Remote Australia Online

This qualitative in-depth study investigates the work and life experiences of 18 female doctors and nurses in remote Australia. The study begins to unravel some of the events and relationships in the women's lives that keep them working and living in remote areas. The study also examines social and working conditions that cause the women to leave, and concludes that action must be taken at both government and local levels to support female health professionals who work in remote locations. This may be achieved by the means of a health promotion action model to underpin such initiatives as the 1999 Commonwealth Government 'fly-in-fly-out' initiative, in which sessional female doctors provide women's health services in remote areas.

Living and Teaching in Aboriginal Communities

Governments in Australia and overseas are faced with the challenge of ensuring that the vocational education and training systems will be able to meet future skill requirements, including needs for new or different skills arising from innovation. During late 2003 – early 2004, CEET conducted a small research project to identify the major strategies being adopted by Australia’s states and territories to build capability in vocational education and training systems to meet future skill needs. The major purposes of the project were: - To document the range of initiatives being adopted, their rationales and objectives, funding and major features. - To highlight similarities and differences between the approaches and the various emphases being given to different aspects of VET, to types of skills and innovation and to VET-industry relationships. - To highlight ‘good ideas’ and best practice approaches. To provide a comparison with Australian initiatives, the project looked briefly at reform of VET in the U.K and especially the program supporting Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs) in England. This paper reports on the research conducted in the U.K. A companion working paper reports on the Australian part of the project.

Building equity into Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system is a key component of the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training 2004-2010. This book of readings aims to contribute to this important facet of the national strategic plan. The book reviews the achievements equity groups have made, reports on the issues they face, and discusses how to integrate equity and diversity management models into a framework to achieve a more inclusive VET system. It includes chapters on the five recognised equity groups - women, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people from rural and remote areas, people with a disability, and Indigenous Australians. Additional chapters consider other possible groups such as, early school leavers, older workers, men, people in correctional services, and people with low literacy skills, and examines the merit of these becoming equity groups.

Building equity into Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system is a key component of the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training 2004-2010. This book of readings aims to contribute to this important facet of the national strategic plan. The book reviews the achievements equity groups have made, reports on the issues they face, and discusses how to integrate equity and diversity management models into a framework to achieve a more inclusive VET system. It includes chapters on the five recognised equity groups - women, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people from rural and remote areas, people with a disability, and Indigenous Australians. Additional chapters consider other possible groups such as, early school leavers, older workers, men, people in correctional services, and people with low literacy skills, and examines the merit of these becoming equity groups.

Building equity into Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system is a key component of the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training 2004-2010. This book of readings aims to contribute to this important facet of the national strategic plan. The book reviews the achievements equity groups have made, reports on the issues they face, and discusses how to integrate equity and diversity management models into a framework to achieve a more inclusive VET system. It includes chapters on the five recognised equity groups - women, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people from rural and remote areas, people with a disability, and Indigenous Australians. Additional chapters consider other possible groups such as, early school leavers, older workers, men, people in correctional services, and people with low literacy skills, and examines the merit of these becoming equity groups.

Building equity into Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system is a key component of the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training 2004-2010. This book of readings aims to contribute to this important facet of the national strategic plan. The book reviews the achievements equity groups have made, reports on the issues they face, and discusses how to integrate equity and diversity management models into a framework to achieve a more inclusive VET system. It includes chapters on the five recognised equity groups - women, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, people from rural and remote areas, people with a disability, and Indigenous Australians. Additional chapters consider other possible groups such as, early school leavers, older workers, men, people in correctional services, and people with low literacy skills, and examines the merit of these becoming equity groups.

• Globalisation and changes in agriculture have resulted in major social changes in inland Australia. • Depopulation of the inland has led many to speculate on the future of rural towns and rural people. • There are population drifts from country towns to cities and from the inland to the coastal regions. • The demographics of several small towns in central New South Wales have been the subject of intensive study during 2000 and 2001. • There has been work done in relation to young people, employment opportunities, education access and social capital. • There is a future for rural towns, but it is dependent on the support of governments, attention to infrastructure and regional development.

Rural Australia is under increasing social, economic and environmental pressure—and there is a perception of rural Australia struggling to adjust. Nowhere is this more evident than in some of Australia's rural towns. In the midst of the dark clouds of rural decline, some communities seem to defy these trends. Positive energy, optimism for the future, alternative income sources and growing businesses are the norm. Yet not far away there are other towns, faced with very similar economic and geographic circumstances, which are doing it tough. For them, apathy, loss of energy, declining populations and empty shops are the norm. Why is it that some towns demonstrate resilience, optimism and growth, whilst not far away there are other towns in decline? This was the question that led to the following research the subject of this document. Eight small Queensland towns participated in the research and provided both quantitative and qualitative information through interviews, surveys and census data. The resulting findings are summarised below, and explained in greater detail within the body of the report.

Köppen's scheme to classify world climates was devised in 1918 by Dr Wladimir Köppen of the University of Graz in Austria. Over the decades it has achieved wide acceptance amongst climatologists. However, the scheme has also had its share of critics, who have challenged the scheme's validity on a number of grounds. For example, Köppen's rigid boundary criteria often lead to large discrepancies between climatic subdivisions and features of the natural landscape. Furthermore, whilst some of his boundaries have been chosen largely with natural landscape features in mind, other boundaries have been chosen largely with human experience of climatic features in mind. The present paper presents a modification of Köppen's classification that addresses some of the concerns and illustrates this modification with its application to Australia.

A proposal to establish a Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), focused on Alice Springs, has recently been submitted. Fundamental to any such proposal is an understanding of population dynamics in the desert region, because demographic information provides for assessment of the quantum of need in social and economic policy, and for assessment of the impact of that quantum in environmental policy. Ultimately, what is sought is a predictive capacity for planning and evaluation. This paper arose out of partnership discussions between the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT) and Rio Tinto who commissioned the author to prepare Indigenous population projections for the desert region to 2016 and compare these with projections for the total population of the same region. The focus for this analysis is the Australian arid zone which lies approximately within the 250mm rainfall isohyet. It includes 45 per cent of the Australian land mass and a population, as at 1996, of 179,000, or 0.9 per cent of the Australian total. Overall, the total population of the desert region is projected to increase by 10,402 between 2001 to 2016, from 179,028 to 189,430. This represents an increase of 5.8 per cent, or an average annual growth rate of 0.4 per cent, which is around half the rate projected for the Australian population as a whole over the same period (12.9%, or 0.8% per annum). Thus, while the desert region is one of relatively low population growth in national terms, it is significant to note that growth is positive. This is contrary to the experience of many parts of non-metropolitan Australia in recent years. One trend matching that observed more generally across non-metropolitan areas is the markedly different growth implied for the Indigenous and non-Indigenous components of the desert population, with the former rising much more rapidly over time. In effect, and given an assumption of zero net migration, it is likely that virtually all of the increase in the desert population over the next 15 years will arise from natural increase among Indigenous peoples. As a consequence, the Indigenous share of the total desert population is projected to increase from 20.5 per cent in 2001 to 23.7 per cent in 2016. In 2001, there were an estimated 7,003 Indigenous youth aged 15-24 years in the transition years between school and work. By 2016 this number is estimated to be greater by almost 1,400, or 20 per cent. By far the largest increase in Indigenous numbers, however, emerges in the years of prime working age. In 2001, there were 15,644 individuals aged between 25 and 64 years. By 2016, this group will have increased by more than 5,000, or 34 per cent. Thus, the ascendant issues for social planning in the desert region clearly derive from needs generated by expanding numbers in the prime working-age groups. For the Indigenous population, this is especially true of those in the older working-age group (45-64), due to the ageing of cohorts that were in the 20-39 years age-range in the mid 1990s. Presently, the data and analytical tools for regional demographic analysis are both crude and blunt. The opportunity to refine and sharpen these is enhanced by the focus on a single ecological zone; this brings an internal consistency to the analysis of social systems, with prototype implications for regional analysis more generally.

Aboriginal households in Dajarra, Alpurrurulam and Mt Isa, While exceptionally mobile by Australian mainstream Standards, are relatively stable in their customary Attachment to their home community, local bush country, Cultural region, and regional centre. There is a need to Balance the local provision of housing and other Services to outlying remote and rural communities and to Rationalise service provision in regional centres. Key points: • The lives of Aboriginal people in rural and remote Australia are characterised by marked inter- and intra-community mobility, with circular movements within a ‘mobility region’, and a high rate of travel to places (including regional centres) within the region for relatively short periods of time. • The most common period of a visit was two to three days or less and most visits were for less than one month. The highest frequency of visits to one place was an average of 39 trips per year per visitor by Alpurrurulam men to Mt Isa. • Kinship is the main driving force of Aboriginal mobility. Kinship is maintained through mobility, kinship makes mobility possible, and kinship contributes to the definition of mobility regions. The distribution of an individual’s kin generates for an individual a ‘beat’ – a set of places, which he or she can visit and expect to obtain hospitality and economic support if necessary. • Other drivers of spatial mobility patterns in the study area include sporting events, recreation, hunting, collecting bush resources, and shopping. • There were some differences in the spatial patterns of the mobility of the male and female participants in both Alpurrurulam and Dajarra, with Dajarra female participants travelling to a less diverse number of settlements. • Visits lead to additional wear and tear on houses, with small houses accommodating high household numbers likely to require more frequent maintenance than would otherwise be the case. This is simply due to the natural wear and tear associated with high use by a large household. • There is a high frequency of visits to regional centres, such as Mt Isa, to access services. This suggests an ongoing need to ensure adequate availability of temporary forms of accommodation, such as hostels or community-owned houses.

This book covers the differential health impacts of socio-economic status, family and early development, changes in work and work conditions, health systems, the physical environment of cities, indigenous peoples, social capital, culture, and global economic and environmental changes. It also discusses how inequality gets 'under the skin', through describing the physiological changes that follow from stress and behaviours. Particularly important is the 'natural experiment' represented by the different political and economic paths taken by Australia and New Zealand over the past two decades and the opportunity this provides to assess their effect on health. Contents 1. Healthier progress: historical perspectives on the social and economic determinants of health /​ John Powles 2. Health inequalities in the New World Order /​ David Legge 3. Globalisation and environmental change: implications for health and health inequalities /​ Colin D. Butler, Bob Douglas and A.J. McMichael 4. Culture, health and well-being /​ Richard Eckersley 5. A general model of the social origins of health and well-being /​ Jake M. Najman 6. Income inequality and health: in search of fundamental causes /​ Gavin Turrell 7. Mediation of the effects of social and economic status on health and mortality: the roles of behaviour and constitution /​ Richard Taylor 8. Migrants, money and margarine: possible explanations for Australia-New Zealand mortality differences /​ Alistair Woodward, Colin Mathers and Martin Tobias 9. Income, income inequality and health in New Zealand /​ Philippa Howden-Chapman and Des O'Dea 10. Equity in access to health care /​ Stephen Duckett 11. Human settlements: health and the physical environment /​ Peter Newman 12. Work and health: the impact of structural workforce changes and the work environment /​ Anne-Marie Feyer and Dorothy Broom 13. Health, inequities, community and social capital /​ Robert Bush and Fran Baum 14. Health inequalities: the seeds are sown in childhood, what about the remedies? /​ Graham Vimpani 15. Family, early development and the life course: common risk and protective factors in pathways to prevention /​ Judy Cashmore 16. Health inequalities: is the foundation for these laid before the time of birth? /​ Terry Dwyer, Ruth Morley and Leigh Blizzard 17. How social factors affect health: neuroendocrine interactions /​ Kerin O'Dea and Mark Daniel 18. Aboriginal health, policy and modelling in social epidemiology /​ Ian Anderson 19. Does our limited analysis of the dimensions of poverty limit the way we seek solutions? /​ Elizabeth Harris, Don Nutbeam and Peter Sainsbury 20. Developmental prevention in a disadvantaged community /​ Ross Homel, Gordon Elias and Ian Hay 21. Rethinking evaluation for policy action on the social origins of health and well-being /​ Beverly Sibthorpe and Jane Dixon.

This publication presents indicators and descriptive analysis concerned with the measurement of social capital in Australia, using data drawn from a range of ABS surveys. Social capital is conceived as being a resource available to individuals and communities founded on networks of mutual support, reciprocity and trust. It has been an area of considerable emerging interest because of its links to individual and community wellbeing. Many researchers have suggested the benefits of social capital for individual outcomes in areas such as health, education, employment and family wellbeing and also in fostering community strength and resilience (Endnote 1). Developing a sound evidence base through data collection and analysis activities is important to ensuring that any policies and programs designed to foster social capital in Australia, or in particular communities within Australia, help to improve people's lives. The compilation of this report is part of the ongoing development of social capital related data by the ABS. For this report the statistics have been drawn together from multiple ABS data sources, many of which were not designed with the express purpose of measuring aspects of social capital, but have nevertheless contained relevant indicators. As a result the report only provides insights into some aspects of social capital, that is, those for which ABS data are available. The 2006 General Social Survey has been developed as a key vehicle for expanding the range of social capital data items collected by the ABS, and first results from that survey are expected to become available early in 2007.

Social capital theory proposes that social networks and norms have a role to play in influencing a community’s development. This paper presents and analyses statistical information relating to social capital in Australia and its regions, using a set of 33 social capital indicators for 2001–02. It also explores the relationship between social capital and the economic and social wellbeing of Australia’s regions. The paper is accompanied by the BTRE’s Social Capital Indicators Database.

Enhancing migration and mobility has been put forward by various commentators as a solution to Indigenous disadvantage in Australia. This paper examines patterns of migration and factors associated with both the decision to move and the choice of destination in order to assess the feasibility of this suggestion. The results suggest that Indigenous Australians are less responsive to local economic factors than other Australians, with social and cultural factors appearing to play a particularly significant role in their decision making. It is probable that this reflects a ‘rational’ response to the depressed demand for Indigenous labour across Australia and the greater opportunity for non-market activities.

'CDEP 2005—A New Home and New Objectives for a Very Old Program?' by Jon Altman. CAEPR Seminar Series. Notes from a joint seminar with Matthew Gray, presented on 2 March 2005. The Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme has existed since 1977; it is arguably the oldest Indigenous-specific program still in existence, relatively unchanged. From 1 July 2004, with the division of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) Indigenous-specific programs between Commonwealth mainline departments, it has been located in the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). At face value, its new administrative home suggests that this at once innovative and highly flexible program might have a stronger, or even singular, labour market focus. In this seminar, we provide a perspective on CDEP based on analysis of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) 2002 data and explore the various impacts of the scheme on Indigenous participants, especially in rural and remote Australia. Using this evidence base we question if there is any need for fundamental change in this program, and if so, what?

The relationship between socioeconomic status and health is well established, with people at the lowest socioeconomic levels experiencing the highest rates of illness and death (Lynch & Kaplin in Berkman and Kawachi (eds) 2000). As socioeconomic position improves, health status also improves. This gradient from poorest to wealthiest has been observed for most of the major causes of death (Turrell et al. 1999). This Chapter provides information on the demographic, social and economic characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, using experimental estimates of the resident Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations as well as Census counts. Estimated resident population (ERP) adjusts the count from Census night, 7 August 2001, to 30 June 2001, making allowance for net Census undercount, Australian residents temporarily overseas on Census night, and for instances in which Indigenous status was not reported in the Census. This data provides a context for the health and welfare information in later Chapters.

No matter what structural, policy and practice changes are made within policing circles, there must never be a divergence from basic policing practicalities and well researched and established assumptions. In this report I have tried to marry those assumptions and practical policing tactics with new and emerging technologies, trends and phenomena impacting on country communities. In order to bring all this together and make it work in a cohesive fashion, there must be a realistic and workable performance management and developmental plan for each officer. In essence, due to difficulties with establishing close supervision, you must have a motivated and professional police officer to ensure all of the necessary issues are addressed. My contribution to country policing encapsulates these issues with my own thoughts, ideas and experiences. They are: • Focusing a police officer’s attention on communicating with the community will form the basis of any successful policing strategy. • Forming a team with key people within the community to ‘problem-solve’ issues within a holistic community ‘frame work’ is the most effective and efficient approach to country policing. • The ‘health’ and ‘balance’ of a country community will impact directly on crime and disorder issues within a community and, as such, should be an important focus of a country police officer. • Early intervention in community and individual conflict and tensions is the most effective method of policing, with enhanced solvability and the reduction in operational safety issues. • The police service is the organization viewed by the public as the lead agency in solving community problems and therefore should provide leadership in this area. • The motivation and professional performance of a police officer, coupled with professional performance management by a supervisor, will be the most important factors in successfully ‘policing’ a country region. • Police tactics should be focused towards domestic violence, dysfunctional families, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, vehicle movement and youth to provide high value policing effort and long term benefit to the community. • Selection of personnel, recompense for country service and preparation for country service will provide a cost/benefit to personnel and the organization alike. • Training and personal development in the form of pre-country service training and on the job training will develop country personnel and transform country service in to a career enhancing option.

Currently, we are experiencing the re-emergence of interest in ‘community’ as a general reaction to a perceived over-emphasis upon financial solutions to social problems (Gibson and Cameron 2001). In this context, ‘social capital’, a concept that describes good quality social relations, has come to occupy a central position in academic debate, public policy and the practice of community development. Indeed, social capital is now seen as one of the essential ingredients of sustainable communities, as it facilitates regional growth and enables community renewal.

The Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) within the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) commissioned Urbis Keys Young to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Bringing Them Home (BTH) and Indigenous Mental Health Programs. The evaluation covers four programs: – The Link-Up Program, formally known as the Access to Effective Family Tracing and Reunion Services Program. This program provides a national network of services supporting and assisting Aboriginal people affected by past removal policies in tracing their family history and potentially reuniting them with their families. – The Bringing Them Home (BTH) Program, which provides counselling to individuals, families and communities affected by past practices regarding the forced removal of children from Aboriginal families. – The Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) Regional Centre (RC) Program, which funds SEWB RCs around Australia to provide professional support to Link-Up and BTH staff as well as other workers, especially mental health workers, to develop, deliver and purchase training, and to conduct activities to support this including developing cross-sector linkages and maintaining information systems; and – The Mental Health Program, which funds Mental Health Service Delivery Projects in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) nationally to develop and evaluate culturally appropriate approaches to mental health service delivery.

This 1997 report aimed to establish future planning directions as a critical component of national health strategies for rural and remote indigenous communities.

Demography is the study of the size and composition of populations. Populations change size through births, deaths and net-migration. Over time, mortality, fertility and migration patterns create populations that may be large or small, young or old, growing or declining. Rural and remote Australia has a unique demography that determines its health problems and health service needs. The tendency of young adults to leave rural and remote areas for cities means that they leave behind communities which are, on average, older than those found in the cities. Rural and remote women have slightly more children at significantly younger ages, but because of out-migration, the actual number of babies born outside of the cities is smaller than would be expected. Most rural and remote areas already have a high proportion of their population over 65 years old. Many communities with an older population are declining in absolute numbers but the need for health services may be greater than required for smaller, younger communities. In contrast to the trends in total population, the rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is growing rapidly. This is the result of a higher proportion of young people, higher fertility rates and lower rates of moving to cities. The health characteristics of rural and remote Australia increasingly reflects the higher morbidity of Indigenous and older people. Responding to this demographic destiny is the present and future challenge.

It is widely recognised that recent changes in occupational structure and the declining demand in the labour market for young people, have made it more difficult for school-leavers to find employment. In response to this, policy makers have focused attention on firstly identifying and then removing barriers to school-leavers finding work. The methods used by school-leavers to find employment are the primary concern of this report.

Leadership: Theory and Practice