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Recent reforms in the Croatian national educational system due to the Republic of Croatia’s accession to the European Union have as one focus to raise the level of critical thinking required by students. An important component of national education is the high stakes matriculation or ‘matura’ examinations. A study was made of biology examinations in both the countries of Australia and the Republic of Croatia. The comparison aimed to determine the level of critical thinking demanded based on the questions in the examination. This analysis of examination questions relied on the presumption of consequential validity of high stakes examinations; matriculation papers, where, if demanded by the examination, students will adopt certain skills, in this case, critical thinking. A hierarchical critical thinking taxonomy was subsequently developed based on similar taxonomies in existing literature to research the questions in the matriculation examination papers of biology in Australia and the Republic of Croatia respectively. The examination questions were classified according to this taxonomy and the results are displayed according to the level of critical thinking demanded in these examination papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the noticeable nervousness of many US-based financial statement issuers in adopting IFRS. For contextual purposes, the paper provides an overview of the FASB/IFRS convergence so far and its probable future. A detailed review of convergence in accounting standards is explained through the respective standards for "Pensions and Other Post-Employment Benefits". The paper concludes by suggesting that, while one set of global steps is a noble goal, it might not achieve the desired goal of comparability.

Fitts' Law is, more often than not, thought of as standard knowledge in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. However, in many occasions, interface components are being built by professionals with little or no knowledge of HCI principles (e.g., software menus are often being built by software developers with no designer input). How much appreciation of Fitts' Law exists among developers, and how does it affect our collaboration with them and the software they build and we use? To help answer this question, a survey among 65 designers and developers was conducted, as well as an analysis of the Computer Science undergraduate curricula from 94 internationally high-ranked universities. The contribution of this paper is twofold: firstly, treating Fitts' Law as an Open Educational Resource and, secondly, the analysis identified gaps that extend beyond HCI Education and fall in the sphere of Epistemology.

Higher education emphasises training and skills for employment, yet while the "idea" of educating global citizens appears in university discourse, there is limited evidence demonstrating how the "idea" of the global citizen translates into practice. Recent research emphasises a desire for graduates to be local and global citizens with ethical and critical capacities for global workforce preparedness. The purpose of this paper is to explore the university responsibility for translating the "idea" of the ethical thinking global citizen into practice. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with higher education experts (n?=?26). The interpretive research is discussed through the themes: "Constructing the global citizen," "Enacting the global citizen," "Legitimating the global citizen" and "The sidelining context" (italics used to distinguish research themes in text). The paper contributes to higher education discourse on a contested and topical issue.

Featured Application: This paper presents a new, fifth industrial revolution (Industry 5.0)-inspired paradigm for educating and training Australian healthcare professionals and students in the field of digital health. By leveraging Industry 5.0-enabling technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, big data analytics, etc., we can cultivate students to be job-ready for the future of work by providing them with hands-on experience in advanced healthcare technologies. Ultimately, this new training and education paradigm in digital health can help bridge the gap between training and the world of work and prepare students to deliver a more efficient, effective, and sustainable healthcare system. Digital transformation, characterised by advanced digitalisation, blockchain, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, machine learning technologies, and robotics, has played a key role in revolutionising various industries, especially the healthcare sector. The adoption of and transition (from traditional) to new technology will bring challenges, opportunities, and disruptions to existing healthcare systems. According to the European Union, we must pursue both digital and green transitions to achieve sustainable, human-centric, and resilient industries to achieve a world of prosperity for all. The study aims to present a novel approach to education and training in the digital health field that is inspired by the fifth industrial revolution paradigm. The paper highlights the role of training and education interventions that are required to support digital health in the future so that students can develop the capacity to recognise and exploit the potential of new technologies. This article will briefly discuss the challenges and opportunities related to healthcare systems in the era of digital transformation and beyond. Then, we look at the enabling technologies from an Industry 5.0 perspective that supports digital health. Finally, we present a new teaching and learning paradigm and strategies that embed Industry 5.0 technologies in academic curricula so that students can develop their capacities to embrace a digital future and minimise the disruption that will inevitably accompany it. By incorporating Industry 5.0 principles into digital health education, we believe students can gain a deeper understanding of the industry and develop skills that will enable them to deliver a more efficient, effective, and sustainable healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia is a member of many multilateral trade bodies and engages in trade agreements of a multilateral and bilateral kind across most regions. In June 2018, it launched negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) which are still ongoing and since then Australia and the EU have conducted fifteen rounds of negotiations (last one on 28 May 2023 in Brussels). This paper aims to explore the business awareness of the EU amongst Australian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to analyse the factors that influence their internationalisation. To ascertain this, we reviewed the results of two surveys1 that were conducted pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic (also coinciding with the Brexit transition period). This paper argues that SMEs in Australia are essentially unaware of the EU as a market and that no significant change in the business perception of the EU and potential international trade opportunities occurred between the pre- and post-COVID-19 political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spectre of a food security crisis has raised important questions about future directions for agriculture and given fresh impetus to a long-standing debate about the potential contribution of agricultural biotechnology to food security. This paper considers the discursive foundations for promotion of agricultural biotechnology, arguing that notions of progress and "science-based" risk assessment act as "anti-political" strategies to remove consideration of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) from the cut and thrust of politics, while the concept of "food security" reconstitutes agricultural biotechnology as a moral imperative. We argue that a debate ostensibly focussed on developing countries in fact largely arises from discordant views about the future of farming and rural areas in the developed countries where these arguments are taking place. These debates are examined through a comparative study of the UK and Australia. Whereas acceptance of GM crops and foods at government and industry level has not led to commercial adoption in the UK due to consumer resistance and the influence of EU regulations, Australian governments at federal and state level have increasingly embraced GM crops, potentially locking Australia into a food and farming trajectory based on agricultural biotechnology. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

In various research areas, the availability of open datasets is considered as key for research and application purposes. These datasets are used as benchmarks to develop new algorithms and to compare them to other algorithms in given settings. Finding such available datasets for experimentation can be a challenging task in technology enhanced learning, as there are various sources of data that have not been identified and documented exhaustively. In this paper, we provide such an analysis of datasets that can be used for research on learning and knowledge analytics. First, we present a framework for the analysis of educational datasets. Then, we analyze existing datasets along the dimensions of this framework and outline future challenges for the collection and sharing of educational datasets. (Contains 3 tables and 7 figures.)

This paper discusses how the use of digital technologies may support a shift of cultural practices in teaching and learning, to better meet the needs of 21st century higher education learners. A brief discussion of the changing needs of the learners is provided, followed by a review of the overall impact of digital technologies on teaching and learning. In the final section we suggest how digital technologies may provide a more active and flexible learning experience by adopting a participatory pedagogical approach and by blending formal learning with informal learning.

This paper considers whether pricing algorithms present novel issues that existing merger control frameworks and practices are inadequate to address, particularly in relation to pre-merger disclosure of pricing algorithms and the suitability of current tests and remedies for addressing coordinated effects. Through a comparative and critical analysis of the merger control regimes and practices of the European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia, this paper finds that whilst such regimes and practices are broadly adequate for dealing with algorithmic transactions, there are nonetheless potential areas for improvement. Disclosure of a pricing algorithm may contravene prohibitions on the sharing of competitively sensitive information. As such, merger parties may need to rethink aspects of their usual due diligence procedures. Pricing algorithms may also increase the potential for coordinated effects to arise in some markets that would ordinarily have been considered too complex, asymmetric, opaque, or insufficiently concentrated for tacit coordination to occur, or be used to retaliate more effectively against deviations from a coordinated equilibrium, or to raise the height of barriers to entry. Competition authorities may therefore need to amend their standard approach to investigating and assessing coordinated effects, as well as their traditional approach to remedies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its origins in the study of the European Union, the concept of multi-level governance (MLG) can contribute to understanding the capacity for, and barriers to, dynamism and innovation in the Australian federation. By placing the quality of the interactions between different jurisdictions at different spatial scales at the centre of analysis, the concept helps to underpin the argument that constitutional change in formal roles and responsibilities is not sufficient, and may not even be necessary, for reform of Australian federalism. The following steps are made in the paper. The first defines the main elements of MLG and its advantages for extra-constitutional analysis of multi-level policy coordination. The characteristics of MLG observed in contemporary Australian federalism are set out next. The final section presents a critique of the current Reform of the Federation White Paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Since June 18, 2018, the European Union (EU) and Australia have been negotiating an ambitious and comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA). This paper examines how geographical indications (GIs) are likely to fare in those negotiations, given that Australia and the EU have historically clashed over agricultural policy in international trade and have opposing legal approaches to protecting GIs, apart from wines. Specifically, this paper is concerned with the main challenges facing the EU and Australia on GI‐related matters, as well as the main areas of convergence between both Parties. It begins with an outline of the EU and Australia's current GI legislative frameworks, before exploring both Party's respective interests for including them in the intellectual property chapter of the FTA. Then, it identifies and analyses the main challenges confronting the GI discussions and concludes by determining the main potential points of convergence. This paper is relevant to understand the current relationship between the EU and Australia on GIs, the relative stakes for concluding ambitious GI provisions in the FTA, and the retrospective comparison of GI reform after this agreement has been implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia is falling behind the international trend towards low carbon transport to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For instance, in 2012 the Australian Government forecasts that road transport emissions will continue to increase to 2020 and then slow to 2030 because of higher oil prices and the introduction of mandatory CO2 emissions standards. The forecast assumes vehicle efficiencies of petrol and diesel engines will improve, and there will be a gradual shift to alternative technologies. However, in 2007 the European Union found that while advances in vehicle technology had delivered most of the carbon reductions, these advances were offset by new cars that had become significantly more powerful, larger, and heavier. This is the case in Australia. The paper shows how Australia can accelerate the uptake of low carbon technology through reforming existing vehicle taxes into an environmental related tax. The reform will require basing the tax on CO2 emissions from previously being based on the vehicles technical characteristics such as cylinder capacity, engine size and fuel type. The literature supports the reform of vehicle taxes into an environmental tax, which was found to be a powerful instrument in influencing the purchase decisions of consumers.1 Specifically, the paper examines the literature and reviews the ex post evidence on the successful reform of vehicles taxes. In the case study of Ireland, it was found that the reformed vehicle taxes based on CO2 emissions provided a strong price signal, and consumer response was greater than anticipated. As a result, Irelands ambitious targets in reducing its GHG emissions were met.2 The paper provides evidence to Australia's policy makers, consultants and car manufacturers that reforming existing vehicle taxes into an environmental related tax is an effective measure in transitioning Australia into a low carbon transport and reducing road transport emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coproduction has become synonymous with innovative approaches to public service delivery in European Union countries as well as in Australia. Coproduction has the potential to bring together individuals, communities, and organisations in a process to collaboratively develop new models and services which improve public services. Yet, Australian policy makers and practitioners who would like to deploy coproduction within the context of older adult social care can only draw on a handful of papers and reports that could guide implementation. This paper fills this gap by reporting on the implementation of a multi-stakeholder coproduction approach to the development of a consumer directed care model for older people with complex health issues. The paper describes and critically highlights methodological challenges encountered during the 12 month-long participatory action research phase of a larger project involving older people with complex care needs, their carers, and government and non-government stakeholders. The paper outlines key considerations regarding (1) the involvement of older people with complex needs, (2) collaboration with industry partners, (3) engagement of government representatives, and (4) reflects on implementing participatory research projects within a context of outsourcing and interlinked supply chains. While not all challenges encountered could be resolved, the coproduction approach was successful in bringing together a wide range of stakeholders with competing agendas in an iterative process geared to resolve a plethora of concerns raised by older people, carers and services providers. This paper provides an example for others seeking to use coproduction and participatory methods to provide person-centred care services for older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gross value of Australia's agriculture industry in 2001/2002 was A$38.4 billion with 65% allocated to exports. The major exports markets are South East Asia, Japan, USA, and the EU. Products include wool, beef, wheat, cotton, sugar, and wine. For Australia there have been significant changes over time in markets and production arrangements in the international arena. This is also true of the domestic market especially in the area of meat products. Australians, once dominant red meat eaters, have now ‘gone chicken.’ The total yearly consumption of meats averages around 110 kg per person. Beef up until recent years has always been the dominant player. However, in the last 30 years chicken consumption has risen from being a marginal food item to being a product that is expected to eclipse beef consumption in the very near future. This paper explores the trends and examines the changes as they are reflected by the behaviour of consumers and market chain drivers. The paper provides suggestions that could he gainfully employed at the consumer behaviour levels for other meat producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian government has launched a consultation on the possible reform of domestic contract law. The Attorney- General's Department is currently seeking stakeholder views on the need to reduce inconsistencies and/or remove outdated rules, and on ways to improve legal certainty generally both for businesses and consumers alike. Its current discussion paper, though open-ended as regards next steps, appears to be talking the language of simplification and coherence that has resonated particularly in the EU for well over a decade. Yet, the ongoing, high-profile project aimed at delivering a more coherent and uniform contract law for Europe's internal market has to date proved controversial, and recent concrete initiatives have generated much adverse commentary, particularly from law-and-economics scholars. The European experience therefore offers a series of signposts but equally a number of hazard markers for the Attorney- General's Department. Indeed, many of the broad assumptions underlying developments in the EU rest on weak foundations. The European institutions have further followed a number of dead ends in the pursuit of 'coherence' that ought reasonably to be avoided. This paper explores potential risks underlying the current Australian reform process and offers a number of suggestions on a possible way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union is a major player in the world economy and also the largest trading player on the global scene, accounting for about 20% of world imports and exports. The elimination of trade barriers within the EU confirmed its commitment to global trade liberalisation as it is an important part of multilateral trade negotiations. Apart from WTO trade agreements, the European Union concluded a number of bilateral trade agreements with certain countries and regions in the world. The aim of this paper is to present the EU-Australia trade relationship, Australia being an important trading partner of the EU. The trade flows between them includes both agricultural and non-agricultural products. The database that has been used is represented by the information published by the European Commission and the Australian Government. In conclusion, we found that both EU imports from Australia and EU exports to Australia are dominated by non-agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The allocation of permits is an important design aspect of an emissions trading scheme. Traditionally, governments have favoured the free allocation of greenhouse gas permits based on individual historical emissions (‘grandfathering’) or industry benchmark data. Particularly in the European Union (EU), the free allocation of permits has proven complex and inefficient and the distributional implications are politically difficult to justify; auctioning emissions permits has therefore become more popular. The EU is now moving to auction more than 50 per cent of all permits in 2013, and in the US the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has begun auctioning more than 90 per cent of total allowances. Another case in point is the Australian proposal for a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which provides for auctioning a significant share of total permits. This paper discusses the proposed Australian CPRS’s auction design. A major difference to other emissions trading schemes is that the CPRS plans to auction multiple vintages of emissions permits simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors review the decision-making since the Labour Government came into office (November 2007). The Australian Government's 'Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme' White Paper (15 December 2008) proposes that an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme (AETS) be implemented in mid-2010. Acknowledging that the scheme is comprehensive, the paper finds that in many cases, Australia will take a softer approach to climate change through the AETS than the European Union ETS (EUETS). The paper assesses key issues in the White Paper such as emissions reduction targets, GHG coverage, sectoral coverage, inclusion of unlimited quantities of offsets from Kyoto international markets and exclusion of deforestation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the changing modes of governance of education policy in the European Union (EU) and Australia through a lens of 'soft governance'. It considers the increa sed use of 'policy instruments' such as benchmarking, targets, monitoring, data-generation in policy-making in recent decades. It considers the roles these policy instruments play in coordinating education policy in the EU and Australia as well as their intended and unintended consequences. It shows that in the EU, these instruments played a role in strengthening the coordination through the links between individuals and programs, and networking, which is seen as resulting in enhanced creativity in policy solutions, development of new norms and new means for achieving policy goals. While in Australia it seems that the role of these instruments is focused on consolidating the role of the Commonwealth's oversight and control over what constitutionally is a responsibility of States which adds to several policy tensions already existing in the federal coordination of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour immigration contributed strongly to Europe's post-war economic development. In contrast to migration to North America or Australia, these movements of labour were always seen as temporary by sending and receiving countries, and, at least initially, also by most migrants. Although many migrants stayed more permanently, return migration is a highly relevant feature in practice. Its significant role and the underlying behavioural mechanisms are not well understood, however. it is therefore not too surprising that most policy measures taken in the 1970s and 1980s to encourage return migration failed. The paper takes the view that much can be learned from recent European history. Temporary immigration schemes may be helpful to moderate illegal migration and to foster East-West economic relationships. Given the tight policies in the European Union, short-term migration seems to be the only channel to open the door slightly. The paper reviews the European history of return migration and the policy regimes in important European labour migration-receiving countries. it also provides new empirical evidence on the determinants of return behaviour anti successful return. Return propensities of migrants increase with the age at entry, but decrease with the number of years of residence. Conditional on having decided to return, however, the remaining years in the country decrease with years of residence and, keeping years of residence constant, with entry age. Return incentives may cause dissatisfaction and reintegration problems in the home country. The results support the view that economic benefits are the larger, the earlier it is clear whether migration is temporary or permanent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the key insights of European Union (EU) member states agri-food export and import structures and main competitors in the internal and global agri-food markets in terms of geographical distributions and product coverage. The focus is on four agri-food product groups in global trade: fruit and vegetable products, grain products, meat products, and dairy products. The identification of the major competitors in internal EU markets and major EU competitors in global agri-food trade by calculating revealed comparative advantage indices show considerable differences by products and product groups, but in general the major competitors of the EU member states in the analysed global agri-food markets were particularly overseas countries such as the United States of America, Canada, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Rebecca Millar combines her personal memories of Graham Hill with an analysis of the early Australian case law on GST. Remembering the generosity of spirit with which Justice Hill welcomed her as a newcomer to academic life in 2002, she interweaves excerpts from their email correspondence on cancelled land transactions and the basic design features of GST with an analysis of his comparative law approach to the interpretation of indirect tax law. While noting some of the pitfalls of the comparative approach, Professor Millar applauds the clarity of the judgment in HP Mercantile and highlights the extent to which the ideas expressed in that case came directly from the European Union VAT Directive, placing the Australian GST firmly within the traditions of value added tax. She then considers how Justice Hill might have decided the later case of Reliance Carpet, had he been called upon to decide it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURF) data from the 2009 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Survey of Ageing, Disability and Carers (SDAC) to estimate the proportion of Australians with disability and an employment restriction who are not in the labour force and who want to work. This result was 24-26 per cent depending on the treatment of various survey responses. This represents a pool of 200,000 persons not in the labour force with disability who state they can work. This work intention rate is higher than the EU average overall, but tends to be lower than the EU average for older men and higher for younger women with disability outside of the labour market. The OECD integration model for persons with disability has relied upon the EU average work intention rate. This analysis applies the SDAC work intention rate to the OECD model. The SDAC data combined with updated population and labour force projections validate the previous conclusion of the OECD model: that in Australia allowing people with disability who want to work to enter find employment would reduce the fiscal gap caused by the ageing of the population by roughly a quarter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The election of the Labor government in 2007 appeared to usher in a new era of EU-Australian relations with a greater focus on those areas of agreement between Australia and the EU. This paper therefore explores the potential for closer cooperation between the EU and Australia in the area of sustainable development. It takes climate change as a 'litmus test' for the EU-Australia relationship due to the prominence given to the issue by both the EU and Australia and the contentious nature of the issue in relations between the EU and Australia under the previous government. After outlining the major tenets of the 'new era' under the Rudd government, those areas of policy divergence and convergence and thus opportunities for closer cooperation are highlighted and the residual issues that could offer opportunities for closer cooperation. It is concluded that these residual issues hinder developments in the relationship, but more signs of a new relationship are seen than previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thesis of this paper is that governments of some otherwise enlightened states are increasingly fearful of acknowledging the restraints imposed on them by existing international law. They are also reluctant to enter into new commitments by way of international conventions that would expand the reach of international law. The paper asks whether these fears are based on a true understanding of international law or on some distorted view of it. It will draw comparisons and some contrasts between Australia and the United States in their reactions to a number of recent events as well as to some enduring situations of contemporary relevance. Had time (and the limits of my research) permitted, one might also have examined public attitudes toward international law in China, Japan, and Russia in this context, where similar fears appear to be entertained. France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, also enlightened states, appear by contrast to belong to a group more dedicated to international law. As Robert Kagan has recently remarked, the experience of two world wars at close quarters, and the formation of the European Union, have made the European countries more dedicated to process, where the United States is more interested in results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the equity market price interaction between Australia and the European Union - represented by the UK, Germany and France - based on the Toda-Yamamoto causality test, which is bootstrapped with leveraged adjustments. A new information criterion is used to choose the optimal lag order. Weekly MSCI data covering the period 1988 to 2001 is used, divided into two subperiods to allow for a structural break arising from the ERM crisis of 1992. Results show that, during the period before the ERM crisis, no significant causal links exist between Australia and any of three EU countries. During the period after the ERM crisis, Australia also had no causal links with Germany and France but it had with the UK, with causality running from the UK to Australia but not vice-versa. Thus, Australian investors may find the German and French, but not the UK, equity markets, attractive venues for their international diversification. German and French, but not British, investors may also obtain the same benefit from the Australian equity market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically analyses the European Union's regional policy framework and considers its implications for Australia's multi-level governance system. The analysis is made with reference to the ‘new regionalist’ debates in Europe and North America that have asserted the importance of regional economic development in the context of globalisation. New regionalism's advocacy of ‘economic normalisation’ as a leading regional policy aim is critically evaluated against the EU policy experience. Conclusions about the adequacy of new regionalist claims are drawn for Australian policy debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding low pay dynamics of Australian employees, with a focus on the determination of low pay duration. Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on a representative longitudinal survey of Australian households to provide empirical findings from both descriptive analysis and econometric modelling. Findings – The results show that workers who have entered low pay from higher pay also have a higher hazard rate of transitioning to higher pay; and those who have entered low pay from non-employment are more likely to return to non-employment. Union members, public sector jobs and working in medium to large size firms tend to increase the hazard rate of transitioning to higher pay, while immigrants from non-English speaking countries and workers with health problems have a lower hazard rate of moving into higher pay. There is some evidence that the longer a worker is on low pay, the less likely he or she is to transition to higher pay. Originality/value – This study addresses an information gap regarding the determination of low pay duration. The findings help identify workers who are at high risk of staying on low pay or transitioning into non-employment and are therefore informative for developing targeted policy to help the low paid maintain employment and/or move up the earnings ladder. The results also suggest that policy intervention should take place at an early stage of a low pay spell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study sets out a new method to determine the pesticides likely to be used locally. • Bromoxynil, diquat and paraquat are the three most toxic pesticides in local use. • There is evidence of harmful effects at realistic field concentrations for all three pesticides. • The strongest evidence was for paraquat causing negative impacts on aquatic organisms. • Paraquat has been banned from use in many countries around the world but not Australia. Pesticides used in agriculture are widely considered to be the most cost-effective way to reduce undesirable plants and animal pests and increase crop yields. However, these economic benefits should be evaluated against any deleterious impacts on the natural environment and human health. While a great deal of attention is paid to the impact of agricultural runoff, more studies are needed on the impacts of pesticides on local waterways. The aim of this study was to: (i) develop a methodology to determine which pesticides were being used in local agriculture in the Byron Shire, Australia, and (ii) search the literature for evidence of the impact of these chemicals on local waterways. After a comprehensive search involving multiple government databases, three herbicides with potentially high toxicity on the aquatic ecosystems and humans, which are used for the treatment of crops cultivated on the agricultural land in the Byron Shire, Australia, were selected for this review: bromoxynil, diquat and paraquat. In the systematic scoping review, two databases were searched (Scopus and Web of Science) for publications between January 2008 and April 2019. From 160 articles identified, 36 papers were selected for inclusion. The evidence of harmful effects at realistic field concentrations (concentrations that are within the recommended safety range for use in the environment) was found for all selected herbicides, but not on all organisms. In aquatic environments, diquat was found to be toxic to snails and bromoxynil to microalgae. The clearest and most consistent evidence was found for paraquat. At realistic field concentrations, paraquat: (i) severely inhibited healthy bacterial growth (E. coli), (ii) distorted tropical freshwater plankton communities, and (iii) increased fish kills (common carp) three times more than the weed (water hyacinth) that it was employed to control. Of particular concern is that paraquat has been banned from sale in the European Union and many countries around the world but remains available in Australia and is likely in use in the Byron Shire. While there are existing Australian government regulations restricting the use of paraquat in agriculture, further work is required to scope the extent of its use, the effectiveness of these regulations and the amount of paraquat entering the environment. This study provides a methodology that can be used to identify pesticides that are likely to be in local use and to identify evidence of any negative impacts on the health of local waterways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]