Remote Australia Online

Background: The field of rural health research is critical for informing health improvement in rural places but it involves researching in small teams and distributed sites that may have specific sustainability challenges. We aimed to evaluate this to inform how to sustain the field of rural health research. Methods: We conducted In-depth semi-structured interviews of 50-70 minutes with 17 rural early career researchers who were from different research sites across rural Australia. Data were thematically coded. Results: Seven sustainability challenges were noted, namely recognition, workload, networks, funding and strategic grants, organisational culture, job security, and career progression options. Rural researchers were poorly recognised for their work and researchers were not extended the same opportunities enjoyed by staff at main campuses. Unpredictable and high workloads stemmed from community demand and limited staff. Strategic grant opportunities failed to target the generalist, complex research in this field and the limited time researchers had for grant writing due to their demands within small academic teams. Limited collaboration with other sites increased dissatisfaction. In the face of strong commitment to rural ‘places’ and their enthusiasm for improving rural health, fixed-term contracts and limited career progression options were problematic for researchers and their families in continuing in these roles. Conclusion: A comprehensive set of strategies is needed to address the sustainability of this field, recognising its value for rural self-determination and health equity. Hubs and networks could enable more cohesively planned, collaborative research, skills sharing, senior academic supervision and career development. Targeted funding, fit to the context and purpose of this field, is urgent. Inaction may fuel regular turnover, starting after a researcher’s first years, losing rich academic theoretical and contextual knowledge that is essential to address the health of rural populations.

Developing and nurturing resilience is critical to the social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of Indigenous Australian adolescents and their continuing life trajectories. The attendance of many Indigenous adolescents from remote communities at boarding schools creates a need to prioritise and proactively create opportunities that build and nurture student resilience. This requires sustainable and multi-dimensional school-wide approaches. Despite this need, there are no documented SEWB or resilience building approaches for Australian Indigenous students who attend boarding schools. We describe the use of participatory action research to develop and implement a two-year STEP-UP intervention with boarding schools, designed to create supportive environments for improving psychosocial resilience and wellbeing of remote-living Indigenous students. The intervention consisted of three components implemented annually across eight schools: a site-specific STEP-UP action plan; staff capacity development; and an annual Schools and Communities Conference. Thematic analysis of a systematic literature review, documented action planning, conference group processes, resilience theory and survey findings from the associated broader resilience study resulted in the identification of six resilience building domains: valuing culture and identity; developing cultural leadership; nurturing strong relationships; building social and emotional skills; creating safe, supportive environments; and building staff capacity. These domains became the resulting framework for STEP-UP planning and enabled focused examination of practices and future planning. Learnings from the intervention process suggest principles to consider when designing interventions: utilising a strengths-based approach; design responsiveness; collaborative partnerships; institutional capacity; and sustainability. A resilience toolkit website was developed to enable knowledge translation and sustainability beyond the study.

Key Insights• The policy shift towards becoming a ‘social landlord’ is more apparent within government departments than it is on the ground. On the ground, the ‘social landlord’ is characterised by face-to-face contact with housing officers who deal with a range of social-housing issues from clarifying rents, reporting on allocation decisions, accepting allocations advice, and repairs and maintenance. Where this integrated service takes place, the social landlord is welcomed and appreciated.• The identification of a ‘head tenant’ for each dwelling is often accepted as a useful and necessary practice. At times the authority of the head tenant will mirror hierarchies of kinship authority, at times it may not. Working with tensions between these differing forms of authority often involves complex negotiations which are usually invisible to the government workers. But being able defer to government staff can sometimes be helpful when head tenants feel otherwise usable to step into a role of authority over family and kin relations. • Tenants and other residents see ‘household management’ as the practice and negotiation of contemporary Aboriginal kinship and cultural relations in contexts of overcrowding, financial and social stresses and often poor housing conditions.• The policy shift towards becoming a ‘social landlord’ offers opportunity to be talking more explicitly about a shift to integrated household safety discussions, including housing as integral to the maintenance of cultural practices. • Residents see the physical spaces of housing as playing an active role in keeping people healthy, safe and flourishing within their culture – “some houses have culture”. Means for achieving this flourishing include design and internal and external structural features such as appropriate spaces to separate genders and avoidance kin, fencing and landscaping for health and safety, and secure storage facilities.• The engagement of local workers in repairs and maintenance (R&M) and housing construction is seen to provide not only employment, but better and healthier community ownership of housing and its contribution to community health. • The ability to live collocated with other family members is considered highly contributive to healthy personal and family life, even when sickness in the family suggests a move to Alice Springs or Darwin. • Breakdown of communication over housing matters including repairs and maintenance was seen as a more serious problem at Santa Teresa than at Galiwin’ku. This may have to do with the difference in the local housing associations, with Marthakal (Galiwin’ku) being a more established and trusted local provider than organisations servicing Santa Teresa.

Despite an increased burden from chronic mental health conditions, access to effective mental health services in rural and remote areas is limited, and these services remain spatially undefined. We examine the spatial availability of mental health nurses across local government areas in Australia and identify gaps in mental health service delivery capacity in a finer-grained level than the state/territory data. A spatial distribution of mental health nurses was conducted. We utilized the 2017 National Health Workforce Dataset which was aggregated to LGA level based on the 2018 Australian Bureau Statistics (ABS) Data. The availability of mental health nurses was measured using the full time equivalent (FTE) rates per 100 000 population. We calculated the proportion of LGAs with zero total FTE rates based on remoteness categories. We also compared the mean of total FTE rates based on remoteness categories using analysis of variance. A spatial distribution of mental health nurses was visualized using GIS software for total FTE rates. Our analysis included 544 LGA across Australia, with 24.8% being defined as remote and very remote. The mean total FTE for mental health nurses per 100 000 populations is 56.6 (±132.2) with a median of 17.4 (IQR: 61.8). A wide standard deviation reflects unequal distribution of mental health nurses across LGAs. The availability of total FTE rates for mental health nurses per 100 000 populations is significantly lower in remote and very remote LGAs in comparison with major cities. As many as 35.1% of LGAs across Australia have no FTE for mental health nurses with 46% are remote and very remote. Our study reflects the existing unequal distribution of mental health nurses between metropolitan/urban setting and rural and remote areas. We suggest three broad strategies to address these spatial inequities: improving supply and data information systems; revisiting task-shifting strategies, retraining the existing health workforce to develop skills necessary for mental health care to rural and remote communities; and incorporating the provision of mental health services within expanding innovative delivery models including consumer-led, telemedicine and community-based groups.

Dingo classification and management is complicated by hybridisation with domestic dogs. Northern Australia is a relatively high-risk zone for a rabies incursion, and in the event of an incursion, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who reside in this region would prioritise the protection of dingoes. Therefore, the classification of dingoes in this context is important. Twelve pictures of canids with features associated with both dingoes and domestic dogs from camera traps in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA), northern Queensland, were shown to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rangers (n = 3), biosecurity officers (n = 2), environmental health workers (n = 2), and residents (n = 39) in the NPA. Nearly all pictures (10/12) were classified as dingo or domestic dog (none as hybrid) and two were inconclusive (no overall agreement). Dingoes were consistently identified as medium to large-framed dogs, with a long nose, pointed ears, narrow abdomen, a bushy or feathered tail, and smooth coats of a single base colour. Some hybrid features were acceptable, including sable coats, lack of white tail tip or feet, and curled tail. These findings are a preliminary guide for identifying canids in the NPA region for whom management might be controversial. Building on this approach via further consultation with residents is needed to inform rabies response policy. Our approach using locally acquired camera trap pictures could also be extended to other regions in which dingoes have value but their management is controversial.

Community perspectives are rarely sought or integrated into dog management policy and practice. Dog management in remote communities in Australia has focused on reducing the number of dogs, which is often implemented by visiting veterinarians, despite widely-held opinions that fly-in-fly-out services provide only temporary solutions. We conducted participatory research in a group of remote communities in northern Australia to explore how dog-related problems arise and are managed, and explain their impacts from a One Health perspective. Over the course of a year, 53 residents from a range of backgrounds contributed through in-depth interviews with key community service providers, and informal semi-structured discussions with community residents. Free-roaming dogs have broader impacts on canine and human health than previously documented. Dog-keeping norms that enable free-roaming can enhance human and dog wellbeing and intra-family connectivity. This can also cause disengagement and conflict with other residents, leading to resentment and occasionally violence towards dogs. Dog-related problems are underpinned by constraints associated with remote-living, governance and differing sociocultural norms. Focusing on dog population reduction detracts from the welfare benefits and sociocultural value of free-roaming dogs and undermines community-determined management that can overcome constraints to support local values and co-promote canine and human wellbeing.

Aims.Rural and remote regions tend to be characterised by poorer socioeconomic conditions than urban areas, yet findings regarding differences in mental health between rural and urban areas have been inconsistent. This suggests that other features of these areas may reduce the impact of hardship on mental health. Little research has explored the relationship of financial hardship or deprivation with mental health across geographical areas.Methods.Data were analysed from a large longitudinal Australian study of the mental health of individuals living in regional and remote communities. Financial hardship was measured using items from previous Australian national population research, along with measures of psychological distress (Kessler-10), social networks/support and community characteristics/locality, including rurality/remoteness (inner regional; outer regional; remote/very remote). Multilevel logistic regression modelling was used to examine the relationship between hardship, locality and distress. Supplementary analysis was undertaken using Australian Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data.Results.2161 respondents from the Australian Rural Mental Health Study (1879 households) completed a baseline survey with 26% from remote or very remote regions. A significant association was detected between the number of hardship items and psychological distress in regional areas. Living in a remote location was associated with a lower number of hardships, lower risk of any hardship and lower risk of reporting three of the seven individual hardship items. Increasing hardship was associated with no change in distress for those living in remote areas. Respondents from remote areas were more likely to report seeking help from welfare organisations than regional residents. Findings were confirmed with sensitivity tests, including replication with HILDA data, the use of alternative measures of socioeconomic circumstances and the application of different analytic methods.Conclusions.Using a conventional and nationally used measure of financial hardship, people residing in the most remote regions reported fewer hardships than other rural residents. In contrast to other rural residents, and national population data, there was no association between such hardship and mental health among residents in remote areas. The findings suggest the need to reconsider the experience of financial hardship across localities and possible protective factors within remote regions that may mitigate the psychological impact of such hardship.

Objectives: This audit examined the demographics of Indigenous Australians dying by suicide in the Kimberley region of Western Australia during the period 2005?2014.Methods: This is a de-identified retrospective audit of reported suicide deaths provided to Kimberley Mental Health and Drug Service during the period 2005?2014. Variables such as age, sex, method of suicide, previous engagement with mental health services, locality and ethnicity were assessed.Results: Indigenous suicide rates in the Kimberley region have dramatically increased in the last decade. There is also an overall trend upwards in Indigenous youth suicide and Indigenous female suicides.Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for culturally informed, and youth focussed, suicide prevention interventions within the Kimberley region.

Background: The high burden of infectious disease and associated antimicrobial use likely contribute to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance in remote Australian Aboriginal communities. We aimed to develop and apply context-specific tools to audit antimicrobial use in the remote primary healthcare setting. Methods: We adapted the General Practice version of the National Antimicrobial Prescribing Survey (GP NAPS) tool to audit antimicrobial use over 2–3 weeks in 15 remote primary healthcare clinics across the Kimberley region of Western Australia (03/2018–06/2018), Top End of the Northern Territory (08/2017–09/2017) and far north Queensland (05/2018–06/2018). At each clinic we reviewed consecutive clinic presentations until 30 presentations where antimicrobials had been used were included in the audit. Data recorded included the antimicrobials used, indications and treating health professional. We assessed the appropriateness of antimicrobial use and functionality of the tool. Results: We audited the use of 668 antimicrobials. Skin and soft tissue infections were the dominant treatment indications (WA: 35%; NT: 29%; QLD: 40%). Compared with other settings in Australia, narrow spectrum antimicrobials like benzathine benzylpenicillin were commonly given and the appropriateness of use was high (WA: 91%; NT: 82%; QLD: 65%). While the audit was informative, non-integration with practice software made the process manually intensive. Conclusions: Patterns of antimicrobial use in remote primary care are different from other settings in Australia. The adapted GP NAPS tool functioned well in this pilot study and has the potential for integration into clinical care. Regular stewardship audits would be facilitated by improved data extraction systems.

This is the sixth in a series of annual reports to the Australian Parliament that tracks progress in Indigenous education and training and discusses issues under the major goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP). It enables the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Training to report to the Parliament at the end of each funding year on outcomes associated with Indigenous education and training. There were mixed outcomes in Indigenous education and training in 2006. In general, enrolments, retention and employment demonstrated improvement across all education sectors but educational outcomes tended to be either stable or declining. Some of the key findings include: (a) the number of Indigenous children in pre-school increased in 2006 but large differences between attendance rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students remain; (b) appropriate literacy and numeracy awareness levels of Indigenous students in the government systems declined on the 2005 result however the opposite was true in non-government pre-schools; (c) there were significant increases in enrolments in Australian schools in 2006 with the overall proportion of Indigenous school students continuing to increase at both the primary and secondary levels. Despite improvements in enrolments there is still concern about attendance levels; (d) national literacy and numeracy benchmark test results are not encouraging and since 1999 there has been little evidence of improvement in the results - in 2006, the gap between Indigenous and All Students outcomes in the nine benchmarks averaged 20 percentage points and ranged from 13 percentage points in Year 3 to 32 percentage points in Year 7 numeracy; (e) since 2001 the Year 10 retention rate has improved by almost six percentage points to 91 per cent while the Year 11 rate has improved to 68 per cent; (f) the proportion of Indigenous students who achieved a Year 12 Certificate decreased for the first time since 2001 from 51 per cent to 45 per cent in 2006; (g) the vocational education and training (VET) sector continues to provide an important service for many Indigenous people - Indigenous VET students aged 17 or less had twice the participation rate of non-Indigenous students while there were 12 Indigenous male VET students for every Indigenous male university student; (h) almost half of all Indigenous students are enrolled in courses at the AQF Certificate I and II levels, about twice the rate of non-Indigenous students; (i) there were significant increases in the numbers of Indigenous apprentices in 2006, in the number of undertaking Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) Certificate III and higher level courses and in the number of course completions; (j) overall, 2006 was the best year to date for Indigenous employment in VET institutions with increased numbers of teachers and other staff; (k) overall Indigenous enrolments in higher education returned to 2001-2004 levels after a decline in 2005; (l) there has been an increase in the participation in higher level courses and a decline in students undertaking Enabling and other non-degree courses; and (m) a strong demand continues for Indigenous graduates who have higher take-up rates into full time employment than non-Indigenous graduates and higher starting salaries.

This report, which is to be produced annually, is based on outcomes achieved in 2001 and documents the progress of Indigenous education and training in Australia. It enables the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training to report to the Parliament at the end of each funding year on outcomes associated with Indigenous education and training. In addition, the report provides important information for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the educational community and Indigenous students. Data has mainly been derived from official national collections or from Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP) data. IESIP covers over 90% of Indigenous students in education and training. The monitoring and reporting of progress for these students is based on eight priority areas endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in 1995. These are: literacy, numeracy, educational outcomes, enrolments, Indigenous employment, professional development of staff involved in Indigenous education and training, involvement of Indigenous parents and communities in education and training, and culturally inclusive curricula. The last four of these priorities are discussed collectively as Indigenous presence, involvement and influence. The introductory chapters provide an executive summary presenting highlights of improvements and continuing gaps in outcomes for Indigenous students, information about the national report, and contextual information associated with the history of, and current policies and social influences on, Indigenous education and training in Australia. The report is then structured according to the four main sectors of education and training in Australia: preschool (chapter three), schooling (chapter four), vocational education and training (VET) (chapter five), and higher education (chapter six). A similar structure is followed in each of these chapters, based on the eight MCEETYA priority areas. Each chapter begins with introductory information, data and discussion about Indigenous presence, involvement and influence. This is followed by the key areas of enrolments and educational outcomes. Chapter seven provides progress information on the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (NIELNS) and chapter eight reports on payments under the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. Appendices and bibliography are included.

This is the second in a series of annual reports to the Australian Parliament that tracks progress in Indigenous education and training. It enables the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training to report to the Parliament at the end of each funding year on outcomes associated with Indigenous education and training. In addition, the report provides important information for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the educational community and Indigenous students. Data has mainly been derived from official national collections or from Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP) data. IESIP covers over 90% of Indigenous students in education and training. The report focuses on outcomes achieved in Indigenous education and training, comparing them with those of 2001 in order to enable education providers to evaluate their progress in the national context. It identifies four priority areas relating to improving outcomes for Indigenous students: literacy and numeracy, enrolments, attendance and retention and the gaining of qualifications. The report also looks at outcomes relating to developments in Indigenous influence, involvement and presence in 2002 in four priority areas: Indigenous employment, professional development of staff involved in Indigenous education and training, involvement of Indigenous people in decision making and the development of culturally inclusive curricula. The introductory chapters provide an executive summary presenting highlights of improvements and continuing gaps in outcomes for Indigenous students, information about the national report, and contextual information associated with the history of, and current policies and social influences on, Indigenous education and training in Australia. The report is then structured according to the four main sectors of education and training in Australia: preschool (chapter three), schooling (chapter four), vocational education and training (VET) (chapter five), and higher education (chapter six). Each chapter begins with introductory information, data and discussion about Indigenous presence, involvement and influence. This is followed by the key areas of enrolments and educational outcomes. Chapter seven provides progress information on the National Indigenous English Literacy and Numeracy Strategy (NIELNS) and chapter eight reports on payments under the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. The report concludes that 2002 built on the gains made in 2003 and was an encouraging year for Indigenous education with positive outcomes reported on many of the key indicators of progress on all levels from preschool to university. However, there remain very large gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous educational outcomes.

This is the third in a series of annual reports to the Australian Parliament that tracks progress in Indigenous education and training. It enables the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training to report to the Parliament at the end of each funding year on outcomes associated with Indigenous education and training. In addition, the report provides important information for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the educational community and Indigenous students. The report discusses progress against the four major goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP), as well as culturally appropriate education services. The four AEP goals are: (1) involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in educational decision-making; (2) equality of access to educational services; (3) equity of educational participation; and (4) equitable and appropriate educational outcomes. The major developments in these areas for Indigenous people in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in 2003 include: a decline in the number of Indigenous VET students for the first time since the 1990s; strong growth in the number of Indigenous people participating in New Apprenticeships and traineeships; an increase in the number of New Apprenticeship course completions at higher levels; higher levels of representations of non-government VET providers; an overall decline in the number of Indigenous people employed in most government VET systems; a substantial increase in non-government VET institutions in both the number of Indigenous employees and in their full time equivalent employment; and more than half of the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP) professional development targets for VET were achieved. The contents are: Executive summary; Reporting on Indigenous education and training; Preschool; Schools; Vocational education and training; Higher education; National programmes; Payments under the Indigenous Education (targeted assistance) Act 2000 and other payments. Included as appendices are: The national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP); Preschool statistical tables; School statistics tables; Vocational education and training statistical tables; Higher education statistical tables; performance in higher education - gender differences.

This is the fifth in a series of annual reports to the Australian Parliament that tracks progress in Indigenous education and training and discusses issues under the major goals of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP). It enables the Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training to report to the Parliament at the end of each funding year on outcomes associated with Indigenous education and training. This report gives an account of educational outcomes achieved in 2005. Four priority areas relate to improving outcomes for Indigenous students in literacy and numeracy, enrolments, attendance and retention, and in education outcomes across the pre-school, school, vocational and technical education (VTE) and higher education sectors. The Indigenous scores in the 2005 national benchmark testing program are lower than the 2004 scores on eight of the nine benchmarks, and in eight of the nine cases the gaps between Indigenous and all students’ outcomes widened between the two years. Since benchmark testing began in 1999, there are few signs of sustained overall improvement with the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous outcomes tending to widen. While there are more Indigenous students participating in schooling there has been little improvement in overall attendance rates. There remain significant gaps in the rates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students at the primary school level and greater gaps at the secondary level. In 2005, the vocational education and training (VET) sector continued to provide an important service to Indigenous people. More Indigenous Australians than ever were enrolled in a VET course in 2005. Apart from potential employment and economic benefits, VET also delivers a broad range of personal, family and community benefits that are attractive to Indigenous people. VET provides an important and valid alternative pathway to other forms of education and training for two of the most marginalised groups, young Indigenous people and Indigenous men. In 2005, about one Indigenous VET student in seven was aged 16 or less, twice the rate of non-Indigenous students. For every one Indigenous male university student there are eleven Indigenous male VET students. Many Indigenous students are using VET as a first step to making up the gaps in their previous education and training. Almost half of Indigenous students are enrolled in courses at the AQF Certificate I and II levels, twice the non-Indigenous rate. At the higher levels of study, the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous student outcomes is growing. A key area of success continues to be New Apprenticeships. There were overall record numbers of Indigenous New Apprentices in 2005 and record numbers undertaking AQF Certificate III and higher level courses. The number of New Apprenticeships course completions continues to grow and in 2005 a record 3,490 Indigenous students successfully completed their course, with 60% of completions at the AQF Certificate III and higher levels. Overall, Indigenous students achieved 2.5% of all New Apprenticeships completions in 2005 which matches their overall participation rate. The outcomes for Indigenous people who finish their VET course are encouraging. The 2005 Student Outcomes Survey shows that 68% of Indigenous graduates were employed following graduation, up by eight percentage points from 2004. In the higher education sector the number of Indigenous students has continued to decline and in 2005, enrolments were at their lowest point for the last five years. In recent years, Indigenous students undertaking higher education courses have continued to show greater improvement against the progress rate indicator than non-Indigenous students. As a result the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in this performance area has narrowed. The rate of growth in Indigenous staff numbers in higher education institutions has increased substantially each year since 2001. While Indigenous people remain under-represented in relation to total staff numbers and the proportion of Indigenous students, the gap is closing.

A new method is proposed for generating projections for sparse populations by locality, age cohort and gender. An adaptation of the cohort replacement method, the approach uses a Tobit model with varying censoring limits to model population changes by cohort. As an applied example, projections are generated for 2016 Indigenous populations in communities in regional and remote Australia, and then compared to actual 2016 Census population counts. We argue the approach has considerable potential, with the model performing well in out-of-sample projection while offering projections at a much finer-grained level of disaggregation than currently available to planners and policy-makers.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have notably embraced vocational education and training (VET) in places classified as very remote by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Participation rates are high and qualification holders are increasing as a result of strong participation (Crawford & Biddle 2017; Windley 2017). Despite this strong participation, the employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates in very remote parts of Australia remain low. It would seem that training is not translating into employability or employment for many (if not most) learners. One reason for this is completion rates of less than 20% for many courses, meaning there is high attrition. Completion rates are particularly low at Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) certificates I and II. In 2015, completion rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in very remote areas across Australia were 10.6% for certificate I courses and 16.6% for all AQF courses. For participants then, the expectations of training may not be realised, and, for training providers and trainers, the inefficiencies created by non-completion mean that too much attention is placed on attending to the needs of administration rather than on the learners. Recognising this problem, a team of researchers representing five different institutions from around Australia set out to uncover how training retention and employability could be improved. Drawing on their experience, they identified five programs in their institutions that are considered successful in achieving above-average retention. By studying these case examples, the factors contributing to successful retention could be identified, as well as the approaches that worked. The team also examined quantitative data, available through the National Centre for Vocational Education Research’s (NCVER) VOCSTATS database, to understand the dynamics of participation, retention and completion in very remote parts of Australia.

Lack of engagement with rangelands by the general public, politicians and some practitioners has led to policy failure and unsustainable practice. We argue that thinking in terms of cultural reciprocity with land will lead to greater sustainability of rangeland uses. Many grass-roots initiatives are already showing the way by working at the boundary of science, society and decision makers, involving everyone with a stake in the outcome and developing genuine collaboration and acceptance of diverse value systems.

Over the past decade, national testing in literacy and numeracy for primary and junior secondary education reveals NT remote Aboriginal children have consistently performed at a much lower level than all other groups across Australia. This performance is situated within a broader and stratified education system, of which ongoing education reforms have failed to address. This entrenched pattern by wealth has NT remote Aboriginal students located at the bottom of this layering, underpinned by an Aboriginal racial identity as a defining characteristic. For NT remote Aboriginal families this layering is bound within a deepened embeddedness of racism, interacting with an economic ordering that has relegated NT remote Aboriginal families to a life of socially–constructed marginalisation, on their own lands. This study applies Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a primary tool of analysis, Aboriginalising its tenets to respond to the unique narrative of NT Aboriginal education. Drawing on research with remote North Australia Aboriginal principals (head teachers), Aboriginal communities and educators, critical race methodology is used to explore the intersecting roles of colonial history, ‘race’ and wealth inequality in the construction and deployment of NT remote Aboriginal education inequality. This investigation privileges the voices and Stories of Northern Territory remote Aboriginal families, strengthened through my lived Aboriginal experience of 25years employment as a teacher and senior education administrator in Northern Territory urban and remote communities. In this study, the CRT tenet of interest convergence/interest divergence is utilised alongside Indigenous CRT frameworks. Underpinning this study, a form of NT remote Aboriginal social capitalism is shown to be at the epicentre of a progressive NT remote Aboriginal education policy architecture, wrapped around Indigeneity and its existential dimensions, as a foundation to improving the pattern of NT remote Aboriginal education performance.

(Book abstract) This book investigates the complex and unpredictable temporalities of waste. Reflecting on waste in the context of sustainability, materiality, social practices, subjectivity, and environmental challenges, the book covers a wide range of settings, from the municipal garbage crisis in Beirut, to food rescue campaigns in Hong Kong, and the toxic by-products of computer chip production in Silicon Valley. Waste is one of the most pressing issues of the day, central to environmental challenges and the development of healthier and more sustainable futures. The emergence of the new field of Discard Studies, in addition to expanding research across other disciplines within the social sciences, is testament to the centrality of waste as a crucial social, material and cultural problem and to the need for multi- and transdisciplinary approaches like those provided in this volume. This edited collection seeks to develop a framework that understands the material properties of different kinds of waste, not as fixed and static but as transformative and relational. It brings together new and cutting-edge research on the temporalities of waste by a diverse range of international authors. Collectively, this research presents a striking and persuasive argument about the need to give more credence to the capacities of waste to provoke us in materially and temporally complex ways, especially those substances that complicate our understandings of life as bounded duration. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the environmental humanities, cultural studies, anthropology and human geography.

Background Early-life risk factors, including maternal hyperglycaemia and birthweight, are thought to contribute to the high burden of cardiometabolic disease experienced by Indigenous populations. We examined rates of pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and extremes of birthweight over three decades in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of the NT Perinatal Data Collection from 1987 to 2016, including all births >20 weeks gestation, stratified by maternal Aboriginal identification. Key outcomes were annual rates of pre-existing diabetes, GDM, small-for-gestational-age, large-for-gestational-age, low birthweight (<2500 g), and high birthweight (>4000 g). Logistic regression was used to assess trends and interactions. Findings 109 349 babies were born to 64 877 mothers, 36% of whom identified as Aboriginal ethnicity. Among Aboriginal women, rates of GDM and pre-existing diabetes, respectively, were 3 · 4% and 0 · 6% in 1987 and rose to 13% and 5 · 7% in 2016 (both trends p<0 · 001). Among non-Aboriginal women, rates of GDM increased from 1 · 9% in 1987 to 11% in 2016 (p<0 · 001), while pre-existing diabetes was uncommon (≤0 · 7% throughout). Rates of small-for-gestational-age decreased, while rates of large-for-gestational-age and high birthweight increased in both groups (all trends p<0 · 001). Multivariable modelling suggests that hyperglycaemia was largely responsible for the growing rate of large-for-gestational-age births among Aboriginal women. Interpretation The burden of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy has grown substantially in the NT over three decades and is impacting birthweight trends. The prevalence of pre-gestational diabetes in Aboriginal women is among the highest in the world. Funding Diabetes Australia Research Program.

The construction workforce and its relationship with the resources industries is an under-researched sector of the mobile labour market. While it is broadly assumed that the construction workforce is an integral part of the resources industry, those with a familiarity with resource boomtowns perceive the construction workforce to be different or ?other?, mostly viewing the workers to be socially, economically and culturally inferior with different values, practices and rewards. The ?new mobilities paradigm? and Employment-Related Geographical Mobility provide useful frameworks to examine the nuances of mobile workers, placing mobility at the centre of an assessment of paid work and socio-economic differentiation in Western Australian resources boomtown settings. The lived experience of construction workers and their families are interrogated providing an insight into the complex and unequal ?relatedness? of the sector to the resources industries, another sector employing a mobile workforce.

Aims: There is currently no gold-standard definition or method for identifying suicide clusters, resulting in considerable heterogeneity in the types of suicide clusters that are detected. This study sought to identify the characteristics, mechanisms and parameters of suicide clusters using three cluster detection methods. Specifically, the study aimed to: (1) determine the overlap in suicide clusters among each method, (2) compare the spatial and temporal parameters associated with different suicide clusters and (3) identify the demographic characteristics and rates of exposure to suicide among cluster and non-cluster members. Methods: Suicide data were obtained from the National Coronial Information System. N = 3027 Australians, aged 10–24 who died by suicide in 2006–2015 were included. Suicide clusters were determined using: (1) poisson scan statistics, (2) a systematic search of coronial inquests and (3) descriptive network analysis. These methods were chosen to operationalise three different definitions of suicide clusters, namely clusters that are: (1) statistically significant, (2) perceived to be significant and (3) characterised by social links among three or more suicide descendants. For each method, the demographic characteristics and rates of exposure to suicide were identified, in addition to the maximum duration of suicide clusters, the geospatial overlap between suicide clusters, and the overlap of individual cluster members. Results: Eight suicide clusters (69 suicides) were identified from the scan statistic, seven (40 suicides) from coronial inquests; and 11 (37 suicides) from the descriptive network analysis. Of the eight clusters detected using the scan statistic, two overlapped with clusters detected using the descriptive network analysis and one with clusters identified from coronial inquests. Of the seven clusters from coronial inquests, four overlapped with clusters from the descriptive network analysis and one with clusters from the scan statistic. Overall, 9.2% (12 suicides) of individuals were identified by more than one method. Prior exposure to suicide was 10.1% (N = 7) in clusters from the scan statistic, 32.5% (N = 13) in clusters from coronial inquest and 56.8% (N = 21) in clusters from the descriptive network analysis. Conclusion: Each method identified markedly different suicide clusters. Evidence of social links between cluster members typically involved clusters detected using the descriptive network analysis. However, these data were limited to the availability information collected as part of the police and coroner investigation. Communities tasked with detecting and responding to suicide clusters may benefit from using the spatial and temporal parameters revealed in descriptive studies to inform analyses of suicide clusters using inferential methods.

In early 2020, panic-buying resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic led to shortages of some food and grocery items across Australia. Panic-buying in urban centres had a flow on effect for remote communities where food security is already less stable. At the same time, some stories appeared in media outlets reporting incidents of very high prices for food and groceries in particular remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community stores. On 21 May 2020, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt MP, asked the committee to inquire into and report on food prices and food security in remote Indigenous communities. The committee adopted the inquiry and its terms of reference on 27 May 2020. The inquiry received 128 submissions and 23 supplementary submissions. The Committee consulted widely with key stakeholders during this inquiry and conducted 13 public hearings. The committee did not find evidence of systemic price-gouging in remote communities. However, the Committee did find evidence of high prices in many remote communities. While those high prices appear to be reflective of the genuine cost of operating supermarkets in remote communities, this reinforces long-held concerns regarding the food security of people living remotely.

Training and support will be vital in developing and maintaining a skilled disability workforce in the roll-out of individualised disability funding across Australia. Technology has the potential to deliver training and support that is more accessible and cost-efficient in geographically isolated regions. The current qualitative study explored participants? experience of an autism-specific webinar and individual online support programme delivered to a range of early childhood staff in regional and remote areas. Researchers used purposive sampling to select and interview 11 participants enrolled in the training and support programme. Rigour and trustworthiness of the data were enhanced using member checking and a data analysis check on 20% of the transcripts. Several categories of responses were identified under three broad themes; impact of the training programme, interaction with technology, and barriers to access. Findings indicated that the programme had a positive impact on access to autism-specific learning and support. The interactive nature of webinars and individual online consultations (synchronous learning) was highly valued; however, barriers including extensive travel and busy caseloads resulted in participants relying on recorded webinars (asynchronous learning). Findings from the current study will inform the development of future training programme at an individual, organisational and policy level.

This Rural Connections article discusses the challenges faced by students in transition to boarding school. Highlights from the article: Further research is required to understand mental ill-health among boarding students. Culturally informed and responsive practices are needed to guide developmental and mental health understandings when working with young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A re-orientation towards the enormous potential of adolescence as a window of opportunity to offer positive intervention and prevention for young people experiencing, and at risk of, mental ill-health, seems particularly crucial. In this paper, we present a developmental and mental-ill health perspective on the transition to secondary school for boarding students. The developmental sciences have been described as the study of behavioural, biological and neuro-cognitive changes and processes that occur as an individual matures and grows (Dahl, Allen, Wilbrecht & Ballonoff Suleiman, 2018). Whereas mental ill-health is a general term that refers to a range of sub-clinical problems that can impact on how individuals feel, think and behave. The terms mental illness or mental disorder refer to clinical conditions diagnosed according to standardised criteria and which significantly interfere with how a person functions in life (Commonwealth of Australia, 2020). Here, we highlight some of the distinctive maturational processes that take place during the developmental period of adolescence and the nuanced way these and mental ill-health can impact on boarding students during the transition to secondary school. We argue that it is imperative for educators and boarding schools, researchers and governments alike, to collaborate and overcome a significant gap in empirical and cultural knowledge in this area.