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This paper critically examines the ways ageing migrants perceive and experience a sense of belonging in a mediascape during the pandemic. It underscores how 15 elderly people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Victoria, Australia stayed connected among their networks in and beyond Australia by accessing and consuming COVID-19 information via traditional and digital channels. By analysing the data based on conducting remote interviews in 2020 and 2021, the findings highlight the paradoxical nature of mediated belonging. On the one hand, ageing migrants forged connections at a distance with their familial and social networks by circulating and consuming COVID-19 information. This practice provided ageing migrants an assurance of their safety and their networks. On the other hand, differentiation and racialisation stirred frustrating, polarising and exclusionary-mediated environments. In this case, they deployed connective strategies to negotiate connections and belonging. In sum, this paper reveals the possibilities and politics of mediated belonging fuelled by intersecting structural and technological divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents and guardians in child protection systems are in unequal power relationships with child protection practitioners. This relationship is experienced as exclusionary or even oppressive by many parents and guardians. For families and communities in the child protection system who experience intersectional discrimination and disadvantage, such as people with intellectual disabilities and First Nations people, this unequal relationship and subsequent potential exclusion and oppression can be even more profound. A growing body of literature indicates that advocacy can assist in addressing unequal relationships in other contexts, such as involuntary mental health. This paper explores the role of representational advocacy in supporting parents in child protection settings through a case study of an advocacy service in Victoria, Australia. Using a human rights framework to guide the analysis, the paper highlights how advocacy can help support rights, but that broader structural change will be required to consistently uphold the rights of parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OECD's PISA is seen as a 'global yardstick' against which countries measure the quality of their education systems. In 2018 PISA included an assessment of global competence. This paper starts with the premise that in using a single global instrument to 'measure' this phenomenon, PISA claims standardisation over contextually rich data that can then inform policy and, arguably, in turn practice. Data for this study is based on tracking 'global competence' through documentary analysis, interviews, and then 'survey encounters' where PISA global competence questionnaire items were discussed by principals and teachers in three schools in Victoria, Australia. The analysis illustrates that schools and teachers variously educate for global competence according to the specific cultural context, policy and curriculum in ways that highlight the inadequacy of a global metric. With the growing attention to educating for global citizenship and the OECD's development of global measures, this investigation of localised understandings of global competence magnifies the 'situatedness' of knowledge (and therefore assessment practices). Questions are raised about what is ignored in metrics when such a contested concept is operationalised, and points to the lack of validity of this metric because it de-contextualises how global competence is understood by teachers and enacted in curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores social inclusion approaches implemented by ten secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, to support refugee students' well-being, as articulated in their policies, reports, and other published documents. Using an exploratory, qualitative research design, we found that all schools employed a holistic approach to implementing social inclusion programs for refugee students. This paper reports on the best practices and unique examples of social inclusion programs from all schools involved in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends Valverde's call to examine spatiotemporal governance and jurisdiction in the exercise of formal and informal control through an analysis of the everyday policing of public spaces in Victoria, Australia. Move-on powers were introduced via legislation in 2009, following calls for greater police powers to combat antisocial behaviour and violence, predominantly in the Melbourne CBD. While initially presented as a response to issues surrounding Melbourne's nightlife, the use of these powers has expanded to include moving on rough sleepers and others. As we establish in this paper, such powers are also being exercised, with or without legal authority, by a broad range of actors, resulting in a flattening of the legal hierarchy of move-on powers. Our analysis also highlights the everydayness of being moved on for individuals and populations who are consistently targeted, bringing to the fore the often-hidden nature of practices of exclusion. We argue that the examination of policing practices in relation to move-on powers must also include the expansive and increasingly informal nature of policing public space, which we refer to, collectively, as move-on practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary #MeToo moment has led to renewed concern about issues of masculinity and gender justice. This moment provides a strong warrant for critically analyzing different programmes for boys and men in relation to their capacity for gender transformation. This paper presents three such programmes located in Victoria (Australia) as case studies (1) an Activist Programme, (2) a Sports Programme, and (3) a Rites Programme. The paper highlights some of the possibilities and contentions for each programme in relation to their capacities for gender transformation through comparative analysis. The paper draws attention to the complexity and diversity of 'promising approaches' for effectively engaging boys and men in respectful masculinities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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During the COVID-19 global pandemic, young people and culturally and linguistically diverse populations (CALD) were underserved by non-tailored government health messaging. Social media influencers offer a potentially cost-effective and scalable form of health communication for reaching young CALD populations. Little is known, however, about the characteristics of an influencer's identity authenticity for reaching CALD youth, or how that authenticity is underpinned by brand consistency and relatability. Drawing on the authors' commissioned evaluation of a state government initiative for delivering targeted COVID-19 health information to CALD young people (11-26 years) in Victoria, Australia, this paper analyses findings from thirteen qualitative interviews with influencers and target audience members to provide insights on identity authenticity in the contemporary digital ecology. The analysis aims to contribute to the limited extant knowledge of the role third-party influencers can play in government health communication by providing a cultural context for understanding identity authenticity when targeting minority social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to diverse manifestations of racism in Australia, from everyday attacks against Asian Australians to discriminatory policies towards temporary migrants. Since the start of the pandemic, considerable knowledge on pandemic-related racism has been produced. This knowledge has yet to be consolidated, leaving questions about the nature, forms, impacts and trajectories of racism during the pandemic. This paper presents a systematic review and synthesis of research on racism during the pandemic, with an emphasis on pandemic-specific racism. We searched the databases Scopus, MEDLINE and PsycINFO for research published between January 2020 and July 2022. Eighteen research studies were included in the review, along with reports of routine data collection by five organisations. The research reviewed collected data mainly around the pandemic's 'second wave' in Australia (June-October 2020), focusing largely on Asian Australians and temporary migrants nationally and in Victoria. Widely studied forms of COVID-racism were verbal abuse, physical attacks, exclusion and Othering, and institutional racism involving governments, media and employers. We examined the pandemic's health and socio-economic impacts, and variations in experiences of racism over time between ethnic groups. As Australia emerges from the pandemic, we consider the review's implications for pandemic response, anti-racism practice and policy, and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a qualitative study on masculinity, embodiment and sexuality, we interviewed men who were recreational gym-goers about their bodywork practices in Melbourne, Australia. We also asked whether the men had used performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) as an adjunct to their bodywork practices. While none had used PIEDs, all were considering, or had considered, using them. We found that participants held varying opinions on PIED use and those who used them. The literature on PIEDs noted men's concerns with body appearance and health and focused largely on individual problematic use, but non-users were not mentioned. A second issue in the literature focused on social influences on PIED use, but again with no mention of non-users. Discussion on risk reduction as a public health response did not mention non-users either. This paper, therefore, reports on non-users' thoughts on, regular exposure to, and considerations of PIEDs and other men who use them. We propose that PIEDs might more usefully be understood as an everyday, if contradictory, consideration within most men's bodywork and health practices. We argue that PIEDs constitute a discursive practice exposing a potentiality that engages non-users also and this requires new health promotion approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to other sports around the globe, netball has received relatively little attention from academic historians. The reasons for this omission are obvious, in that generally sport played by women has nearly always suffered in comparison to men's sports in terms of exposure, acceptance, and financial support. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that the academy, throughout much of the twentieth century, has tended not to focus on studies of female sports. The purpose of this paper, then, is to explore the origin stories of netball in one particular state of Australia, namely Victoria. This task is constrained by the fact that there is only a relatively small number of published works on the history of netball in Australia, and a general lack of systematic or verified research regarding the diffusion of the sport to the antipodes. Critically, the paper is not based around a quest for a single point of origin. Rather, it calls for a better understanding and appreciation of the social context surrounding multiple origin stories, and how they may evolve, shift or be used in the light of new evidence, unexpected discoveries, or more informed interpretations. In short, the paper argues that the complexities of netball's origin stories need to be further explored, understood, and embraced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility is high on the agenda in both policy and research and being mobile is a positive descriptor, not least for young people. The downside of the focus and value placed on mobility as the path to success is that 'immobility' has clear, negative associations: being immobile equals being 'stuck', a 'failure' and not being aspirational. In this paper I seek to problematise dominant representations of decisions to stay in regional and rural locations as 'immobility' that indicates a lack of aspiration or agency. More specifically, by exploring how the participants in this study negotiate belonging and aspiration in ways that are both classed and gendered, the paper contributes to more nuanced representations of the lives of young people living outside of urban spaces. The paper is based on a qualitative study of the everyday lives and imagined futures of young women with interrupted formal education, focusing on a disadvantaged location in regional Victoria, Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexuality and relationship education (SRE) for trans young people is fraught with ongoing institutional and informational erasure, even as trans young people display considerable agency in navigating their SRE needs. This paper reports on a survey of 112 Australian trans young people, who shared their experiences of SRE (in terms of delivery and content), and their views on three story completion tasks where they were asked to respond to prompts about three fictional stories focused on trans young people (and for some their cisgender partners) and intimacy. Participants reported that SRE was delivered in class and focused on puberty and anatomy, although many participants accessed SRE information informally. Participants overwhelmingly reported the erasure of trans-specific SRE content and suggested that SRE content should include a trans focus. Responses to the story completion task emphasised the agency of the fictional trans young people in asserting their boundaries, deserving respect, being knowledgeable about their bodies and ensuring their safety. Fictional cisgender young people in the story completion tasks were expected to be respectful, and to be guided by trans people (but also to educate themselves). The paper concludes with recommendations for harnessing trans young people's agency in the context of SRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to advance the debate on transport accessibility. While cognitive barriers to accessibility receive some attention in public transport research and policy, studies focus on discrete services and little research has addressed access solutions focused on the scale of the transport network. To address this gap, this paper presents the results from a one-day focus group with 16 public transport and disability advocacy practitioners in Victoria, Australia. The study reveals three concurrent ongoing developments in Victorian public transport that pose both opportunities and barriers to improving accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities across the extended metropolitan network. They are: diversification of transport services and providers; increased reliance on innovation in communication technology; and the need for inclusive forms of citizen participation mechanisms. The paper builds on the theory of mobility justice to argue that achieving greater transport accessibility requires network-wide, collaborative policies on accessibility. The paper demonstrates that a focus on cognitive access barriers in public transport enriches mobility justice as it highlights the distributed responsibility across a public transport network for the limited mobility of a marginalised group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Intercultural understanding' (ICU) and its core concept 'interculturality', was introduced in the new national curriculum, implemented across Australia from 2013 (Australian Curriculum, ACARA. [2013]. Australian curriculum V.60. Retrieved from ). This paper draws on a study conducted in Victoria, Australia, which asked: how history teachers conceptualise interculturality for history teaching and learning? The study used two methods to gather data: textual analysis and focus group interviews. This paper only reports on specific findings from the focus group interviews, analysed through a methodology of crystallisation and discourse analysis, framed by four modes of historical thinking; traditional, exemplary, critical and transformative. The paper argues that interculturality is a significant challenge to history education often located in discourses constructed over time which disrupt how things have always been taught. By analysing the teachers' talk through a lens whereby the construction of language reveals the educational problematic, the research looks for a way in for interculturality into history teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cycling has been promoted around the world as a sustainable mode of transportation, bicyclists are among the most vulnerable road users, subject to high injury and fatality risk. The vehicle-bicycle hit-and-run crashes degrade the morality and result in delays of medical services provided to victims. This paper aims to determine the significant factors that contribute to drivers' hit-and-run behavior in vehicle-bicycle crashes and their interdependency based on a 6-year crash dataset of Victoria, Australia, with an integrated data mining framework. The framework integrates imbalanced data resampling, near zero variance predictor elimination, learning-based feature extraction with random forest algorithm, and association rule mining. The crash-related features that play the most important role in classifying hit-and-run crashes are identified as collision type, gender, age group, vehicle passengers involved, severity of accident, speed zone, road classification, divided road, region and peak hour. The result of the paper can further provide implications on the policies and counter-measures in order to prevent bicyclists from vehicle-bicycle hit-and-run collisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contemporary comment examines School Community Safety Orders (SCSOs). Introduced in 2022, these provisions permit principals in the Australian state of Victoria to ban adults from school premises and events in response to concerns about the risk of violent, threatening or abusive behaviour, and/or other perceived disruptive acts. SCSOs have only been active for a short time, and there is currently limited information regarding their use. Following an examination of the legislation, this paper discusses a number of operational and procedural concerns. These include the subjective framing of behaviours that may lead to an SCSO, the ways in which SCSOs are imposed and the absence of provision/s to prevent their misuse or abuse. The paper draws attention to the lack of clear protocols and safeguards to ensure the appropriate and proportionate use of SCSOs, advocates for consistent and transparent monitoring—to understand how many are issued, to whom and for what reasons—and asks whether the provisions adequately address concerns regarding safety in schools. More broadly, the provisions are also situated and discussed within the wider context of risk-based criminalisation—including the increasing use of pre-emption and privatisation/civilianisation—and the issues to which these developments can give rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 26 November 2022 the Andrews Labor Government was reelected for a third term in the State of Victoria. The starting point for this paper is its decision during the pandemic to seemingly break with neoliberal political orthodoxy, by boldly and deliberately leveraging the state's balance sheet to avoid recession, using debt-funded record levels of spending, particularly on infrastructure, as a means of doing so. The paper argues that in decisively embracing a neo-Keynesian budget strategy, the Andrews government did not actually break with the recent neoliberal past. It turbo charged it, with the dramatical increase in debt-funded spending being used to finance a massive expansion of an intricate network of private monopoly contractors operating everything from ports, tollways and public transport, to policy advice, jails and road maintenance. The paper concludes that over the last four decades of policy reform, Victoria has been transformed into a 'Rentier State'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a rich international history in social justice scholarship focusing on the practices of educational leadership and leaders in areas of disadvantage. Research suggests that principals who have a clear focus on social justice will tend to exhibit a range of normative practices. This paper examines the social justice understandings and practices of three primary school principals working in areas of social disadvantage in Victoria, Australia. Each of the principals expressed their understanding and belief that their role as principal was as an instrument of justice for the children in their communities, yet all simultaneously held notions of deficit expressed through the discourses of meritocracy and aspiration, and through the othering of their communities. In this paper I argue that while educational leaders with a deep understanding of social justice leadership are critical in arresting the reproduction of disadvantage through schooling in disadvantaged areas, the reality is that leaders who see themselves working for social justice may have disjunctions in their understandings and practice, which has implications for their communities. This suggests that idealized, normative understandings of social justice leadership (what should be) do not capture practice on the ground (what is). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of rate capping policy on local council efficiency. It also examines a set of exogenous factors associated with local government efficiency. A semi-parametric framework based on data envelopment analysis is applied to construct an efficient frontier for Victorian local governments. Findings indicate that rate capping policy had no significant effect on the overall economic efficiency of Victorian local governments. Furthermore, the policy appears to have an adverse effect on the efficiency of metropolitan councils during the study period. The heterogeneity of local governments needs to be considered when setting rate caps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To alleviate overpopulation in Australia's metropolitan areas and counter population decline in regional areas, regional settlement of newly arrived migrants and refugees has emerged in recent policy debates. With a new federal government plan to introduce mandatory regional settlement for migrants, significant responsibility is placed on regional schools to cater for the unique needs of students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. Evoking Bourdieu's thinking tools, this paper examines the perspectives of principals and teachers from two regional schools in Victoria, Australia by exploring their beliefs and dispositions towards English as an Additional Language (EAL) students in mainstream classrooms and their capacity to build student capital within a regional education field. This paper argues that for regional settlement to be 'advantageous', regional schools must look from within to initiate a whole school approach to EAL support and professional development and promote community connections to create advantageous spaces for migrant and refugee youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban greening is attracting considerable research and practical attention for its contributions to conserving biodiversity, mitigating urban heat and enhancing the liveability and sustainability of cities and urban areas. Much of the urban greening research is concentrated on major cities, with little focus on the needs and experiences with urban greening in regional cities and towns. This paper addresses this by presenting a case study of an urban greening project, 'Naturally Cooler Towns', focused on regional towns in north-east Victoria, Australia. The project was undertaken by the Goulburn Murray Climate Alliance, a regional alliance of local governments, catchment management authorities and a state government department. As the region faces increasing temperatures and impacts of more frequent heatwaves, the project aimed to review tree management practices and identify opportunities for increasing canopy cover with appropriate species for 'climate adapted street trees'. We examine how urban greening is planned and implemented in these towns, and the roles of the regional alliance in providing a forum for collaborative adaptive governance. The regional alliance plays a key role as an intermediary facilitating approaches that demonstrate situatedness: credibility, salience and legitimacy. The paper contributes towards increased understandings of urban greening approaches beyond the major cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a conference report on the fourteenth biannual Australasian Urban History/Planning History (AUHPH) conference held between 31 January and 2 February 2018 at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how auditor-general's offices (AGO) use strategic planning to legitimize value-for-money (VFM) audits. The transformation of VFM audit practice through these planning processes (corporate plan, annual plan and annual report) involves several key actions by AGOs, including the development of VFM audit methodologies and cultivating relationships with the wider audit environment. IMPACT This paper extends the existing international understanding about how value-for-money (VFM) audit/performance audit was added to the audit portfolio of the auditor-general's office (AGO) in a specific country context. VFM audit is unique to AGOs, but its operationalization is different from AGO to AGO. AGOs can use the technical competence of VFM audit to stand out from private sector accounting firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, some non-Aboriginal social workers and academics have difficulty working in partnership with Aboriginal children, families, and communities because they do not know how to build authentic relationships and are fearful of doing so. This is particularly the case in Child Protection where children continue to be removed from Aboriginal families. Reciprocal and genuine relationships involve holding Aboriginal worldviews as equally valid as Euro-western ones. For non-Aboriginal social workers and academics, this means moving beyond a "helping" stance, and towards genuine openness to learn and understand the world, and their place in it, in new ways. This paper shows how two social work academics undertook building relationships with Traditional Custodians in our local area to establish a resource for students that foregrounds Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning by using the Tree of Life concept to embody Aboriginal experiences. The Aboriginal author focused on coming together respectfully to create a better-shared understanding on connecting to Country. For the non-Aboriginal author, a transformation occurred, gaining embodied understanding of her own belonging and connection to Country. The paper concludes with reflections useful to others embarking on this journey. IMPLICATIONS Cultivating an academic environment that prioritises forming authentic relationships with Traditional Custodians on Country is essential in order to be culturally responsive. A decolonising embodied concept, Tree of Life, invites social workers to take a journey of personal self-discovery, of belongingness, and cultural heritage. A simulation resource developed with Traditional Custodians can disrupt daily instances of colonisation and work toward social workers reflecting on practice to minimise further harm in working with Aboriginal communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a focus on successful transitions to school, transition to School Aged Care (SAC) has largely been overlooked. This paper shares insights into transition programs provided for children commencing in SAC, at or close to their transition to school. Educators working in SAC programs in Victoria, Australia, participated in an online survey exploring their practices, beliefs, and understandings regarding children's transition into SAC in their Foundation year of school. Findings highlighted that whilst transition to SAC should be considered an integral component of a child's broader transition to school program, very few SAC programs are formally included in the process. Findings also showed that the programs that do offer transition to SAC programs for children commencing their Foundation year of school tend to design and implement these externally to the broader transition-to-school process. Furthermore, SAC educators share a strong consensus that clear integration of transitions into SAC and school should occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Demonstration of impact" is now a key measure of research value. Within and beyond social work, researchers are looking for guidance on how to best demonstrate this. To provide an example, this paper reports on a case study of the impact of a collaborative project conducted by a university and an Aboriginal community organisation in regional Victoria, the aim of which was to promote community wellbeing. The paper presents the case study within the Australian Research Council's impact framework; it is also informed by the ethical research principles of the Lowitja Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. Some of the challenges associated with documenting more complex and participatory forms of social research are highlighted, including identifying the primary research and differentiating knowledge translation from impact. IMPLICATIONS As a practice-based discipline social work is well placed to benefit from the new emphasis on research impact. There is a need for methods and frameworks to guide researchers to effectively capture impact. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethical principles for research are imperative for research impact in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) emphasises full and equal legal capacity of all citizens to participate in decisions. This paper examines whether the principles of Article 12, also reflected in other reform documents, were evident within 12 guardianship hearings conducted in Victoria, Australia from 2001 to 2016 involving adults with cognitive disability. The issues this study raises resonate loudly across the globe as multiple signatory nations to the CRPD grapple with the complexities of implementing Article 12. Reports of VCAT decisions with written reasons of Guardianship List hearings from 2001 to 2016 were selected from the Australasian Legal Information Institute site and analysed thematically. Thematic analysis of proceedings revealed three consistent trends. Firstly, a presumption of incapacity based on disability excluded Proposed Represented Persons (PRP) from involvement in decision-making. Secondly, external perceptions of PRPs best interest were dominated by safeguarding concerns and conflict between supporters. Finally, in multiple cases, although a PRP's preference had been established, it was considered immaterial to the final decision. The paper concludes with a promising discussion of the new Guardianship and Administration Act 2019 (Vic), which came into force on 1 March 2020, and recommendations for guardianship practice both locally and internationally. Legal capacity should be recognised as inherent in all people, and therefore decision making incapacity should not be assumed based on a person's cognitive and/or communication disability; The supported decision making mechanisms, born from Article 12 of the CRPD, that facilitate acknowledgment, interpretation and acting upon a person's expression of will and preference need to be recognised and promoted within the context of Guardianship proceedings and by health professionals when assessing decision making capacity of people with cognitive disability; Significant knowledge and attitudinal changes are required within the Tribunal and incorporated into the practice of health professionals informing the Tribunal, in order to counter many conceptual underpinnings embedded within current guardianship legislation across the globe; Ascertaining the will and preference of the proposed represented person should be prioritised by Guardianship tribunal members' rather than the management of conflict between interested parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of evidence and its use in a cluster of Australian community-based child development programs. The paper draws on findings from a 2016–2017 study commissioned by a not-for-profit organization to review their programs' alignment with government evidence-based program expectations. Cunningham and Duffee's (2009) evidence-based practice style typology is utilized to examine how different purposes of use drive styles of and approaches to evidence sourcing, application, and reporting. Perspectives on what constitutes evidence and how such evidence is valued, used, and reported can vary considerably between individual programs, irrespective of enforced standards and expectations. It is argued that a single-dimensional approach to program evidence-based evaluation and reporting is not appropriate and potentially damaging in contexts where community-based programs have different purposes, structures, cultures, and intentions. Given a program's particular evidence-use style, evidence-based criteria, processes, and reporting requirements should be matched accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reported in this paper is an evaluation of structural and functional performance of heavy duty and light duty pavements by addressing the effects of several factors on the rate of pavement deterioration. The sample used herein is a network of freeways and arterials from Victoria/Australia covering four road classes, namely M, A, B and C. The first two road classes represent heavy duty pavement and the last two road classes represent light duty pavements. These road classes differ in qualities, functions, duties, geometric standards, and traffic volumes and loadings. This paper aims to assess the performance of the four road classes by comparing their pavement conditions and environmental factors affecting the rate of pavement deterioration. More than 2300 kilometers of road length was selected from 40 highway sections to reflect Victoria's network conditions. The parameters considered for assessing road performance were traffic loading, pavement strength, and environmental factors. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to explore the significance of different predictor variables for all road classes. The study confirms that the rate of roughness and rutting progression per year for all road classes is very close, and the environmental factors affect roughness and rutting progressions for light duty pavements only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the study of the agency of children aged 10–14 in their language practices as they interacted with their family members. The study was located in a Vietnamese migrant community in Victoria, Australia. In using a thematic, interactional analysis combined with a relational approach to agency, it was found that children’s agency emerged on a continuum which ranged from a more negative end of the continuum – manifested through the children’s explicit resistance to parental requests for home language use – to a more positive end of the continuum – manifested through their flexible linguistic repertoire in accommodating their interlocutors’ needs. Findings also suggest that the linguistic practices in the family domain surfaced as dynamic co-constructions to reflect the adults’ and children’s constant (re)negotiation in their everyday language practices in the home, which was also influenced by other factors such as children’s linguistic competence and the families’ linguistic norms. The study builds on previous findings on the relational nature of children’s agency by bringing attention to the different manifestations of children’s agency that arise in situ as they interact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine how a framework developed by the International Association for Public Participation is used to frame and legitimise the participatory practices of local governments in Ontario, Canada and Victoria, Australia. We find the association of IAP2 materials with appeals to "best practice" raises questions about the potential consequences of the use of standardised frameworks for participation. While these frameworks encourage a minimum standard for public participation, they may also stifle creative and contextually sensitive participatory planning practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with many other male-dominated sports, for over a century of its history, Australian Rules Football organizations resisted and undermined women's participation in the game. The first league for women footballers commenced in Victoria in 1981. Since then, the growth in women's participation has been substantial, and in 2017, a professional women's Australian Football League (AFLW) commenced. The next phase of the participation of women in football is approaching, and heralds an opportunity for women to (re)gain power within the sport. In October 2019, thirty percent of women players rejected the proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement from the Australian Football League (AFL), with the underlying sentiment of wanting a stronger voice in the vision for the future of their game. This paper examines how changing participation rates in community football can transform the narrative of women's football from one of subsidized welfare to women players being necessary for the survival of football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New legislation was introduced in 2018 in Victoria, Australia to encourage the negotiation of affordable housing agreements. This change resulted in the expansion of formal and informal mechanisms for cross-sectoral affordable housing delivery. In this paper we draw on 20 interviews with housing stakeholders, focusing on the process of negotiation. We propose a novel theoretical framework to interpret capacity for collective action in a loosely regulated policy area, combining insights from negotiation theory and Institutional Capacity Development (ICD) literature. We find widespread concerns about the opaque, inefficient and potentially exploitative nature of outcomes. We also find that agreements varied across projects based on levels of trust; access to information; political capital; capacity for mutual gain; and the presence of shared rules for interacting. We conclude that competition-based negotiations may lead to increased institutional capacity while also highlighting the challenges of housing delivery in the context of institutional uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, like many high-income countries, food insecurity is associated with increased risks of chronic diseases, sub-optimal development outcomes in children, and mental health conditions including depression and anxiety. Food insecure households employ a range of strategies, including the use of food charity, to help alleviate hunger and meet cost of living pressures. The aim of this paper is to investigate the lived experience of food insecurity for welfare-dependent households, and to examine these experiences within a structural violence framework. Structural violence investigations seek to understand the distal causal factors that can help explain poor health patterns and inequities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with customers (n = 78) of food pantries, soup kitchens, and community development programs (June 2018 to January 2019) in the state of Victoria, Australia. Thematic analysis established evidence of controlling, demeaning and depriving practices in the interactions between the participants and the services and staff at national welfare providers and food charities. The same providers and charities nominally set up to address the exact situations in which participants found themselves. The findings of this study suggest that food and social services are an on-the-ground setting through which structural violence is enacted and experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside unprecedented shifts in health care, and widespread lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an almost immediate shift towards digitally supported remote delivery in higher education. This paper explores the experiences and perceptions of 15 teaching academics from five universities in Victoria, Australia during this time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics after they had been delivering teaching, learning and assessment remotely for a six-month period. The analysis showed that while the remote delivery environment enhanced many aspects of teaching and learning, including agile and adaptable academic skill-sets, there were challenges. The academics' sophisticated teaching skills and experience, that were intuitively relied upon in the face-to-face setting, did not always translate to the online environment. In particular, this was noticed in terms of the relational approach to teaching and learning, including relationships, rapport, and connectedness within classes, and the absence of social formative assessment cues to evaluate learners' understandings. Students were not asking questions in class and required additional support from academics, which subsequently increased already overburdened workloads. After considering the findings of our work and others, we provide recommendations to support high quality teaching and learning in digitally supported remote delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folded reservoir rocks (Eumeralla Formation) within the Otway Basin are of significant exploration interest for their geothermal and tight gas reservoir potential. Brittle deformation within the Eumeralla Formation (ca 113–100 Ma), along the Otway coastline of Victoria, reflects a protracted history of extension, contraction, erosion and uplift, since Australian–Antarctic separation in the Early Cretaceous. This paper investigates the relative timing of heterogeneously distributed fracture populations within both folded and unfolded areas along the Otway coastline. Data collection occurred across two stratigraphic units spanning the Early Cretaceous (Eumeralla Formation) to the late Cenozoic (Demons Bluff Group), in order to measure fracture geometries and determine the relative timing of fracture formation. An unmanned aerial vehicle has been used to facilitate the systematic and inexpensive acquisition of high-resolution orthophotographs along coastal platforms, in order to complement traditional field mapping of fracture populations. A NE–SW-orientated fracture set is observed exclusively within the Eumeralla Formation (St George fold hinge), while a NW–SE-orientated fracture set pre-dates hinge-parallel fractures. Significant fracture formation has been linked to a period of mid-Cretaceous uplift within the eastern Otway Basin (ca 95 Ma). The Eumeralla Formation and Demons Bluff Group also host a NNW–SSE-orientated fracture set that is inferred to largely post-date mid-Cretaceous folding. Sinistral displacement of fold hinges within the Eumeralla Formation, combined with thrust faulting within Cenozoic sediments, is interpreted to have occurred during an episode of late Miocene to early Pliocene shortening. This paper provides new insights into the history of brittle deformation in the eastern Otway Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexual revictimization can have a negative impact on many facets of women's wellbeing, yet limited evidence exists regarding specific interventions that support healing and the reduction of further revictimization. This paper will explore regional and rural women's experience of a group-based empowerment program, the Shark Cage program, in Victoria, Australia. The "Shark Cage" program aims to address revictimization by empowering women and girls to build personal boundaries and assertiveness within the context of gender equality and human rights. Data were collected via participant observations across the 8-week program, in combination with semi-structured interviews with participants (N = 11) pre and post intervention. All participants had access to therapeutic support outside of the program. Findings indicate that the program fostered connections among women with shared experiences of sexual revictimization, reducing feelings of isolation. Participants detailed the benefit of developing and practicing skills in reducing revictimization, such as assertiveness and boundary setting. Program learning and recovery was embedded within a network of embodied emotions, social connections, cultural norms and place-based relations that influenced how participants recovery could be understood, processed and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fair political representation is an important goal of democratic governments, yet Australia lags behind many democracies in women's representation in elected politics. Attacks against women in public spaces through harassment and verbal abuse have long constrained women's ease in physical spaces and, in the digital age, this has extended into online spheres. This paper examines the impact of on- and offline incivility on women's experiences in local politics. It focuses on Australia's southern state of Victoria and its 79 local government municipalities. We conduct two surveys of men and women elected representatives (N1 = 222, N2 = 205) to determine their experiences during the campaigning period and first year on council. We follow up with in-depth interviews with women who have experienced gender harassment (n = 10) to further understand its impacts. We offer new insights in to a 'push factor' that contribute to women leaving elected local government and their political underrepresentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sudden illness or hospitalisation can exacerbate financial hardship. This paper explores the impact of an Australian hospital-based pilot program designed to remove barriers to government-funded income support for vulnerable patients. Interviews with patients (n = 9) and hospital social workers (n = 13) described the participant experience. Patients identified that the service was convenient, provided relevant information, clarified eligibility, simplified application processes, and reduced stress. Social workers reported that the service saved time, increased access to income support, and facilitated timely discharges where financial barriers existed. We suggest that health and social services partnerships have a potential to improve patient outcomes and service efficiency. IMPLICATIONS A 12-month pilot partnership program between social work staff at Western Health and the Centrelink Community Engagement Officer (CEO) indicated improved access to income support for patients and reported savings in social work staff and patient time. Further research is needed to explore the potential for partnerships between health and social care to deliver integrated psychosocial care to vulnerable patients in hospital, improve patient outcomes, and increase the efficiency of hospital services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that literacy as a social practice is fundamental to supporting and facilitating student learning across the years of schooling, and research has shown the importance of all teachers understanding the literacies of their learning areas and being able to mobilise effective literacy practices to support student learning outcomes. During the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic teachers across the globe were forced to (re)negotiate the reading, writing and speaking demands of learning and teaching in uncharted, digitally mediated environments. In this paper, we report on findings from a research project undertaken at a large secondary school in Victoria, Australia which investigated the ways in which teachers' priorities during online learning impacted on their approaches to and enactment of disciplinary literacy. We identify two priorities that emerge from interviews with teachers during and after the COVID lockdown: (1) to support the development of student disciplinary and content knowledge and (2) to engage in pedagogies that consider cyber-safety and student-wellbeing. We explore these priorities in the context of teachers' literacy knowledge and practices and students' literacy engagement and learning, and consider the implications of this analysis for issues of equity and quality in fully online digital contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dinosaur fossils of the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) Eumeralla Formation (Otway Basin) of Victoria provide insights into the faunal and ichnofaunal diversity of southern hemisphere high latitude dinosaurs during the initial separation of Australia from Antarctica. To date, at least eight dinosaur fossil locations have been reported from this formation. In this paper, we describe a new tracksite locality along the coastline of Wattle Hill that represents the most westerly occurrence of dinosaur fossils in the state. Some of the Wattle Hill prints resemble tracks attributed to ornithopodan trackmakers from neighbouring tracksites of the Eumeralla Formation (Knowledge Creek, Browns Creek), while others resemble bird prints. The site also preserves a large non-avian theropod footprint that resembles Megalosauropus prints from the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone, Western Australia that if correct, extends the temporospatial range of this ichnogenus. The Wattle Hill tracks vary in their erosion between and within tracksites, from a natural mould (concave epirelief), transmitted tracks, possibly penetrative tracks and infilled reliefs that resemble (but differ from) natural casts. With the constant weathering of the Eumeralla Formation exposures, it seems likely that additional dinosaur tracks fossils will be discovered with continued Victorian coastal explorations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An online survey conducted in two Australian states (South Australia and Victoria) to study the impact of the pandemic on multi-dimensional wellbeing of individuals found that a higher proportion of women maintained overall wellbeing. Although women reported lower levels of wellbeing in psychological health and similar rates of physical health and living standards compared to men, they achieved higher levels of wellbeing in the ecology and community domains. This paper argues that women's utilisation of blue/green space and social connection played a key role in maintaining wellbeing. Comparing the findings for South Australia and Victoria suggest that women's overall hopefulness and resilience in the pandemic decreased with the severity and length of mobility restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While accounts of urban climate change governance and planning are growing, there is a need for further conceptual and empirical work to better understand processes of change and uptake across a range of local responses. This paper uses the Council Alliance for a Sustainable Built Environment (CASBE) as an urban experiment seeking to influence development and planning decisions to improve sustainability outcomes in the built environment in the State of Victoria, Australia. The evaluation is structured using Luederitz et al.'s tentative evaluative scheme for sustainability transition experiments. This paper also seeks to test, reflect, and further develop the scheme by highlighting the challenge of evaluating unbounded and not necessarily purposefully designed experiments. Finally, this paper calls for developing an approach to better reveal the political, social, and institutional complexities influencing the potential of experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advocacy has received less attention in social work research than other aspects of social work practice. This paper draws attention to two tensions in social work advocacy; between worker-led advocacy and person-led advocacy, and between individual advocacy and system level advocacy. We argue that human-rights-based social workers must choose a person-led approach over a worker-led approach while advocating with both systems and individuals. This argument is made by drawing on findings of an evaluation of Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) in Victoria, Australia. It is shown that social work training had not prepared social workers for rights-based, person-led advocacy and that social workers in public mental health services were struggling to maintain the rights of people in their services even with assistance from IMHA. IMPLICATIONS Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) is a model of advocacy influenced by social work theory and delivered in part by social-work-trained advocates. Social work training is not preparing social workers for person-led, human-rights-based advocacy. Public mental health social workers are struggling to maintain the rights of people in mental health services even with the support of external advocacy services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many submissions made by individuals to an Australian Parliamentary inquiry into end-of-life care which supported assisted dying used narratives of bad deaths of family or friends, or included stories by people suffering from chronic terminal illness. The submissions used the emotional tugs (pathos) of these narratives to support their case and to highlight the contemporary weaknesses of end-of-life care. This paper analyses the submissions, showing how pathos-based arguments were used in the public debate. Pathos-based arguments are a significant – and potentially very influential – feature in the debate on assisted dying. This paper also analyses the arguments advanced by proponents of assisted dying to show the weaknesses of Victoria's current arrangements for end-of-life care, including the significant suffering of family member or friends; lack of access to good palliative care; and that patient needs were not met, sometimes for religious or value-based reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how multispecies collaboratories work to complexify understandings of shared space with more-than-human others through collective inquiry and experimentation. Recognizing tensions produced through engaging childhood geographies research on stolen land, it proposes multispecies collaboratories as inextricably situated within the uneven flows of colonization, urban sprawl, and climate change. The authors present six collaboratory sticking points – the politics of green, confronted by the unexpected, bearing witness, boundary bursting, root problems, and troubling entanglement – to highlight possibilities and incommensurabilities inherent within. Sharing moments on Anishnaabe, Attawandaron, Lūnaapéewak, and Haudenosaunee territories in London, Ontario, and lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ territories in Victoria, British Columbia, they take a common worlding approach to reconsidering young children's multispecies relations as always and already political, multifarious world-making forces. They argue for multispecies collaboratories as small but significant sites for unhinging children's geographies from neoliberal, colonial logics, asking: What kinds of experimentation make it possible to activate a collective sense of relationality and reciprocity with the myriad of creatures with whom children share space? What is required of us to do so without retooling the colonial logics that contribute to the erasure of Indigenous peoples, more-than-human kinships, and connections to place? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, there have been several efforts in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to increase the opportunities and improve the experiences of women cyclists in recreational and racing contexts. However, cycling in Victoria and Australia more broadly continues to be a male dominated sport. This study incorporates a digital ethnography of two Melbourne-based women's cycling Facebook groups including 11 interviews with stakeholders over the period of 2017–2018 to analyse how women and girls are harnessing social media to create counter sports spaces to enhance women's cycling. The paper explores the emergence of the "virtual clubhouse" which operates as a digitally networked counterpublic, providing a space for women and gender diverse cyclists to connect, coproduce and engage in knowledge sharing practices, and build a more inclusive culture for cycling that challenges dominant, mainstream narratives of women's sport. The "virtual clubhouse" addresses a gap in the physical bicycle landscape in which cycling and cycling knowledge (including bicycle maintenance) is largely mediated by men and cycling clubs are configured as masculine spaces within Australia. This research adds further depth into a specific localised network of women cyclists to consider how physical and online sports cultures and communities are intertwined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The provenance of the upper Cambrian to Upper Ordovician sedimentary rocks of Tasmania and Waratah Bay in southern Victoria provides information about the complex and dynamic tectonic environment present during their deposition. This paper uses U–Pb detrital zircon data to constrain stratigraphic comparisons and tectonic reconstructions of these rock sequences. Multivariate statistics are used to investigate the similarity between the U–Pb ages and quantify the disparity among different samples from various locations. In western and central Tasmania, the Tyennan region supplied most detrital zircons during the late Cambrian and Early Ordovician. The overlying Middle Ordovician Pioneer Sandstone records a switch in provenance with zircons derived from the Mount Read Volcanics (MRV) mixed with zircons similar to those from continental-derived Paleozoic sedimentary rocks deposited throughout east Gondwana. The Middle to Upper Ordovician Gordon Group in western and central Tasmania lacks detrital zircons younger than 1.2 Ga, which indicates a return to a local provenance from Precambrian rocks. In southern Tasmania, the switch to zircons derived from the MRV and east Gondwana-like sources occurred earlier within the Cambrian Deadmans Bay Formation, which is dominated by the east Gondwana Paleozoic zircon age signature. In the East Tasmania Terrane, Ordovician sedimentary rocks from Lefroy have detrital zircon populations dominated by Neoproterozoic and earliest Paleozoic sources similar to the Ordovician sedimentary rocks in the Lachlan Orogen. In southern Victoria, the Bear Gully Chert from Waratah Bay exhibit both Tyennan and distal Gondwana detrital sources. The switching of detrital zircon sources in the west Tasmanian sedimentary sequences implies the docking of Tasmania with mainland Australia during the Cambrian Tyennan Orogeny. The arrival of the distal zircons into these basins occurred at different times in the different areas, reflecting a complex local topography and paleogeography. Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in Tasmanian exhibit multisource detrital U–Pb age signatures that change over time, implying tectonic activity during their deposition. Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in northeastern Tasmania show Gondwana-wide detrital signatures similar to Lachlan Orogen. The Ordovician Bear Gully Chert at Waratah Bay in southern Victoria shows mixed Tasmanian and distal Gondwana detrital populations. The change in detrital zircon signature in western Tasmania suggests that VanDieland docked with the Australian continent during the Cambrian Tyennan Orogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on rural aspects of sexual and reproductive health and sexuality. Disadvantage of access to practitioners with expertise in sexual and reproductive health and sexuality is compounded for rural residents. Retaining and supporting the rural sexual and reproductive health workforce is important in addressing sexual health inequities and promoting the sexual and reproductive rights of rural residents. However, little is known about the role-related challenges encountered by rurally-based sexual and reproductive health practitioners. We draw on 15 qualitative interviews with general practitioners and nurses with recognised expertise in sexual and reproductive health working in three rural regions of Victoria, Australia. Findings highlight the precarious state of sexual and reproductive health delivery in rural contexts and draw attention to the unsustainability of current systems for providing access to care in rural settings. Problems stem from cultural processes and assumptions within the health sector. Adapting organisational cultures and how sexual and reproductive health is structured within the health system are critical to improving access for rural residents. Our findings have relevance for other high-income, Eurocentric and metrocentric countries with public health systems and similar geographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]