme of "Moving best practice in ICT from the few to the many" which underlies the whole study. Part C, the Dissertation, traces the steps taken to investigate the need for professional development in ICT. This is achieved by analysing and commenting on data collected from a state-wide survey and a series of interviews with leading figures, and by providing a review of the relevant literature and past and existing models of professional development. Part D, Final Comments, provides an overview of the whole Folio and a reflection on the research that has been conducted. The findings are that there is widespread dissatisfaction with existing models and that there is an urgent need for professional development in this area, because nearly 20% of teachers either do not use computers or are considered to be novice users. Another 25% are considered to be below not yet "ICT Smart". Less than 10% of ICT co-ordinators have a formal qualification in the field but more than 85% of them are interested in a Masters program. The study offers solutions in Part B where there is a discussion of a range of strategies to provide on-going professional development for teachers. Chapter 9 provides an outline of a proposed Masters level program and offers suggestions on how it could be best delivered. This program would meet the identified needs of ICT co-ordinators. The study concludes with a series of recommendations and suggestions for further research. The Education Department must address these urgent professional development needs of teachers, particularly those in the more remote country regions. There needs to be a follow-up survey to establish to what extent teachers in South Australia are now "ICT Smart ".

East Timor : the price of liberty

This book is based on extensive research and regaulr visits to East Timor since 1995. It considers the trials that the people of East Timor have undergone in their long struggle for independence, and issues that have arisen out of independence. This account places East Timor within the context of other post-colonial states, noting the problems that most of them have faced in coming to grips with their new-found freedoms, and how they have managed, or mismanaged, such freedoms. It also traces the themes and issues within the independence movement, noting how these have contibuted to post-independence outcomes, in particular the poltiical tensions that almost saw East Timor collapse as a viable state in 2006. The books concludes with an assessment of the 2007 elections which, depsite some post-election violence, saw the consolidation of democratic processes in East Timor, and which marked it as having a brighter future in this one critical respect.

'By the facts we add to our store' : Lorimer Fison, Lewis Henry Morgan and the spread of kinship studies in Australia

The formal study of kinship was introduced to the South Pacific Islands and the Australian colonies by Methodist missionary Lorimer Fison who distributed schedules and collected kinship data from around the region in collaboration with the founder of Anthropology in America, Lewis Henry Morgan. This article is a sequel to H. Gardner, 2008 'The origins of kinship in Oceania', Oceania, 78:2, 137-150. It traces Lorimer Fison's return to the Australian colonies from his mission post in Fiji and the subsequent spread of kinship schedules to settlers, missionaries and administrators around Australia. Based on unpublished correspondence, the article investigates Fison's gradual disillusionment with Morgan's evolutionist hypothesis of the development of the human family and his disdain for the speculation of much metropolitan anthropology in the 1870s.

Nearamnew speak

A performance feature around text-based artwork installed on Federation Square Plaza, Melbourne, celebrating the emergence of a new space. Nearamnew is derived from the local word 'narr-m', signifying 'the place where Melbourne now stands'. Memory traces are gathered into a whorl pattern in the cobbles and are studded with nine paved figures. Federal poems are carved into the figures, giving voice to the many historical, cultural and spiritual communities who are tributaries to this place.

EBSD and TEM investigation of the hot deformation substructure characteristics of a type 316L austenitic stainless steel

The evolution of crystallographic texture and deformation substructure was studied in a type 316L austenitic stainless steel, deformed in rolling at 900 °C to true strain levels of about 0.3 and 0.7. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used in the investigation and a comparison of the substructural characteristics obtained by these techniques was made. At the lower strain level, the deformation substructure observed by EBSD appeared to be rather poorly developed. There was considerable evidence of a rotation of the pre-existing twin boundaries from their original orientation relationship, as well as the formation of highly distorted grain boundary regions. In TEM, at this strain level, the substructure was more clearly revealed, although it appeared rather inhomogeneously developed from grain to grain. The subgrains were frequently elongated and their boundaries often approximated to traces of {111} slip planes. The corresponding misorientations were small and largely displayed a non-cumulative character. At the larger strain, the substructure within most grains became well developed and the corresponding misorientations increased. This resulted in better detection of sub-boundaries by EBSD, although the percentage of indexing slightly decreased. TEM revealed splitting of some sub-boundaries to form fine microbands, as well as the localized formation of microshear bands. The substructural characteristics observed by EBSD, in particular at the larger strain, generally appeared to compare well with those obtained using TEM. With increased strain level, the mean subgrain size became finer, the corresponding mean misorientation angle increased and both these characteristics became less dependent on a particular grain orientation. The statistically representative data obtained will assist in the development of physically based models of microstructural evolution during thermomechanical processing of austenitic stainless steels.

EBSD study of the orientation dependence of substructure characteristics in a model Fe-30wt%Ni alloy subjected to hot deformation

The aim of the present investigation was to determine the orientation dependence of substructure characteristics in an austenitic Fe−30wt%Ni model alloy subjected to hot plane strain compression. Deformation was carried out at a temperature of 950 °C using a strain rate of 10 s^₋₁ to equivalent strain levels of approximately 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8. The specimens obtained were analysed using a fully automatic electron backscatter diffraction technique. The crystallographic texture was characterized for all the strain levels studied and the subgrain structure was quantified in detail at a strain of 0.4. The substructure characteristics displayed pronounced orientation dependence. The major texture components, namely the copper, S, brass, Goss and rotated Goss, generally contained one or two prominent families of parallel larger-angle extended subboundaries, the traces of which on the longitudinal viewing plane appeared systematically aligned along the {111} slip plane traces, bounding long microbands subdivided into slightly elongated subgrains by short lower-angle transverse subboundaries. Relatively rare cube-orientated grains displayed pronounced subdivision into coarse deformation bands containing large, low-misorientated subgrains. The misorientation vectors across subboundaries largely showed a tendency to cluster around the sample transverse direction. Apart from the rotated Goss texture component, the stored energy levels for the remaining components were principally consistent with the corresponding Taylor factor values.

Social identities and law students' writing

This paper argues that social identities, discursively speaking, consist of ‘positions’ that are individuated by distinctive linguistic features. These include distinctive patterns of representation indicated by clause structure and type, a set of priorities for attending to what is important indicated by thematic structure, and an orientation to the represented world and to self as indicated by modality, propositional attitudes and tense. A social identity comprises an array of these often contradictory ‘positions’ associated with a social or professional role. A person’s identity is constituted dynamically by the way they ‘reconcile’ the various positions that make up the social identity, and also, as Archer and Ivanic argue, by the way they reconcile a social with a personal or autobiographical identity. It is argued that this process of reconciliation gives clues about identity formation in the traces it leaves in grammatical texture.

This paper uses a simulated letter of advice to a client written by a group of first year law students to explore the discursive construction of social or professional identity. This letter is poorly written and full of grammatical mistakes and infelicities. It is argued that the mistakes provide a linguistic trace of the students’ struggle to reconcile the conflicting roles and positions they occupy as authors of the letter. In particular the students’ problems result from a struggle to reconcile their multiple positions as: students writing for assessment by a tutor about a legal problem, as a simulated firm of solicitors advising to a client, and as potential litigators anticipating the future course of events in their simulated moot court appearance.