Remote Australia Online

Despite unequivocally worse health, expenditure on Indigenous people through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is considerably less than for other Australians. We report on the effectiveness of a program to supply PBS medicines to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services (ATSIHSs) under section 100 (s.100) of the National Health Act 1953. The program: Under the special PBS arrangements (SPBSAs), approved ATSIHSs are able to order PBS medicine in bulk through local pharmacies and supply them as needed to patients on-site. The usual co-payment associated with PBS medicine is not charged and the pharmacist remuneration structure is different. Methods: The project involved consultation with the evaluation reference group and other stakeholders at all stages. There were six main data collection components: public submissions; interviews with government and other key stakeholders; pharmacist survey; medicine utilisation and expenditure data; national ATSIHS minimum dataset; and case studies of ATSIHSs. Results: These SPBSA potentially benefit 36% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. They have resulted in improved access to much-needed medicines, representing an increase of $36.5 million in expenditure on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the PBS between 2000/01 and 2002/03. They have further ensured that $8.3 million of State and Territory expenditure formerly directed at medicine can be spent on prevention and primary care. Conclusion: Overall, the SPBSAs have been very successful and demonstrates an effective model for the development of Indigenous health policy.

Background Primary Maternity Units (PMUs) offer less expensive and potentially more sustainable maternity care, with comparable or better perinatal outcomes for normal pregnancy and birth than higherlevel units. However, little is known about how these maternity services operate in rural and remote Australia, in regards to location, models of care, service structure, support mechanisms or sustainability. This study aimed to confirm and describe how they operate. Design a descriptive, cross-sectional study was undertaken, utilising a 35-item survey to explore current provision of maternity care in rural and remote PMUs across Australia. Data were subjected to simple descriptive statistics and thematic analysis for free text answers. Setting and Participants: Only 17 PMUs were identified in rural and remote areas of Australia. All 17 completed the survey. Results the PMUs were, on average, 56km or 49minutes from their referral service and provided care to an average of 59 birthing women per year. Periodic closures or downgrading of services was common. Low-risk eligibility criteria were universally used, but with some variability. Medically-led care was the most widely available model of care. In most PMUs midwives worked shift work involving both nursing and midwifery duties, with minimal uptake of recent midwifery workforce innovations. Perceived enablers of, and threats to, sustainability were reported. Key conclusions and implications for practice a small number of PMUs operate in rural Australia, and none in remote areas. Continuing overreliance on local medical support, and under-utilisation of the midwifery workforce constrain the restoration of maternity services to rural and remote Australia.

2020 looms large for Indigenous education in Australia, with the ?Refreshed? Close the Gap strategy hanging over the collective heads of schools, Indigenous students and their families. After a decade of promises, there is now an acknowledgement within the government that programmes to improve student outcomes in literacy, numeracy and school engagement, as currently implemented, have little possibility in affecting the changes required to sustainably shift Indigenous student?s schooling success. This paper draws together the findings from eleven concurrent systematic reviews of Australian Indigenous education (AER, 2019, 29(1)) and an in-depth analysis of four key underpinning elements of a culturally nourishing education for Australian Indigenous students. It is argued that the four tenets of this model centres on the curriculum construct of Learning from Country, the authentic inclusion of cultural practices and Indigenous languages in both curriculum and school practice, establishing epistemic and pedagogic mentoring for teachers and the development of a robust professional development model to support a transformative shift in teachers? pedagogic practices. The authors argue that a whole-school approach explicitly negotiated with and supported by Indigenous families, and that centres these key principles are required if the promise of educational success is ever to be met.

This report documents research commissioned by the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) on behalf of the National SAAP Coordination and Development Committee (CAD) as part of its national research program for the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP). The terms of reference were: ◗ Provide some quantification of the need for support post-homelessness. ◗ Assess the current situation with regards to post-homelessness support across jurisdictions, the current contribution of SAAP to post-crisis support, and the continuing cost to the program of re-entry. ◗ Analyse successful housing outcomes post-homelessness and their connection to support provided or available to assist in their achievement. Does this work better for some than others, if so why? ◗ Document any barriers to successful transition to sustainable housing and the supports needed to maintain housing. ◗ Document examples of ‘best-practice’ models in successful housing resettlement post-homelessness. ◗ Provide advice on future directions for support services to people exiting homelessness. The specific research questions to be investigated were: ◗ What are the housing outcomes of people exiting homelessness? ◗ What are the key determinants of housing outcomes for people exiting homelessness (e.g. form of housing exited to; nature and degree of support received and the period of time a person is homeless)? ◗ What support (form of support, duration and intensity) do people need after they exit crisis accommodation in order to succeed in long-term housing? ◗ To what extent is this support provided at the present time? ◗ Who currently provides this support? ◗ What future directions could be pursued in the next SAAP Agreement in order to improve the provision of support to the homeless? ◗ What is “best practice” in the provision of support to people in resettlement i.e. the transition from insecure to sustainable housing? ◗ What is needed over the short, medium and longer term, and for what groups? ◗ What kinds of support should be available? ◗ How long may support need to continue? ◗ Do SAAP agencies have the ability to provide such supports? ◗ What other supports may be required? ◗ What are the gaps in the forms of support? (e.g. skills training; health services; financial assistance; employment; reintegration into the community). The components of the research were: ◗ An international literature review of research on exiting housing including the United Kingdom, USA, Sweden, Canada and Australia. ◗ An analysis of NDCA data for 7 questions about support for and destinations of people exiting SAAP. ◗ A study of current practices in Australia largely conducted by written survey and consultations. 158 surveys were distributed to Government and non-Government agencies and 44 responses were collected. ◗ Collection of 43 case studies from Government and non-Government agencies. ◗ Reports on leaving homelessness in four Australian jurisdictions. Field studies were conducted in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory where Government agencies, SAAP providers and clients were consulted as key informants.

Australia is one of many countries to rely on International Medical Graduates (IMGs) to fill general practitioner (GP) positions throughout its regional, rural, and remote (RRR) communities. Current government initiatives requiring IMGs to work for specified periods in RRR areas offer only short-term solutions. The need to improve the long-term retention of IMGs practising in RRR areas has motivated this research to improve our understanding of how IMGs make decisions about where to practise. Specifically, this study sought to: (a) identify the factors that influence an IMG’s decision to remain working in RRR areas, and (b) develop a theory, grounded in the data, to explain how these factors are prioritised, evaluated and used to inform a decision to remain working in RRR areas. This study adopted a qualitative approach and employed grounded theory methods. Data collection and analysis occurred concurrently, using constant, comparative analysis, guided by theoretical sampling and data saturation. Data sources were transcripts from semi-structured interviews with IMG registrars (n = 20) and supervisors (n = 5), interviewers’ notes and analytic memos. Interviewees were all currently working in RRR areas of Queensland, Australia. The analysis involved a three-phase coding process, progressing from specific, inductive coding to abstract, abductive coding. The analysis revealed that the IMG decision-making process involves a complex, dynamic, and iterative process of balancing life goals based on life stage. Many factors are considered when assessing the balance of three main life goals: satisfaction with work, family, and lifestyle. The prioritisation and balance of these life goals can vary as the IMG moves through varying work-, family-, and age-related life stages. It is hoped that having this understanding of the complexity of the IMG decision-making process, will better equip medical educators, policy makers and support service providers to tailor services to encourage IMGs to continue practising in these regions.

Background. Acute rheumatic fever is a major cause of heart disease in Aboriginal Australians. The epidemiology differs from that observed in regions with temperate climates; streptococcal pharyngitis is reportedly rare, and pyoderma is highly prevalent. A link between pyoderma and acute rheumatic fever has been proposed but is yet to be proven. Group C β-hemolytic streptococci and group G β-hemolytic streptococci have also been also implicated in the pathogenesis.Methods. Monthly, prospective surveillance of selected households was conducted in 3 remote Aboriginal communities. People were questioned about sore throat and pyoderma; swab specimens were obtained from all throats and any pyoderma lesions. Household population density was determined.Results. From data collected during 531 household visits, the childhood incidence of sore throat was calculated to be 8 cases per 100 person-years, with no cases of symptomatic group A β-hemolytic streptococci pharyngitis. The median point prevalence for throat carriage was 3.7% for group A β-hemolytic streptococci, 0.7% for group C β-hemolytic streptococci, and 5.1% for group G β-hemolytic streptococci. Group A β-hemolytic streptococci were recovered from the throats of 19.5% of children at some time during the study. There was no seasonal trend or correlation with overcrowding. Almost 40% of children had pyoderma at least once, and the prevalence was greatest during the dry season. In community 1, the prevalence of pyoderma correlated with household crowding. Group C and G β-hemolytic streptococci were rarely recovered from pyoderma lesions.Conclusions. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that recurrent skin infections immunize against throat colonization and infection. High rates of acute rheumatic fever were not driven by symptomatic group A β-hemolytic streptococci throat infection. Group G and C β-hemolytic streptococci were found in the throat but rarely in pyoderma lesions.

Aims and Objectives:The aim of this study is to examine the language processing mechanisms involved when young children bring structural innovations into their community way of speaking, as part of conventionalising code-switching practices to become a mixed language.Approach:The study takes a qualitative approach to the analysis of child language acquisition and adult speech data in two contexts.Data and Analysis:The study analyses naturalistic and spontaneous speech data of children and adults speaking the mixed language, Light Warlpiri, and adults older than that age group who do not speak the new mixed language. It compares an innovative auxiliary form in Light Warlpiri to child non-target speech in English with data taken from the Child Language Data Exchange System corpus.Findings:The findings are that the Light Warlpiri-speaking children used processes of re-analysis that are commonly found in child first language acquisition in other contexts to re-analyse elements of the verbal input, but because of the sociolinguistic context they created an innovative structure.Originality:The study is the first to directly compare processes of innovation in language contact with those of non-target structures in monolingual child language acquisition, identifying the same processes in each. It is also the first to show that a dramatic structural change from a linguistic perspective may be a small, incremental change from a child learner?s perspective.Significance/Implications:The significance of the study is that until now processes of innovation in language contact situations have been thought by many to differ in quality from those in monolingual child language acquisition contexts. This study shows that the child language acquisition processes are the same in each situation, but different sociolinguistic contexts lead to different outcomes for the communities? ways of speaking. It also shows that children do not bring in new structure that is not motivated by their input; rather, they make small changes to the input they receive.

Feral cats (Felis catus) occur throughout central Australia. In this study, we analysed the stomach contents of 390 feral cats collected between 1990 and 1994 from the southern half of the Northern Territory. Cats fed on a wide variety of invertebrates, reptiles, birds and mammals, including animals up to their own body mass in size. Mammals were the most important prey but reptiles were regularly eaten in summer and birds were important in winter. Invertebrates were present in the diet in all seasons. Carrion appeared in stomach samples during dry winters only and this has implications for future control of feral cats.

Threatened warru, or black-footed rock-wallaby (Petrogale lateralis MacDonnell Ranges race), populations in northern South Australia continued to decline despite baiting for foxes (Vulpes vulpes), which improved their short-term conservation status elsewhere. To investigate whether feral cats (Felis catus) also represent a risk to warru we compared frequencies of prey occurrence in 103 feral cat and 14 fox stomachs shot near warru colonies in northern South Australia during 2001–17 with measures of prey abundance from pitfall trapping and opportunistic searches. We hypothesise that one fresh adult warru kill and the presence of warru remains in four other cats suggests predation by cats on adult and juvenile warru. Small reptiles and invertebrates were the most frequently recorded prey of cats in summer, whereas rodents and small dasyurids were the most frequent prey items in winter. Small mammals, small snakes and pygopodid lizards were over-represented in the diet of cats compared with estimated encounter frequencies, whereas fast-running dragons, knob-tailed geckoes (Nephrurus) and echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus) were not recorded from cat stomachs despite being relatively abundant. Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), rodents and fruits were the most frequently recorded items in fox stomachs. This study reinforces that targeted management of feral cat populations should be considered in concert with control of canids in sustainable recovery programs for warru and other cat-vulnerable species.

In 2010, the population of the Gascoyne Health District was 10,016 people (males 52.9%) (0.4% of the state's population). The age-structure differs from that of the population of Western Australia (WA) by having a larger percentage of children aged 0 to 9 years and people aged 30 to 39 years, and a lower proportion of young people aged 15 to 29 years. By 2020, the population of the Gascoyne Health District is expected to increase by 25.5% to 12,573 people In 2009, Aboriginal people accounted for 16.9% of the population of the Gascoyne Health District, which was greater than the state average (3.3%). When lifestyle and psycho-social risk factors were examined, the number of people who drink at risky/high risk levels for long term harm was found to be higher in the Gascoyne Health District compared with the state. There were no self-reported doctor-diagnosed health conditions that were significantly higher in the Gascoyne Health District compared with the state, although a couple were significantly lower. There were no significant differences in the Gascoyne Health District regarding the use of hospital services in the last year compared with the state.

In 2010, the population of the Geraldton Health District was 38,508 people (1.7% of the state’s population). The age-structure differs from that of the WA population by having a larger percentage of children and young people aged 0 to 19 years, and a lower proportion of adults aged 20 to 44 years. By 2020, the size of the population of the Geraldton Health District is expected to increase by 7.6%, to 41,438 people. In 2009, Aboriginal people accounted for 9.2% of the population of the Geraldton Health District, which was greater than the state average (3.3%). There was a significantly higher proportion of obese women in the Geraldton Health District (34%) compared to the state (26%). Obesity in the total population was also significantly higher in the Geraldton Health District (32%) compared to WA (26%). When self-reported doctor-diagnosed health conditions were examined, a significantly higher proportion of males in the Geraldton Health District had arthritis (22%) compared with WA (17%). Hospital usage was significantly higher in the Geraldton Health District compared with the state - a third of females in the Geraldton Health District had been to hospital in the last year, compared with a quarter of women in WA. Hospital usage in the total population was also significantly higher in the Geraldton Health District (32%) compared to WA (27%).

Objectives: To evaluate the utility of auscultatory screening for detecting echocardiographically confirmed rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in high-risk children in the Northern Territory, Australia. Design: Cross-sectional screening survey. Setting: Twelve rural and remote communities in the NT between September 2008 and June 2010. Participants: 1015 predominantly Indigenous schoolchildren aged 5–15 years. Intervention: All children underwent transthoracic echocardiography, using a portable cardiovascular ultrasound machine, and cardiac auscultation by a doctor and a nurse. Sonographers and auscultators were blinded to each others’ findings and the clinical history of the children. Echocardiograms were reported offsite, using a standardised protocol, by cardiologists who were also blinded to the clinical findings. Main outcome measures: Presence of a cardiac murmur as identified by nurses (any murmur) and doctors (any murmur, and “suspicious” or “pathological” murmurs), compared with echocardiogram findings. RHD was defined according to the 2012 World Heart Federation criteria for echocardiographic diagnosis of RHD. Results: Of the 1015 children screened, 34 (3.3%) had abnormalities identified on their echocardiogram; 24 met echocardiographic criteria for definite or borderline RHD, and 10 had isolated congenital anomalies. Detection of any murmur by a nurse had a sensitivity of 47.1%, specificity of 74.8% and positive predictive value (PPV) of 6.1%. Doctor identification of any murmur had 38.2% sensitivity, 75.1% specificity and 5.1% PPV, and the corresponding values for doctor detection of suspicious or pathological murmurs were 20.6%, 92.2% and 8.3%. For all auscultation approaches, negative predictive value was more than 97%, but the majority of participants with cardiac abnormalities were not identified. The results were no different when only definite RHD and congenital abnormalities were considered as true cases. Conclusions: Sensitivity and positive predictive value of cardiac auscultation compared with echocardiography is poor, regardless of the expertise of the auscultator. Although negative predictive value is high, most cases of heart disease were missed by auscultation, suggesting that cardiac auscultation should no longer be used to screen for RHD in high-risk schoolchildren in Australia.

Screen-printed textiles from remote Australian Aboriginal communities are a widely acclaimed and celebrated form of cultural expression. They bring substantial benefits to artists and their communities. This paper describes research that examines ways in which textiles are understood and valued in the context of their collaborative intercultural development whilst also examining ?cloth? as a unique creative medium for conveying cultural narratives. Australia?s colonial past may cast subsequent intercultural collaboration in a negative light. However, this paper proposes the hypotheses that non-Indigenous collaborative contribution to textile creation does not diminish the power of this work for artists; nor does it lessen the cultural meaning and value of the ancestral stories portrayed. An additional inter-related hypothesis holds that cloth carries a cultural voice in a way that other forms of cultural production cannot. Yet the journey taken by these textiles is precarious. ?Industry? can undervalue the cultural narratives and potentially expose Aboriginal screen-printed textiles to commercial misuse. A proposed qualitative research investigation will test the hypotheses, with a focus on how textiles are understood and valued by artists who create the work and by key participants along their journey.

Ground cover is the vegetation, biological crusts and stones in contact with the soil surface. It has a significant impact on the amount of soil redistributed or lost through wind and water erosion, on the biomass which contributes to soil carbon levels and the ability of vegetation to respond to rain after drought. Ground cover can be monitored directly through remote sensing. A workshop was held in Canberra (23–24 November 2009) to reach consensus on a nationally coordinated approach to ground cover mapping. Different approaches were presented for estimating ground cover using remote sensing. The issues surrounding validation of such remotely sensed products were also discussed. Discussions were guided by the user specifications for this product. A first step in this coordinated approach was the establishment of four working groups from the workshop participants. The working groups are: 1 fractional cover mapping operational for the nation—using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at 500-metre spatial resolution as a 16-day composite 2 upscaling—from field data to high/medium resolution, small extent imagery to low resolution, large area imagery 3 field data collection—for validation of fractional cover derived from remote sensing 4 monitoring land management practices with remote sensing. Collectively, the four working groups will advise on the delivery of a validated fractional cover product for Australia. This product will be used: • to monitor ground cover levels • as a key input to wind and water erosion modelling to predict rates of soil loss • to monitor the impact of different management practices on ground cover levels and soil erosion risk. The method of Guerschman et al. (2009) has been selected as the approach to implement nationally, with initial focus on making this MODIS-based fractional cover product operational. Essential to the use of this product is the accuracy of its ground cover estimates. The collection of field measurements and the use of upscaling techniques will underpin the validation and improvement of this fractional cover product. The working groups documented the workshop discussion and have recommended a way forward. The effort required to implement the suggested tasks has been estimated and will be used to inform the development of a project plan.

A 'sense of place' describes a sense of belonging, attachment and ownership of particular places. A 'sense of place' - an identity - is something all communities need, and indeed it can be argued that a principle cause of alienation, crime and dysfunction is the loss of this sense of identity (Pearson & Sullivan 1995, cited in Workers Online 2002). The loss of a 'sense of place' within sectors of the community is a factor of vital concern for sustainability in any region. This paper documents the sense of place in the Pilbara with two main themes - that of Indigenous sense of place and of non-Indigenous sense of place.

‘Normalisation’ in a Non-normal Environment: Issues in Building Sustainable Mining Communities

The opportunities for solutions to the complexity of FIFO will require a paradigm shift in the urban development sector. Already there are some interesting shifts occurring in the resource sector as the reality of competing for employees sets in. The reality is that there are more factors than simply dollars in the decisions that workers are taking. Things like the quality of the experience in the village, the relationship with the host community and how well the family is coping matter too. This presentation looks at the context and history of the FIFO phenomenon, and relates these to neighbourhood, community and family. It argues for the need to build a sociology of communities that fosters healthy individuals and connected and supportive communities.

Warming global climates represent major threats to avian populations, particularly those reliant on surface water within arid biomes. We investigated terrestrial avian use of groundwater-dominated arid zone waterholes in central Australia to identify species vulnerable to climate change. Camera traps set in Watarrka National Park recorded avian species over 14 months at three waterholes during 2014 and 2015. Recorded species were assigned to functional groups, which included nectarivores, granivores, carnivores and omnivores. Generalised Additive Mixed Models (GAMMs) were used to model daily trapping rates (DTRs) for each functional group at waterholes in relation to daily maximum temperature and days since last rainfall. Granivores exhibited high DTRs across the entire daily maximum temperature range (15 °C–43 °C). Increasing threshold responses beyond specific daily maximum temperatures were exhibited by nectarivores (35 °C), carnivores (30 °C) and omnivores (30 °C). The DTRs for all functional groups increased with days since last rainfall. These data indicate species within all functional groups are vulnerable to a warming climate, even those that are considered to be surface water independent, as increasing waterhole visitations in torrid conditions reduces foraging time and could lead to reduced fitness in particular individuals.

The author briefly touchs on the following: - What is an Indigenous Business? - Why do we need Indigenous Business? - The current context for Indigenous Business - Some lessons from Indigenous Business - Issues for Indigenous Business and finally, - To explore future opportunities for Indigenous Business. Four foundational activities would re-vitalise outback Australia, the role of Indigenous peoples within it, and the business opportunities that would flow from a proactive investment approach: - A focus on enabling economic livelihoods across the region. - Declaration of an agreed outback settlement plan that guarantees security, safety and services in the national interest, providing an investment strategy for the next 50 years. - New approaches to re-invigorating capital investment in outback Australia. - Effective governance of the outback as a common region or zone rather than a collection of state and territory backyards reflecting national neglect.

This report updates resource related employment and population projections completed in July 2008, coinciding with the onset of the global financial crisis. The projections are generated from what is now a broader range of company inputs on expansion plans, again supplemented by public data sources for non-PICC member projects. The results from the current analysis suggest that companies operating in the Pilbara are emerging from the impacts of the crisis with stronger investment and production intentions than underpinned the July 2008 projections. The strongest projected employment growth is in FIFO: current projections in 2015 and 2020 are some 10,300 and 16,000 higher than the July 2008 projections. The projected changes in resident workforce produce Pilbara population projections that are also above those generated in July 2008 (ES2). The projections are meant as a proxy for the ABS Estimated Resident Population (ERP) count. They are some 5,400 and 10,600 respectively above the previous projections for 2010 and 2015.

In 2007 representatives of the Mid West Gascoyne Human Services Regional Manager’s Group (MWGHSRMG) asked Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health (CUCRH) to propose a study to determine the value and effectiveness of community development officers (CDOs) in the Murchison region and to assist in designing a model that would enhance and sustain their efforts. In the past ten years Western Australian shires have taken on aspects of community development as part of their core responsibilities. Experiences in Western Australia and throughout the world have reaffirmed the importance of dedicated salaried positions to coordinate and support community development efforts. By now the majority of WA shires have supported community development positions completely or in part through their revenue base. In the Murchison region shire CEOs also recognise the important work undertaken by the CDOs through the localised programs and services they deliver. However, they have also articulated their frustrations with on-going work force issues, reliance on project funding and the enormity of the challenges in community development. At the commencement of this project it was envisaged that findings may lead to the pursuit of a more sustainable, stable and reliable funding stream for Community Development Officers (CDOs) throughout the Murchison region. Whilst this is still at the core of why the review was carried out, it has become abundantly clear that funding for the employment of CDOs is but one important element of a successful community development strategy for communities throughout the Murchison.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have high rates of gestational diabetes (GDM). The Pregnancy And Neonatal Diabetes Outcomes in Remote Australia (PANDORA) study is a prospective longitudinal cohort of women with type 2 diabetes (T2D), GDM or normoglycemia in pregnancy in the Northern Territory, Australia. In this analysis we report progression to prediabetes and T2D at 2.5 years [range 2.1, 3] postpartum in a subgroup of Aboriginal and Europid women with GDM and normoglycemia in pregnancy (n=337). Women with pre-existing T2D were excluded. Data were analysed using Fisher’s exact tests. Among Aboriginal women with GDM we assessed predictions for progression using multivariate logistic regression. Aboriginal women with GDM (n=111) were younger than Europid women with GDM (n=104) (29 years (SD 5.9) vs. 32 (5.6) p<0.01), with similar first trimester BMI (28.9 kg/m2 (SD 7.2) vs. 28.5 (6.7) p=0.64). Of Aboriginal women with GDM, 24 (22%) progressed to T2D and 12 (11%) to prediabetes. Of Aboriginal women with normoglycemia (n=60), 1 (2%) progressed to T2D and 1 (2%) to prediabetes (p<0.01 for combined outcome vs. GDM women). Of Europid women with GDM, none progressed to T2D and 4 (4%) to prediabetes and of those with normoglycemia (n=62) none progressed to diabetes or prediabetes (p=0.09 vs. GDM women). Among Aboriginal women with GDM, factors associated with postpartum diabetes or prediabetes were age (OR 1.11, 1.03-1.2) and, after adjusting for age: severity of GDM (higher fasting plasma glucose (per 1 mmol/L OR 2.11, 1.23-3.62), use of insulin (OR 3.20, 1.35-7.6)) and higher first trimester BMI (per 3 kg/m2 OR 1.22, 1.01-1.47). Not smoking was protective (OR 0.35, 0.14-0.90), although any breastfeeding at 6-months postpartum was not (OR 0.95, 0.36-2.47). To our knowledge this is the only prospective study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with GDM. We report the highest rates in the world of T2D after GDM at 2.5 years postpartum, highlighting a need for targeted interventions in this high-risk population.

Foraging theory predicts that animals should forage so as to maximize their net rate of energy gain or to minimize their risk of starvation. In situations where prey numbers fluctuate dramatically, theory predicts further that foragers will eat ‘optimal’ prey when it is abundant but expand their diet to include other prey types when the optimal prey is scarce; this is the alternative prey hypothesis. Here, we test this prediction by analyzing the diet of a mammalian predator, the feral house cat Felis catus, during periods of scarcity and abundance of the long-haired rat Rattus villosissimus. We also investigate whether the body condition of feral cats differs during different stages of the prey population cycle. Feral cats were shot during culling operations in semi-arid grassland habitats in central Queensland, Australia, and the stomach contents later identified. We found that the body condition of feral cats did not differ between phases of the prey population cycle, but the diets of cats culled when long-haired rats were scarce were significantly more diverse than when this rodent was abundant. Rats comprised about 80 % of cats’ diet by volume and frequency of occurrence when they were present, whereas birds, reptiles and invertebrates comprised the bulk of the diet when rats were not available. We conclude that, whilst feral cats are often thought to be specialist predators, they may be better considered as facultative specialists that will shift their diet in predictable ways in response to changes in the abundance of primary prey.

This report comprises an evaluation of the research methodology and a summary of the findings from the Remote Indigenous Household (RIH) (focus groups) and Indigenous Households of Alice Springs (IHAS) (questionnaire) components of the Territory 2030 Household Survey. These surveys were commissioned by the Northern Territory Government Department of the Chief Minister and conducted by Ninti One Limited. Part 1 of the report is de-identified and describes the methodological development of the research and Part 2 describes its implementation, an evaluation of the research, a summary of findings and a de-identified summary outlining highlights of the findings across the target themes of the Territory 2030 Strategy. The details are provided in the five Confidential Lead Researcher Summary Reports (Part 3).

This document has categorised the history of the Pilbara into five sections. These are: Pre European settlement — Discovery of the Pilbara; From pastoral settlement in the 1860's to the discovery of gold in1888 — Early Pastoralism; From the discovery of gold to the end of the gold mining in 1920 — Pilbara Gold Rush; From the end of the gold rush to the iron ore mining boom in the 1960's — Pastoralism; and From 1960's to present — Mineral Mining - Mineral Energy