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This paper presents a method to analyze and improve the set of equations constituting a rainfall‐runoff model structure based on a combination of a data assimilation algorithm and polynomial updates to the state equations. The method, which we have called "Data Assimilation Informed model Structure Improvement" (DAISI) is generic, modular, and demonstrated with an application to the GR2M model and 201 catchments in South‐East Australia. Our results show that the updated model generated with DAISI generally performed better for all metrics considered included Kling‐Gupta Efficiency, NSE on log transform flow and flow duration curve bias. In addition, the elasticity of modeled runoff to rainfall is higher in the updated model, which suggests that the structural changes could have a significant impact on climate change simulations. Finally, the DAISI diagnostic identified a reduced number of update configurations in the GR2M structure with distinct regional patterns in three sub‐regions of the modeling domain (Western Victoria, central region, and Northern New South Wales). These configurations correspond to specific polynomials of the state variables that could be used to improve equations in a revised model. Several potential improvements of DAISI are proposed including the use of additional observed variables such as actual evapotranspiration to better constrain internal model fluxes. Plain Language Summary: This paper presents a data‐driven method to improve rainfall‐runoff models used to generate future water resources scenario in climate change studies. The method, which we have called "Data Assimilation Informed model Structure Improvement" (DAISI) is generic, modular, and demonstrated with an application to monthly streamflow simulations over a large data set of catchments in South‐East Australia. Our results show that DAISI improves model performance for a wide range of metrics and increases the sensitivity of the model to climate inputs, which is critical in climate change scenarios. Finally, the improvements identified by DAISI take a simple mathematical form with distinct regional patterns in three sub‐regions of the study domain (Western Victoria, central region, and Northern New South Wales). Several improvements of DAISI are discussed including the inclusion of additional observed variables such as evapotranspiration to better constrain model simulations. Key Points: Data Assimilation Informed model Structure Improvement method diagnoses hydrological model structures by combining data assimilation with a polynomial update of state equationsThe method was applied to the GR2M rainfall‐runoff model with significantly improved streamflow simulations in 201 Australian catchmentsThe method identified updates to state equations with marked regional characteristics that could guide future improvement of GR2M [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To effectively manage a crisis, most decisions made by governments, organizations, communities, and individuals are based on "shared situational awareness" (SSA) derived from multiple information sources. Developing SSA depends on the alignment of mental models, which "represent our shared version of truth and reality on which we can act." Social media has facilitated public sensemaking during a crisis; however, it has also encouraged mental model dissonance, resulting in the digital destruction of mental models and undermining adequate SSA. The study is concerned with the challenges of creating SSA during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Australia. This paper documents a netnography of Australian public health agencies' Facebook communication, exploring the initial impact of COVID‐19 on SSA creation. Chaos theory is used as a theoretical lens to examine information perception, meaning, and assumptions relating to SSA from pre to post‐pandemic periods. Our study highlights how the initial COVID‐19 "butterfly effect" swamped the public health communication channel, leaving little space for other important health issues. This research contributes to information systems, information science, and communications by illustrating how the emergence of a crisis impacts social media communication, the creation of SSA, and what this means for social media adoption for crisis communication purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent months in Australia there has been extended debate about whether the age pension, particularly with regard to single pensioners, is sufficiently high to allow older Australians to attain an acceptable standard of living. This is an important policy consideration given Australia’s rapidly ageing population. By using microdata and microsimulation models, this paper examines the national and spatial impacts on the distribution of poverty among older single people of an increase in the single age-pension rate. This paper shows that the cost of increasing the single age-pension to 66 per cent of the couple-age pension rate would be about $A1.3 billion and would benefit about 824,000 single age-pensioners. Further, it is estimated that such an increase would reduce poverty rates for lone older persons from 46.5 per cent to 36.5 per cent, a 10-percentage point reduction. Looking at the spatial distribution of such benefits, the effect of the policy change seems to be generally stronger in capital cities, and in bands of rural areas in New South Wales and Victoria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To describe the establishment of a cross‐border and multi‐university collaboration in rural Australia to mitigate potential competition, maximise Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) Programme investments and regional health workforce outcomes. Context: Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training programme investments have enabled the establishment of 19 Australian University Departments of Rural Health (UDRH) and 17 Rural Clinical Schools. The importance of these investments is acknowledged. However, in regional settings, due to limited clinical placement and training opportunities, there is potential for heightened competition between universities who are operating within shared geographical footprints. Competition between universities risks focusing RHMT programme activity on individual reporting requirements and activities, in preference to: regional needs; existing community–university relationships; and place‐based approaches to health workforce development. Participants: A rural New South Wales and Victorian RHMT‐funded departments, collectively known as the Sunraysia Collaboration. Approach: Strategic and operational processes, structures and actions underpinning collaboration formation and relationship consolidation will be described. Co‐design methodologies employed to collectively define collaboration vision and aims, governance framework and guiding principles, reporting structures and co‐contributions to teaching, research and service will be discussed. Collaboration sensitivity to the social, cultural, relationship and economic connectedness within the region and existing health workforce flows will also be explored. Conclusion: The Sunraysia collaboration demonstrates one approach towards mitigating potential competition between RHMT Programme funded universities within rural and remote Australia. The collaboration is an exemplar of co‐design in action providing an alternative approach to address RHMT Programme parameters and regional needs whilst supporting rural‐remote health workforce training and education innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objectives: To examine the relationship between structural characteristics of Australian residential aged care facilities (RACFs) and breaches of the aged care quality standards. Methods: Facility‐level analysis of audits, sanctions and non‐compliance notices of all accredited Australian RACFs between 2015/16 and 2018/19. Structural factors of interest included RACF size, remoteness, ownership type and jurisdiction. Two government data sources were joined. Each outcome was analysed to calculate time trends, unadjusted rates and relative risks. Results: Non‐compliance notices were imposed on 369 RACFs (13%) and 83 sanctions on 75 RACFs (3%). Compared with New South Wales (NSW), non‐compliance notices were less likely in Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory (NT), more likely in South Australia (SA), and comparable in Western Australia (WA), Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). RACFs with more than 100 beds and RACFs located in remote and outer regional areas (vs. major cities) also increased the likelihood of non‐compliance notices. Compared with NSW, sanctions were less likely in Victoria, Queensland, NT and WA and comparable in SA, Tasmania and ACT. Additionally, the likelihood of sanctions was higher for RACFs with more than 40 beds. For both non‐compliance notices and sanctions, no significant relationship was found with RACF ownership type. Conclusions: We partially confirmed other Australian findings about the relationship between RACF structural characteristics and regulatory sanctions and reported new findings about non‐compliance notices. Routine and standardised public reporting of RACF performance is needed to build trust that Australia's latest aged care reforms have led to sustained quality improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: P2Y12 inhibitor therapy is recommended for 12 months in patients hospitalised for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) unless the bleeding risk is high. Aims: To describe real‐world use of P2Y12 inhibitor therapy following AMI hospitalisation. Methods: We used population‐level linked hospital data to identify all patients discharged from a public hospital with a primary diagnosis of AMI between July 2011 and June 2013 in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. We used dispensing claims to examine dispensing of a P2Y12 inhibitor (clopidogrel, prasugrel or ticagrelor) within 30 days of discharge and multilevel models to identify predictors of post‐discharge dispensing and persistence of therapy to 1 year. Results: We identified 31 848 patients hospitalised for AMI, of whom 56.8% were dispensed a P2Y12 inhibitor within 30 days of discharge. The proportion of patients with post‐discharge dispensing varied between hospitals (interquartile range: 25.0–56.5%), and significant between‐hospital variation remained after adjusting for patient characteristics. Patient factors associated with the lowest likelihood of post‐discharge dispensing were: having undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (odds ratio (OR): 0.17; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.15–0.20); having oral anticoagulants dispensed 180 days before or 30 days after discharge (OR: 0.39, 95% CI: 0.35–0.44); major bleeding (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.61–0.76); or being aged ≥85 years (OR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.62–0.75). A total of 26.8% of patients who were dispensed a P2Y12 inhibitor post‐discharge discontinued therapy within 1 year. Conclusion: Post‐hospitalisation use of P2Y12 inhibitor therapy in AMI patients is low and varies substantially by hospital of discharge. Our findings suggest strategies addressing both health system (hospital and physician) and patient factors are needed to close this evidence‐practice gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the history of financial reporting by corporate groups in Australia, and in particular, the States of New South Wales and Victoria. Changes in Statutory and Stock Exchange rules governing consolidated reporting are described and the financial reporting practices of Australian holding companies between 1930 and 1962 are surveyed. The evidence indicates that (a) while the practice was not widespread, some Australian holding companies supplemented their financial statements with consolidated financial statements prior to the incorporation of such a requirement in either legislation or Stock Exchange listing requirements; (b) the influence of Stock Exchanges on the evolution of this practice is somewhat less than that previously attributed to it; and (c) the rapid spread of this form of reporting in an essentially unregulated environment (N.S.W.) coincided with the development of a market for public debt securities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The community prevalence of advance care directives (ACD) is low despite known benefits of advance care planning for patients, families and health professionals. Aim: To determine the community prevalence of instructional and appointing ACD in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland and factors associated with completion of these documents. Methods: A telephone survey of adults living in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland (n = 1175) about completion of instructional ACD (making their own decisions about future healthcare) and appointing ACD (appointing another to decide). Quota sampling occurred based on population size by state, gender and age, with oversampling in smaller jurisdictions (Victoria and Queensland). Results: Overall response rate was 33%. Six per cent of respondents reported completing an instructional ACD while 12% reported completing an appointing ACD. Female gender, higher educational level, personal experience of a major health scare and being widowed were significant predictors of completing an instructional ACD. Older age, higher educational level and being widowed were significant predictors of completing an appointing ACD. Conclusions: Despite long‐standing efforts to increase advance care planning, community prevalence of ACD remains low, particularly for instructional ACD. This study found some different predictors for instructional ACD compared with appointing ACD, and also a potential role for experiential factors in triggering uptake. These findings suggest supplementing general community awareness campaigns with more nuanced and targeted efforts to improve ACD completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the policies of the Australian government during the period from July to December 2014. The author comments on the leadership style of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and describes the negative public opinion surrounding his administration. The current political and economic conditions of several Australian regions, including New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, are also examined.

The nineteenth century radically transformed education from a church function to a state duty. During the early to late 1800s, Australian legislators debated the foundations of education for their new society. Decades of acrimonious argument, and sustained (but failed) attempts to create a workable denominational system led the colonies to explore more radical options. To minimize religious division, Australia's proposal was for public education to be 'free, compulsory and secular.' New South Wales legislated these then politically progressive principles in the Public Instruction Act of 1880, following Victoria in 1872, and Queensland and South Australia in 1875. No state defined the term 'secular' and each interpreted it differently. Prolonged, ambiguous applications of the secular principle continue to create confusion and division today. This article examines constructions of the 'secular' in education and compares the approaches of Henry Parkes in New South Wales and George Higinbotham in Victoria. It follows the erosion of secular intent in public and parliamentary debates from early settlement to 1880. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a series of indicative house and land prices for Sydney and Melbourne for 1880-1970, which, spliced to modern data, gives price series spanning 1880-2011. The broad trends highlight no significant movement in real prices to the 1950s followed by a persistent and significant trend rise in prices in the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Over this long period, there have been several cycles in house prices, the two most significant in the 1880s and an unfinished cycle in the 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Australian politics and government from July to December 2010. It examines the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who succeeded Kevin Rudd in 2010. The authors examine the results of the 2010 general election and Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott. The article also surveys politics in all Australian states and territories, including Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland. Topics discussed include health care, budgets, and public transportation.

Objective and background: Reattendance rates at hospitals and emergency departments (ED) can provide a valuable marker of the quality and effectiveness of clinical care. Linked hospital and ED data from New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, were used to examine reattendances for asthma. Methods: Hospital and ED data were linked to identify individuals who reattended hospital or ED for asthma within 28 days of an initial attendance. The sociodemographic characteristics that predicted reattendance were examined using logistic regression. Results: There were 139 043 attendances for asthma between July 2000 and June 2003 attributed to 95 042 people. Overall, 7.1% of people reattended for asthma within 28 days. There was a significantly higher risk of reattendance among females (odds ratio (OR) 1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–1.14), people who lived in areas of greater socioeconomic disadvantage (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.12–1.29) and Indigenous people (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.00–1.32). Reattendance rates differed among age groups ( P < 0.001), with the lowest rate being in 5- to 14-year-olds. Conclusion: The availability of linked hospital and ED data has provided a rare opportunity to investigate predictors of reattendance for asthma. Surveillance of trends in reattendances for asthma can be used to monitor the effectiveness of interventions to improve asthma control across the continuum of care, particularly in higher-risk groups such as Indigenous people, young children and those with greater socioeconomic disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the experience of older men to access rural general practitioner (GP) services in Australia. The study asks older men residents in rural towns in Victoria and New South Wales regarding their experience on access to doctor or other health service. Result shows GP availability and high workload of GPs as major concerns expressed by older men. Other concerns include travel distance to access GP services, affordability, and accommodation factors like waiting time.