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The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry globally has a long history of prudently adopting novel technologies to improve products and services. Yet the rapid development of digital technology currently taking place is threatening to produce a more disruptive inflection, or substantial jolt. This paper explores the state of readiness of the AEC industry for such anticipated transformation. We illustrate our conceptual arguments with evidence from an explorative study across a sample of AEC organizations in Australia. At the core of this paper, we offer six provocations that highlight what we consider major challenges for the AEC industry—across multiple levels of analysis—related to the increasing role of digital technology. We then turn to lessons learned from other industries in order to propose a framework consisting of four leadership thinking schemas to enable digital transformation readiness: future thinking, strategic thinking, capability thinking, and experimental thinking. For these four schemas, we present practices and initiatives that may help AEC firms to better adapt—or to proactively create and shape a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian children from regional, rural and remote (RRR) areas exhibit lower educational outcomes than their peers in metropolitan areas. The mechanisms driving the comparatively poorer educational outcomes of children in RRR areas, however, are not well understood. This paper proposes and tests two sets of factors that may be responsible for these disparities: population socio-demographic composition and school climate. Using rich survey and linked administrative data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 9,248 observations), we estimate the relative contribution of these sets of factors to RRR children's disadvantage in NAPLAN numeracy test scores. Our results indicate that both socio-demographic and school climate factors account for part of the educational disparities between children in RRR and metropolitan areas. These findings suggest that hybrid policy approaches that tackle both the social determinants of educational success and use schools as an intervention site are required to close the achievement gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) with either duration included an attribute or with dead included as an option can be used as a stand-alone approach to value health states. This paper reports on a DCE with both of these features to develop an EQ-5D-5L value set for Australia. Methods: A DCE was undertaken using a large Australian panel of internet respondents, from which a sample of more than 4000 Australian adults was chosen, stratified to be population representative on age and gender. The DCE contained 500 choice triplets, with two EQ-5D-5L health states with duration, and dead as the third option. Each respondent answered 12 choice sets from the 500, stating both the best and worst options from the three available. The design was constructed to estimate a utility algorithm with main effects plus some key interaction terms. A variety of approaches to parameterising interactions, and to anchoring the value set on the required 0–1 scale, were tested. A preferred Australian adult utility algorithm for use in cost-utility analysis was then generated. Results: In total, 4477 people completed at least one choice set and were included in the analysis. The results reflected the monotonic structure of the EQ-5D-5L, in that moving from no problems to extreme problems led to worsening utility in each dimension. Inclusion of interaction terms demonstrates that the disutility of the first dimension moving to a poor level (defined as either level 5, or level 4 or 5) had a large impact, but subsequent dimensions moving to a poor level had a relatively smaller disutility. Discussion: This work develops a value set for the EQ-5D-5L in Australia, and also provides a range of methodological insights which can inform future work using a stand-alone DCE to value health in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to exert a significant toll on the Australian primary healthcare system. Although wellbeing challenges faced by hospital-based healthcare workers are widely discussed, less is known about the experiences of general practitioners (GPs) during the initial phases of the pandemic. This paper reports qualitative survey data from Australian GPs, examining their workplace and psychosocial experiences during the initial months of the pandemic. Methods: An Australia-wide, cross-sectional, online survey of frontline healthcare workers was conducted in 2020. A qualitative approach using content analysis was utilised to examine responses to four free-text questions from GPs. Results: A total of 299 GPs provided 888 free-text responses. The findings reveal that general practice was overlooked and undervalued within the pandemic response, resulting in negative impacts on GP wellbeing. Four themes were identified: (1) marginalisation of GPs; (2) uncertainty, undersupported and undervalued in the workplace; (3) isolation and disrupted personal lives; and (4) strategies to support GPs during times of crises. Key concerns included poor access to personal protective equipment, occupational burnout and poor wellbeing, insufficient workplace support, and conflicting or confusing medical guidelines. Conclusions: Primary healthcare constitutes an essential pillar of the Australian healthcare system. This study presents the many factors that impacted on GP wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enabling GP voices to be heard and including GPs in decision-making in preparation for future crises will enhance the delivery of primary care, reducing the burden on hospital services, and help sustain a safe and effective health workforce long term. The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant challenges and wellbeing issues for healthcare workers such as general practitioners (GPs), especially during the initial months in 2020. A large nationwide survey of Australian healthcare workers was undertaken in 2020 to understand their experiences, from which 299 GPs provided free-text survey responses for qualitative analysis. This analysis showed GPs felt marginalised, undervalued and under-supported while working in risky work conditions, pointing to a need for GP voices to be heard to safeguard their wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its long history of resettling refugees, Australia's acceptance of asylum seekers continues to attract considerable debate and division. This is exacerbated by news coverage that constructs people seeking asylum along a "threat" versus "victim" binary. As most Australians lack direct experience with people from asylum seeking backgrounds, media discourse plays a pivotal role in societal understandings of the issue. This paper discusses research combining Critical Discourse Analysis with a cultural studies Audience Reception epistemology to examine how 24 Western Australians respond to news representations of asylum seekers. Participants drew upon their own perspectives when discussing Australian coverage, highlighting the importance of accounting for audiences' ideological positioning when examining their perspectives on news discourse. While some accepted dominant constructions of asylum seekers as a "threat" and argued that the "victim" narrative is emotionally manipulative, others rejected both tropes, positing that the former legitimises asylum seekers' exclusion while the latter portrays them as deficient and agentless. These findings are discussed with consideration of their implications - in both a practice and scholarly context—demonstrating the value of applying critical discourse methods in audience reception research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese international students represent a significant social, economic and cultural force in Australian society. Research has demonstrated that Chinese students enrich Australia not only through their economic contribution, but through soft diplomacy and cultural links. Despite this, and the recent rapid growth in the number of Chinese international students to the country, only a small number of studies have focused specifically on understanding the health and employment experiences of Chinese students in Australia. This paper examines interview data from an ethnographic study involving ten Chinese international students pursuing higher education in New South Wales, Australia. Topics concerning work rights and exploitation, migration, and cultural differences are touched upon within their health and employment experiences. This paper provides insights for those working with Chinese international students in the areas of health education and promotion, diversity and inclusion, employment and mobility studies. The results contribute to broader insights into the inward/outward mobility of higher education students and Australia's National Strategy for International Education 2025. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing diversity, which refers to the existence of a variety of housing options tailored to accommodate diverse lifestyles, cultural backgrounds and financial capacities, remains conspicuously deficient in Australian cities. In recognition of the imperative to investigate the housing needs of various family types, this study undertakes a qualitative analysis of the housing experiences within multigenerational Lebanese Australian families. The paper analyses data collected through in-depth interviews and household tours of 20 participants from 15 different households situated in Western Sydney's and Greater Brisbane's metropolitan areas. The study documents the housing experiences of four sub-types of multigenerational families and elucidates the processes by which domestic architectural configurations are adapted and formulated to meet the needs of diverse multigenerational family arrangements. The study reveals that housing designs play a central role in shaping both positive and negative experiences for Lebanese Australian families, many of which parallel the experiences encountered by broader mainstream Australian society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined the association of nuptial/relationship factors, financial difficulties, and socio-demographic factors with the mental health status of Australian adults. Design: Cross-sectional quantitative study design. Settings, participants, and interventions: Using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey wave 19, 6846 adults were included in the analysis. Mental health was measured using the mental component summary (MCS) subscale of the Short-Form Health Survey SF-36. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions were used to examine the predictors of mental health status. Results: Overall, 7.1% of the participants reported poor mental health status. Individual financial difficulty factors explained 3.2% (p<0.001) of the variance in mental health scores. In addition, financial difficulties were negatively associated with mental health status. Nuptiality and relationship factors accounted for 9.8% (p<0.001) of the variance in mental health status. Conclusion: The study suggests negative marital or relationship perceptions and financial difficulties are significant factors accounting for poor mental health. This finding suggests the need for more policy attention toward the social determinants of poor mental health especially nuptiality or relationship perceptions which have received less policy and research attention in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates heterogeneity of preferences for disability services within the theoretical framework of consumption values. We conducted interviews with people with a disability and disability service providers to develop survey items, then conducted a survey with 2000 adult Australian residents who either had a disability or were carers of a person with a disability. After conducting descriptive analyses and data-driven market segmentation, findings revealed that, at the aggregate level, basic or functional benefits of disability services are most important. However, when accounting for heterogeneity, very distinct benefit patterns emerge, pointing to the substantial potential for improving disability services by catering to distinct market segment needs. These insights have the potential to improve disability service provision, thus maximally harvesting the opportunities from disability service models that now often include commercial providers, and enabling people with disabilities to make optimal choices in relation to both services and providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe self-reported general and psychological health for allied health practitioners at an Australian acute public health service over three time points within the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: This study collected data from cross-sectional online surveys at three time points: May–June 2020 (T 1), October–November 2020 (T 2) and November–December 2021 (T 3). The self-report questionnaire consisted of demographic questions, a general health question and the 21-item version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21). Results: A total of 308 responses were received (T 1 n = 135, T 2 n = 78, T 3 n = 95) from representatives of eight allied health professions. The proportion of allied health practitioners reporting poor general health significantly increased over time, as did mean scores on all DASS-21 sub-scales. General health status was also significantly associated with DASS-21 subscale scores. Anxiety scores increased significantly between T 1 and T 2, while depression scores increased significantly between T 2 and T 3. Significant increases in stress scores were recorded across all time intervals. Between T 1 and T 3, the proportion of allied health practitioners reporting moderate, severe, or extremely severe symptoms increased for depression (10.3–30.9%), anxiety (5.2–18.2%) and stress (13.3–36.3%). Conclusion: The general and psychological health of allied health practitioners appears to be worsening as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Organisational strategies to support the health of the allied health workforce in acute care settings must address the cumulative effects of prolonged pressure on their general and psychosocial health. Support strategies need to be responsive to changes in psychological wellbeing at different phases of the pandemic. What is known about the topic? Many cross-sectional studies report poor psychosocial wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. What does this paper add? Here we provide evidence about the long-term and declining general and psychological health status of Australian allied health practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the implications for practitioners? The psychological wellbeing of allied health practitioners has declined as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. There is an urgent need for initiatives targeting allied health practitioners that support their wellbeing and ongoing ability to provide high quality patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older Australians, particularly those in aged-care settings, are frequently targets of persistent discrimination and marginalisation. Media portrayals of older people contribute to how broader society sees and values this demographic. Acknowledging this, the present study analyses how journalists visually cover ageing and the aged care sector during a critical event 'frame': the calling of, and government response to, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety from 2018 through 2021. This study recognises that the type of representation of older people in media is more difficult to examine than simply the frequency of representation. Using visual social semiotics as an analytical framework, this paper examined 351 images from a nationally representative news sample published over the 30-month timeframe. This approach has enabled us to go beyond simple frequencies of who is depicted and explore in a more nuanced way how older Australians are depicted, and with what implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates how three key concepts in youth studies – 'transitions', 'the enterprising self' and 'mobilities' – have historically centred the experiences of white/Anglo young people in the Australian settler colonial context. A race critical analysis of these major concepts that foregrounds colonialism, racialised migration schemes, multicultural policies and everyday racism has yet to be applied in any substantial way. This approach has the potential to unsettle the colonial and racialised logics inherent within these concepts and examine how they normalise whiteness in Australia. In exploring how these concepts are predominantly applied, critiqued and engaged with, we ask, how does youth studies as a field reproduce Northern colonial systems of knowledge production? We demonstrate the necessity of naming race, racism and processes of racialisation explicitly within the Australian field, not merely to include 'others' but to investigate how dominant conceptual paradigms produce racialised and minoritised Others and mainstream whiteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focusses on how careers advice provided to Australian secondary school students varies according to students' socio-economic background. National data for students in Years 11 and 12 from five cohorts of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth initiated between 1998 and 2015 are analysed. Students from higher socio-economic backgrounds are found to be more likely to access multiple forms of careers information, particularly information relating to university entrance, compared to students from low-SES backgrounds. Conversely, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to receive information on pathways to non-professional vocations. This socioeconomic divide has become more pronounced over time. Importantly, access to nonprofessional careers information appears to have declined over time, while there is evidence to suggest this form of advice is more highly valued by students of low-socioeconomic background relative to those of high-socioeconomic background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The year 2020 marked the 95th anniversary of Francesco De Pinedo and Ernesto Campanelli's record-breaking flight of 55,000 km, from Italy to Australia, Japan and back, in a seaplane named Gennariello. Their achievement was lauded worldwide, especially in Australia, where the press reported on it intensively. This paper reconstructs the story of the flight by analysing the Australian press accounts and De Pinedo's diary, to understand how the Australian public perceived the event. It investigates the aviators' arrival in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne, where their popularity was greatest and where the local Italian communities enthusiastically welcomed them. The analysis shows that the flight engendered increased public interest and paid dividends in terms of image for the commercial companies involved, while fascism exploited it to display its progress in aviation. The paper concludes by exploring the legacy of the endeavour in modern Italy and Australia, emphasising the differences between the countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a large‐scale survey conducted with parents from Japanese language schools in Sydney in 2015, this paper aims to review multiple dimensions of social cohesion in the Japanese ethnic community in Australia. Looking at several indices such as economic, political, and cultural integration, the paper describes the social profile of the Japanese ethnic community, questioning the generic perception of the community as a coherent body of middle‐class migrants in Australia. This was achieved through a comparative analysis with outcomes of a national survey of the Australian population on social cohesion and draws attention to the ways in which a particular sense of social cohesion with Australian society is constructed by Japanese migrants. The study found a differentiated sense of belonging to the local community, country of residence (Australia), and nation of origin (Japan). It found communal diversity in the Japanese community resulting from there being a majority of women migrants who were part of cross‐border marriages and their children living in multicultural family circumstances. It was concluded that this configuration within the community leads to advocacy related to a re‐identification as a possible ethnic group of migrants that should be recognized in an inclusive migration settlement policy in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by critically reviewing the theoretical basis underpinning use of economic coercion to shift a target country's political positions, drawing attention to the likelihood of success being context-dependent. Six case studies are then documented where a coercive frame is evident in reporting and commentary to interpret Chinese actions taken against Australian exports since 2017. These show that trade impacts of Chinese actions have generally been modest in scale, short-lived and/or significantly mitigated. Canberra's political positions have also not become more aligned with Beijing's. The discussion informs assessment of coercive risks consequent to Australia's trade exposure to China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African Australian diasporic literature has drawn attention to the anti-Black racism Black African young people endure in everyday Australia. By drawing on a multi-method approach consisting of social media ethnography and multiple participant interviews, this paper explores the use of social media by Black African young people (n=15) to visibilise their experiences of racism. We situate the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, as a significant ‘turning point’ when the social media practises of our participants radically transformed. Our findings indicate that prior to the murder of George Floyd, participants evoked careful boundaries around the type of racial content they posted for fear of the punishments or backlash that could occur if they disrupted the white racial comfort of their friends and followers. After the murder of Floyd, participants used the resurgence of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement to visibilise their own experiences of anti-Black racism and racial violence in Australia, sharing content on social media that marked whiteness, demanded safety and challenged white silence and performative allyship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Chinese Australian Christians have unaddressed wounds of internalized racism and a colonized and colonizing mentality that adversely impacts their evangelistic witness and mission work by elevating Anglo-centric Christianity and subordinating their own ethno-racial status. Drawing on theoretical analyses, the sources of internalized racism and colonial mentality in Chinese Australians are first outlined within their ancestral countries of Hong Kong and Malaysia, and then their host country of Australia. Second, the essay explains how Anglo-centric Christianity impacts Chinese Australian Christians in the academy and then in missions, perpetuating prejudice towards one's own ethnic group, complicity in racialized systems, as well as elevating Anglo-centric Christian thought as biblically normative. Third, the paper shows how the rise of Asian Christianity could further privilege Anglo-centric theologies at the expense of indigenous and/or Asian theologies. Consequently, internalized racism and a colonial mentality negatively affect the mission endeavours of Chinese Australians, particularly to new Chinese migrants and other people of colour. Finally, proposed ways to combat internalized oppression will be offered so that Chinese Australian Christians and other diasporic Christians living in the West do not perpetuate systems of racial injustice in the name of Christ locally or overseas through mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Image-based abuse (IBA) refers to the non-consensual taking, sharing or threat to share nude or sexual images. Research suggests people who witness IBA behaviours can reduce the extent and impacts of its harm by taking action to intervene. However, there is limited research available on the attitudes, experiences and role of bystanders in the prevention of IBA. This paper presents findings from a national study examining bystanders' experiences of, and responses to, witnessing IBA. Informed by a survey of 245 Australian adults in four jurisdictions, this paper shows that while witnessing IBA is common, few respondents reported taking action to intervene, and there are gender differences in bystander readiness to intervene. The findings have important implications for the development of bystander intervention and education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SchoolStrike4Climate protests have renewed interest in youth political participation, but there has been little scholarly explanation for how young people came to be involved in such actions. While most studies focus on the motivations of participants, this paper considers the role of youth-led organisations in fostering political interest and action for climate justice among young people. Through a case study of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), we argue that over 15 years this youth-led organisation has played a key role by building an enduring organisational base and using multiple strategies to foster understanding and commitment among young people in Australia towards issues of sustainability and action on climate change. Key to the AYCC approach is a climate justice narrative in which young people are legitimate political actors responding to the climate crisis. This narrative manifests in the organisational structure, youthful hybrid repertoires of action and peer-based, educative initiatives. From our analysis, we propose the concept of 'educative movement-building' to describe the unique way young people are making organisations and generating broad support for climate justice in Australia with implications for studies of environmental activism and democracy more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a national survey of Australian planning experts examining future settlement patterns and locations at the continental scale. Collective judgement supported efforts to achieve population decentralisation and favoured three possible scenarios – Satellite Cities, Boosted Secondary Capital Cities, and East West Megaregions. The findings on preferred settlement pattern scenarios can inform future efforts to develop a national urban policy for Australia. This case study can also serve as a reference point to the over 160 countries worldwide that are developing, implementing, or evaluating national urban policies in support of global urban agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing tools measuring athletes' psychological strategies have various practical limitations including (a) not capturing the perceived effectiveness of psychological strategies in pursuing desirable outcomes; (b) overlooking stages of competitive involvement, such as before training or the night before competition; (c) and being predominantly paper-based. In the present case study, the author explains the process of developing an alternative assessment tool called the Profile of Psychological Strategies (ProPS). This new profile aims to measure athletes' perceptions of which strategies they use, to pursue which desirable outcomes, and how effectively. The ProPS has its theoretical roots in Fletcher and Sarkar's approach to developing psychological resilience and was developed based on an adapted version of Radhakrishna's Sequence for Instrument Development. This case study can be useful both for sport experts looking for a practical and flexible way to measure athletes' psychological strategies and for those aiming to develop their own applied assessment tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a little studied area of women's lives; the experiences of managing paid work alongside of family responsibilities, when the 'work' of earning an income was undertaken within the home, the domestic space. Focusing on the postwar years in Australian society I investigate the experiences of one group of women who worked as self-employed dressmakers, making clothing in exchange for payment within their own homes. A key focus of this paper is the coming together of the public and the private spheres through the intersection of paid and domestic work, and how this created a unique 'space' in which the dressmakers sought to manage their combined responsibilities within the boundaries of dominant gender ideologies. Drawing on contemporary understandings of space and temporalities to examine the physical and ideological conditions of their workspace, identifies a range of factors that affected their success in negotiating their location and reveals the individual and collective choices they made about how they did this and the associated outcomes they experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are more likely to have children and have more children, on average, than non‐Indigenous women. However, like those of the total Australian population, fertility rates of Indigenous women have been declining since the 1970s. The decline has been more significant in recent years. Between 2006 and 2016, an increasing proportion of Indigenous women postponed childbirth from their teens into their 20s and 30s, leading women to have fewer children over their lifetimes. During the same period, there was a rapid increase in educational attainment among the Indigenous population. This paper examines educational gradients in fertility among Indigenous women and whether the observed fertility decline is linked with the increased educational attainment. Using data from the 2006, 2011 and 2016 Australian Census of Population and Housing and applying a shift‐share decomposition analysis, we find that education has been a big driver of falling fertility rates in non‐remote areas. In remote areas, education has had a much smaller effect (except for youngest women). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual roof plane extraction from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) point-cloud data is a complex and difficult task because of unknown semantic characteristics and inharmonious behaviour of input data. Most of the existing state-of-the-art methods fail to detect small true roof planes with exact boundaries due to outliers, occlusions, complex building structures, and other inconsistent nature of LiDAR data. In this paper, we have presented an improved building detection and roof plane extraction method, which is less sensitive to the outliers and unlikely to generate spurious planes. For this, a robust outlier detection algorithm has been proposed in this paper along with a robust plane-fitting algorithm based on M-estimator SAmple Consensus (MSAC) for detecting individual roof planes. Using two benchmark datasets (Australian and International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing benchmark) with different numbers of buildings and sizes, trees and point densities, we have evaluated the proposed method. Experimental results show that the method removes outliers and vegetation almost accurately and offers a high success rate in terms of completeness and correctness (between 80% and 100% per-object) for both roof plane extraction and building detection. In most of the cases, the proposed method shows above 90% correctness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Response rates for official statistical collections are falling globally, placing increased emphasis on methods for handling missing data. At the same time, linked administrative data provides new opportunities for National Statistical Organisations. In 2016, the Australian Census of Population and Housing addressed unit non-response through nearest neighbour donor imputation. This method used dwelling and location characteristics to inform donor selection for each non-responding unit. This paper proposes a variation to the 2016 Census imputation method that incorporates administrative data to improve the selection of donors. Our method, Administrative Data informed Donor Imputation (ADDI), strengthens support for the assumptions of donor imputation, while limiting exposure to risks inherent in direct use of administrative data. We apply the ADDI method to the 2016 Census non-responding population, and demonstrate how the accuracy of imputation can be improved to produce higher quality statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been empirically demonstrated that the application of anthropological standards, developed using populations geographically or temporally disparate from that of a decedent, negatively impacts on classification accuracy. Therefore, there is a real need for population specific methodologies to ensure that accurate estimations of biological attributes are provisioned the present study reports the first morphometric cranial sexing standards formulated specifically for application in, and based on the statistical analysis of, a broad representation of the contemporary Australian population. The primary aim of the present paper is to quantify cranial sexual dimorphism and to subsequently develop statistically robust cranial sex estimation standards for the complete cranium and/or its associated fragments. The sample analysed comprised computed tomographic (CT) cranial scans of 771 (385 female and 386 male) individuals collected from five Australian states/territories. Scans are visualized as three-dimensional volume rendered reconstructions using OsiriX®, from which 76 three-dimensional cranial landmarks are then acquired. A total of 36 linear inter-landmark measurements are calculated using MorphDB. All cranial measurements were statistically significantly sexually dimorphic in mean values; the three most dimorphic being bizygomatic breadth, bizygotemporal breadth and basion-nasion height. A total of five univariate and nine multivariate discriminant functions were formulated, achieving a maximum of 90.3% classification accuracy according to sex, with an associated sex bias of −4.4%. The findings of the present study indicate that within the Australian population sex can be accurately estimated using cranial measurements. Furthermore, this study is the first to incorporate a collective and inclusive sample of contemporary living Australians thus better informing the accuracy and reliability of casework and forensic practice across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little has been reported on Australian children with Cerebral Vision Impairment (CVI). This paper aims to present the outcome of an audit focussed on children with the primary diagnosis of CVI, using findings from the Australian Childhood Vision Impairment Register (ACVIR). Records on 132 children (49% girls, 51% boys) from ACVIR data gathered from both the child's parent/guardian and their eye health professional were reviewed. The child's demographics, level of vision impairment, birth history, diagnostic journey, secondary ocular diagnoses, comorbidities and low vision support were analyzed. Several correlations were investigated using a Kendall's tau-b analysis including the relationship between vision and age of diagnosis; level of vision and developmental delay; and age of suspicion of visual impairment and age of diagnosis. The most common level of visual impairment was blindness (39%), and most children were suspected and diagnosed of visual impairment in the first 6 months of life. The majority of children were born full term (72%), weighing >2000gms (84%). Nearly half of the cohort of children (48%) had a secondary ocular diagnosis with 44% having nystagmus. The majority of children (80%) had additional health problems, and 85% of children had additional disabilities, with 79% having developmental delay. While the findings of this audit cannot be generalized to a wider population of Australian children with CVI, the outcome encourages continued discussion on CVI, to explore comprehensive assessment approaches which facilitate timely and accurate diagnosis. [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]

Objective: To determine the prevalence of common mental disorders among older Australians included in the Health In Men Data Linkage Study and compare those with the results of the 2020–2021 National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHW). Method: We used longitudinal record linkage to estimate the prevalence of mental disorders from age 65 years in a random sample of 38173 Australian men aged 65–85 years living in the Perth metropolitan region. Outcome was the proportion of participants affected by depressive episodes or dysthymia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, psychotic disorder and alcohol use disorder. Results: Prevalence estimates for participants aged 65–69, 70–74, 75–79, 80–84 and ≥85 years were 0.9%, 2.0%, 3.6%, 5.8% and 12.6% for depressive, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.4% and 0.7% for bipolar, 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.3%, 2.2%, 6.9% for anxiety, 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.5%, 0.4% and 0.6% for psychotic and 1.2%, 1.7%, 2.1%, 2.2% and 4.2% for alcohol use disorders. Conclusions: In contrast to the NSMHW, our data indicate that the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders increases with age, particularly among the older old. We conclude that the NSMHW should not be relied upon to guide planning or policies to address the mental health needs of older Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper presents the first on-the-ground study of attitudes towards just transition ideas in Australian coal communities. • It highlights the range of specific anxieties and reservations that workers and individuals in these communities have about these ideas. • The study highlights the dire need for local autonomy and control over any transition planning in these regions. Over the past several years, numerous actors across Australian society have increasingly advocated 'just transition' policies to help coal communities move beyond their reliance on fossil fuel extraction. As part of this, individuals from the environmental movement, trade unions, various NGOs and the private sector have called for a range of initiatives designed to help maintain the social and economic integrity of these regions as coal inevitably declines. Yet while just transition ideas have grown in popularity in these numerous forums in Australian society, it remains unclear how they are being understood by the very workers and communities for whom they are being proposed. To shed light on this question, we conducted interviews with residents of coal communities throughout Eastern Australia. We found that respondents had several key anxieties about just transition ideas and their impacts on their lives. In this paper, we break our findings down into five main themes that help explain these anxieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial remoteness in the sense of great distances between population centres and limited access to public services is an on‐going problem in Australian local government, where there exist large, sparsely populated regions dominated by the 'tyranny of distance'. From a public policy perspective, it is important to understand the impact of remoteness on local authorities. Accordingly, in this paper, we estimate the relationship between remoteness and financial sustainability using a 2014–2018 sample of Australian local governments. In general, we find only limited empirical evidence for a relationship between geographical remoteness and financial sustainability as we have proxied it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used narrative inquiry to investigate the experiences of Australian public librarians with professional learning and development. Twelve librarians currently working in public libraries in Australia were interviewed. The interviews revealed stories that depicted the real experiences of professional learning for the librarians. These stories are represented in this paper via two components: five critical insights; and three personas. The five critical insights include: (i) there is not enough professional learning experiences (PLE) or learning culture in their library; (ii) PLE must be sought out personally and a major portion of PLE has to happen on their own time; (iii) PLE is primarily found online, and that utilizing social media is a crucial way to find PLE opportunities; and (iv) PLE opportunities are wanted. The three personas were articulated to best typify the different experiences of the Australian public librarians: the Strategic Learner, the Curious Ad Hoc Learner, and the Skeptical Learner. The study's findings have implications for how public libraries in Australia can support and enable a culture of professional learning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals' access to sport and physical activity has been hampered due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. In Australia participation in community sport was cancelled during lockdowns. There is limited research on the impact of sport participation restrictions on the health and wellbeing of adults.AimThe aim of this study was to investigate the perceived health and wellbeing of a sample of predominantly active Australian adults, both during COVID-19 and in comparison with one year earlier (pre COVID-19).MethodsA survey was conducted during the first COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns in Australia in May-June 2020. It was distributed by national and state sporting organisations and through researchers' social media accounts. This particular paper focuses on adults aged 18-59 years. The survey collected information on participant demographics, the sport and physical activity patterns pre- COVID-19, and health and wellbeing outcomes during COVID-19 lockdown and compared to one year earlier. The health measures were cross-tabulated against the demographic and sport and physical activity variables, and group profiles compared with chi-square tests. Scales were derived from three wellbeing questions, and group differences were analysed by t-tests and F-tests.ResultsThe survey sample included 1279 men and 868 women aged 18-59 years. Most (67%) resided in metropolitan cities. The great majority (83%) were sport participants. During COVID-19 lockdown men were significantly more likely than women to report worse or much worse general (p = 0.014), physical (p = 0.015) and mental health (p = 0.038) and lower life satisfaction (p = 0.016). The inactive adults were significantly more likely to report poorer general health (p = 0.001) and physical health (p = 0.001) compared to active adults. The younger age cohort (18-29 years) were significantly more likely to report poorer general wellbeing (p < 0.001), and lower life satisfaction (p < 0.001) compared to the older age groups.ConclusionIt seems that the absence of playing competitive sport and training with friends, teams and within clubs has severely impacted males and younger adults in particular. Sports clubs provide an important setting for individuals' health and wellbeing which is why clubs require the capacity to deliver sport and individuals may need to regain the motivation to return. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to historicise the formation of youth studies in Australia with a specific focus on how the absence of Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall and other race critical and postcolonial scholars has produced particular research cultures, trajectories and traditions that have thus far made it difficult to incorporate race and ethnicity as central to an Australian youth studies agenda, both theoretically and methodologically. Drawing on a range of historical and contemporary examples of how racialisation plays out in Australia, it will be argued youth studies, as a field, needs to respond to how race as a complex, global, structural phenomenon comes to bear on the development of young people's identity making, life choices and lived experiences a necessary scholarly development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childbearing delay is a pervasive feature of Australian society, but little research has been conducted to examine how socio-economic factors are linked to childbearing timing among Australian men and women. This paper addresses this by analysing the timing of first childbirth for a large sample of Australian residents (N = 4,444). The findings indicate that childbearing delay is socially patterned and that life course experiences shape the risk of delaying childbearing across genders. Having a tertiary qualification delays the transition to parenthood, especially for women. An uninterrupted career prolongs time to parenthood for women but accelerates it for men. Low occupational prestige, being married and having been in only one co-residential union are associated with earlier parenthood for both men and women. For each increase in education level, not being married is associated with increasing levels of childlessness. Clear-cut gender differences are found in the relationship between childlessness and childbearing delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first 20 years of the twenty-first century have seen a flourishing of research about women film and media creatives, their industrial positioning, and media output in industries around the globe, but overwhelmingly this research has focussed on the woman director. Women below-the-line workers, their workplace experiences, and their impression of their own creative contributions, particularly in areas of editing, sound design, and visual effects, have been glaringly absent. This paper aims to spotlight the under-examined working conditions and creative contributions of women working in Australian postproduction and visual effects (VFX) areas, what their experiences and perceptions tell us about the sector more broadly at a time of decreasing job security and increasing demand for screen content since the time of COVID-19, and their perceptions about their own creative contributions. These findings are based on our analysis of semi-structured interviews that we carried out with 11 women workers in a range of geographical locations, of varying ethnicities, sexualities, and ages, and at different career points. The insights generated by these interviews speak to the challenges faced by these workers and their perceptions of their work and fill a gap in the feminist production studies literature, about women, postproduction, and VFX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale illegal fishing commenced in Australian coastal reefs 1970. Since, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has been "out of synch" with matching its Tier 2 constabulary vessels to their mission. The pattern is that "mission goalposts" shift post-acquisition, reflecting changes to UNCLOS. Post-WWII, the RAN employed wartime escorts in patrol roles, and wartime launches for littoral constabulary. The RAN has recreated this mix in the twentyfirst century. This paper traces this process and associated problems. Minimum resources are assigned to constabulary functions in peacetime, yet the units involved are arguably the most operational and politically sensitive. Vessel unsuitability has consistently meant personnel problems, over-use of constabulary vessels, and high maintenance costs. Australia's strategic situation is deteriorating towards a point where the rising risk demands mobilisation responses. This would include rapid acquisition of large numbers of Tier 2 assets to meet existing and conflict low-mix roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers which factors are worthy of inclusion in asset‐pricing models for Australian equity returns at daily and monthly frequencies. We utilise the recently developed methodology of Harvey and Liu (2020) to employ a performance metric specifically designed for model comparison and to conduct statistical inference that accommodates the possibility of data mining. The clear and consistent finding is that the market risk premium is the most important factor. This is the case for both daily and monthly asset‐pricing specifications, and irrespective of whether individual stocks or portfolios are used as test assets. There is no compelling evidence that any other factors are useful, implying that a parsimonious model suffices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: An expert reference group met on four occasions to consider ways forward in terms of Indigenous mental health. This paper summarises the discussion and recommendations.Conclusion: While the negative effects of colonisation and trans-generational trauma continue, we propose renewed emphasis on improving access, cultural orientation and trauma-informed care, and a focus on the needs of young Indigenous Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of international consensus that the knowledge economy requires more highly educated people, the Australian federal, state and territory governments agreed on a set of policies and targets for lifting the minimum level of educational attainment of young people, which are analysed in Part 1 of this paper. This Compact with young Australians will have the most impact on the quarter of young people who in the past would have left school early. The second part of the paper explores the transition experiences of early leavers who move on to a 'second chance' school. Based on their experiences, the paper concludes that to genuinely enable more young people to complete senior secondary education requires recognition of a broad range of benefits, rather than focusing mainly on economic outcomes, and support for re-entry through second chance education rather than coercing young people to remain in mainstream schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of how trustworthy Australia's financial institutions, especially its banks are, has been an increasingly controversial issue in recent years as a succession of financial scandals engulfed many of the financial sector's most significant players. A recurring theme in debates about Australia's financial sector has been concern about weak enforcement of existing laws and regulation. Criticism has been directed at all of Australia's financial regulators, but especially the market conduct regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). After spending years resisting intense pressure from many segments of the community, (including some of its own backbenchers), to establish a royal commission of inquiry to investigate misconduct in Australia's financial sector, the conservative Commonwealth Coalition Government finally capitulated in late November 2017. Retired former High Court Judge Kenneth Hayne was appointed to investigate misconduct in Australia's banking, superannuation and insurance industries. As 2018 has progressed a series of public hearings has revealed an appalling picture of systemic abuse and misconduct by both small and large scale Australian financial institutions. A key question has been what were the regulators, especially ASIC doing, or not doing? This paper discusses the Hayne Royal Commission, especially in relation to Australian regulatory (in)activity. Also, the paper reports on the findings of the 2018 Deloitte National Survey on Trust in Banking regarding the views of Australians on how well banks are held accountable by regulators in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information of the Bulletin of the Australian Mathematical Society aims at quick publication of original research in all branches of mathematics.

Drawing on the authors’ experiences in the Australian academic workplace as well as relevant recent scholarship and public commentary, this paper presents a broad overview and discussion of some of the institutional and cultural characteristics of the working environment typical of contemporary Australian universities that make them prone to unhealthy levels of workplace stress and mental injury. The paper argues that if we are to resolve the contradiction between the privileged financial and regulatory status universities continue to enjoy and the corrosion of their putative commitments to the pursuit of truth and free inquiry, a new generation of university leaders will be required to commit their institutions to being open, publicly accountable and democratic in their organisation and goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This paper aimed to document alcohol use during pregnancy and determine predictors of ongoing use, including knowledge and agreement with national alcohol guideline recommendations. Methods: Pregnant women (n = 1179) attending public antenatal services in a Local Health District in NSW, Australia, were surveyed about their alcohol use before pregnancy and after pregnancy recognition, and awareness of, and agreement with, national alcohol guidelines and health‐related statements. Respondent characteristics, drinking behaviour and predictors of ongoing drinking during pregnancy were assessed. Results: Most women consumed alcohol before pregnancy (79.3%) but the majority (82.0%) stopped following pregnancy recognition. Half the ongoing drinkers only drank on special occasions. Most (63.6%) women were aware of the national guidelines: 78.1% knew the recommendation that consuming no alcohol in pregnancy is safest, 4.6% thought some alcohol was safe and 17.3% were unsure. Predictors [OR (95%CI)] of ongoing drinking were older age [1.11 (1.07, 1.15)]; medium [2.42 (1.46, 4.00)] or high‐risk drinking pre‐pregnancy [3.93 (2.35, 6.56)]; and agreement that: avoiding alcohol in pregnancy is safest [0.05 (0.006, 0.47)]; avoiding alcohol is important for baby's health [0.14 (0.06, 0.31)] and pregnancy is a good time to change alcohol use for mother's health [0.29 (0.13, 0.63)]. Discussion and Conclusions: Results emphasise the importance of asking about special occasion drinking, the link between pre‐pregnancy drinking and ongoing drinking during pregnancy, and the need to understand why women disagree with the national guideline. To ensure guidelines have their intended benefit, interventions to promote behaviour change relating to alcohol consumption during pregnancy are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: There is currently little nationally representative diagnostic data available to quantify how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people may need a mental health service in any given year. Without such information, health service planners must rely on less direct indicators of need such as service utilisation. The aim of this paper is to provide a starting point by estimating the prevalence ratio of 12-month common mental disorders (i.e. mood and anxiety disorders) for Indigenous peoples compared to the general Australian population. Methods: Analysis of the four most recent Australian Indigenous and corresponding general population surveys was undertaken. Kessler-5 summary scores by 10-year age group were computed as weighted percentages with corresponding 95% confidence intervals. A series of meta-analyses were conducted to pool prevalence ratios of Indigenous to general population significant psychological distress by 10-year age groups. The proportion of respondents with self-reported clinician diagnoses of mental disorders was also extracted from the most recent survey iterations. Results: Indigenous Australians are estimated to have between 1.6 and 3.3 times the national prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders. Sensitivity analyses found that the prevalence ratios did not vary across age group or survey wave. Conclusions: To combat the current landscape of inequitable mental health in Australia, priority should be given to populations in need, such as Indigenous Australians. Having a clear idea of the current level of need for mental health services will allow planners to make informed decisions to ensure adequate services are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While classified as a rare condition, a congenital disorder of the corpus callosum (DCC) is one of the most commonly identified brain anomalies in newborns, occurring in 1:4000 live births. Advances in imaging techniques have improved early diagnosis for children, yet adults with a DCC-who may present with extreme heterogeneity in cause and impact-often experience challenges in receiving a definitive diagnosis and accessing appropriate services and supports. To date, the dearth of evidence documenting the lived experiences of adults with DCC has made it difficult to determine adequate policy and service responses. This exploratory research aims to address this gap by presenting the first qualitative examination of the experiences and impact of complete or partial agenesis of the corpus callosum among adults.Results: Eight face-to-face interviews were conducted with Australian adults, aged 23-72 years, to explore their lived experience. Data was collected in four Australian states from June to August 2017. Thematic and interpretive analyses were employed to analyse data. Three emergent themes described difficulties related to: (1) reactions to the diagnosis; (2) access to supports and key life domains, and (3) identifying as an adult. Interview analysis described lived experiences typically outlining a lifetime of exclusion and misunderstanding from family, educators and disability and health support services.Conclusions: This paper contributes to filling the knowledge gap around a rare congenital brain disorder affecting the lives of adults. Findings confirm a considerable lack of information and support for adults living with corpus callosum disorders. Greater professional and societal understanding is needed to improve access to the key life domains of education, employment and social inclusion for adults with a DCC. To instigate truly effective change, social research must tackle the issues of applicability and impact to alter the dominance of uninformed practices, hindered by prevailing myths. This research paves the way for further phenomenological studies in which participant narrative is vital. Further research will elicit stronger policy and service responses for all current and emerging adults with a DCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an empirical account of Herd and Moynihan's theory of administrative burdens as they apply to Australian child support recipients. Interviews with 41 separated mothers revealed how they were compelled to engage in the child support system and then required to expend significant time and effort undertaking administrative work on behalf of the state, often for little financial benefit. Unlike the examples provided by Herd and Moynihan, in this study, it was found that child support system burdens could be used by aggrieved fathers to inflict financial and psychological harms on their ex‐partners. The state accepted fathers' imposition of costs on mothers as they shared a financial interest in maintaining women's burdens. As a result, this paper provides three conceptual advancements on the existing theory, by articulating: how administrative burdens can be created and applied by non‐government third parties, in this case individual ex‐family members; how the state can acquiesce to the imposition of harms if these align with their interests; and how the state distributes obligations and autonomy along social lines, such as, in this case, along the lines of class and gender. This article applies administrative burden theory to separated mothers' experiences of child support and family tax benefit administration. It finds that mothers faced significant burdens, and that these could be used by fathers to enact harm. States and fathers' shared interest combined to entrench women's disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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