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Dental caries, a non-communicable disease, is one of the most prevalent diseases globally and share common modifiable risk factors with obesity such as excess sugar intake. However, prioritization by governments to improve population oral health has been limited and is typically excluded from the discourse of public health policy development. Therefore, interventions that target dental caries can have other co-benefits including obesity prevention. In Victoria, Australia, local government authorities have a regulatory requirement to develop their Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plans. The aim of this paper is to identify whether prioritization for oral health by local government authorities in Victoria has changed through the subsequent renewal of the Victorian Public Health and Wellbeing Plans 2011–2015 and 2019–2023. Three desktop audits for all publicly available Municipal Health and Wellbeing Plans by local government authorities in Victoria were conducted between 2014 and 2022. Key terms related to oral health was searched within these policy documents and categorized into six indicators: (i) included oral health as a priority, (ii) linked healthy eating and oral health, (iii) supported the Achievement Program, (iv) included the Smiles 4 Miles program, (v) advocated for fluoridated drinking water, and (vi) included other strategies related to oral health. Overall, there was statistically significant reduction in five of the six indicators, with the exception for prioritization of other strategies related to oral health such as targeting excess sugar intake and smoking. A multi-sectoral approach, that includes oral health would be advantageous to address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. [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]

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

Governments across Australia are struggling to address escalating child protection notifications, a marked increase in the number of children in State care, a decrease in the number of foster carers and chronic workforce shortages in child welfare services. This paper explores the reform process that culminated in the proclamation of the Victorian Children, Youth and Families Act, 2005 and represents an aspect of the response in Victoria to these wider issues. It explores the history of the reform from the perspective of key actors from government, non-government sectors and academics who participated in the process. The paper explores the “ingredients of social policy reform” and how the change process was managed in Victoria. It does not seek to evaluate the reform but rather to understand the complex processes through which a propitious moment for reform was both seized and constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Recent coastal legislative and policy reform in Australia reflects the changing focus of coastal management studies in the international scientific literature indicating a move towards systems perspectives, cross-boundary management strategies and an integration of marine and terrestrial environments. Significant global and national reports on integrated coastal management and climate change set the stage for a 21st Century wave of coastal reform in Australia. Given the absence of Australian national coastal legislation or coastal policy the reforms were initiated by a number of state governments such as in New South Wales and Victoria where new pieces of state-based coastal legislation came into law in 2018. This paper examines new coastal legislation, policies, manuals, and government documents and the rationale and triggers behind these reforms. These are discussed in the context of Australian governance structures and the international coastal management literature. The paper concludes that the latest wave of coastal reform in Australia represents a non-uniform stateled push for a more integrated approach to coastal management including, adaptation to climate change, sustainable development, a systems-based approach to coastal processes and inclusion of both marine and terrestrial environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rural Australian populations experience an increased burden of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) compared to their metropolitan counterparts, similar to other developed countries, globally. Policy and other efforts need to address and acknowledge these differences in order to reduce inequalities in health burden. This paper examines rural health policy makers’ perceptions and use of evidence in efforts to reduce the burden of IHD in rural areas. Methods: Policy makers and government advisors (n = 21) who worked with, or advised on, rural health policy at local, state and federal government levels, with specific focus on the state of Victoria (n = 9) were identified from publicly available documents and subsequent snowball sample. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted in regards to the use of evidence in policy to prevent IHD and thematic analysis undertaken applying two theoretical perspectives: context-based evidence-based policy making and the conceptual framework for understanding rural and remote health. Results: The rural context, particularly low resourcing, was seen as limiting potential for evidence based policy at local government (LG) level. Lower levels of political pressure and education were seen as constraints to evidence-based policy in rural communities. Participants described the potential for policy to have a greater impact on reducing heart disease in rural areas though they felt under-resourced and out of touch with the scientific evidence. Scientific studies were less valued than local anecdote to prioritise specific policy. At all levels (local, state and federal) low self-efficacy in interpreting evidence and perceived lack of relevance inhibited development of evidence informed policy. Conclusion: The rural context constrains the use of scientific evidence in policy making for the prevention of heart disease in rural areas in Australia with multiple factors influencing the capacity for evidenced based health policy. This is similar to findings at the international scale and is for consideration across other developed countries that experience inequalities in IHD disease burden between rural and urban populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widely held view is that effective action on climate change requires commitment by national governments to international agreements. Developed nations like Canada and Australia continue to fall short in their commitments to emissions reduction targets established under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Australia refused to ratify its Kyoto commitments until 2008 and Canada withdrew its commitment in 2011. Subnational governments in both countries have been active in developing policy responses to climate change yet remain largely excluded as serious policy partners in national mitigation and adaptation initiatives. This paper utilizes Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework to consider why subnational governments address climate change and the main factors shaping their policy choices. The experiences of the Australian state of Victoria and the Canadian province of Ontario provide examples through which to explore the factors contributing to climate policy opportunities and constraints faced by subnational governments in these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognition of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status by the United Nations has led to the development of new policies concerning homophobia and transphobia in educational contexts. This paper examines new Australian education policies impacting gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) teachers. A policy review uncovered a range of protections for GLBTIQ teachers in contexts such as the State of Victoria, alongside restrictions. Experiences of policy discussed in pilot study data from surveys of 63 Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, and in-depth interviews with nine Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, revealed that GLBTIQ teachers were relatively unaware of the protections available to them, compared to their awareness of protections for students. Many teachers were out as lesbian or gay to some staff members but fewer had come out to students. Teachers in religious schools had more difficulties, causing some to leave the sector. Further promotion of protections and more research are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is state-run in Australia, and within each of the eight states and territories there are both government and independent schooling systems. This paper details the position of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students within Australian education policy documents nationally, focusing on the three largest states and educational sectors in Australia. Survey data are used to report on the schooling experiences of over 3000 Australian GLBTIQ young people aged 14–21 years. Data from interviews with key policy informants identify both the obstacles to implementing policies, and how such obstacles have been overcome. Much official policy sees sexuality education as promoting inclusive, protective and affirming messages around GLBTIQ students. There exist significant correlations between policy and a variety of well-being and psycho-social outcomes for GLBTIQ students, including lowered incidence of homophobic abuse and suicide, and the creation of supportive school environments. Ideal policy visions are outlined, along with practical recommendations of relevance to a variety of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Uncertainty around long-term droughts and water scarcity has been increasing as the impacts of El Nino cycles are felt globally. Understanding how the effects of these events are manifested on the ground in communities is particularly important if governments and associated agencies are to respond appropriately. Using a qualitative approach, this paper examines the impacts of drought on two rural towns in Victoria, Australia, and explores what lessons can be drawn from local experiences. The research suggests that previous responses to drought by governments have been largely ineffectual and as such, we question whether there is a need to reshape institutional understandings of what adapting to drought might mean. This research, therefore, seeks to further the discussion surrounding drought impacts and the myriad of challenges associated with it by drawing on locally situated knowledge to inform future decision-making in this evolving field of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992), the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) concept has been adopted by Australian states, including the state of Victoria, as the framework vehicle to guide coastal management. Conceptually vital to the ICZM process is that appropriate environmental, social, demographic, and economic information should be available to all stakeholder groups, such that informed decision making can be supported across the entire catchment-marine-coastal continuum. It has been noted, both internationally and in Australia, that spatial information and related enabling technologies (e.g., geographical information systems -) have much potential to enhance the level of decision support for ICZM practitioners. However, despite much policy innovation regarding ICZM and spatial information infrastructure in Victoria since the early 1990s, stakeholders within the Victorian ICZM program are not yet served by any form of coordinated spatial information provision framework or any capacity-building initiatives vis-a` -vis the application of spatial enabling technologies for ICZM. In this paper, we report the findings of an anonymous online survey (responses n 5 342) administered to all Victorian ICZM stakeholder groups, which aimed to obtain baseline data regarding spatial information and enabling technology use. Survey results show that despite policy development and innovation at state government level, the current deployment of spatial information and its associated stakeholder-focussed decision-support technology does not meet its potential for decision support in bringing ICZM policy to practice. Results indicate that the initiation of targeted capacity-building programs, aimed specifically at increasing the capability of ICZM practitioners regarding the application of spatial information and enabling technologies, should be considered by lead agencies in order to provide an enhanced level of decision support within the Victorian ICZM program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the likely reduction in road trauma associated with the implementation of effective interventions to reduce road trauma among young Australians. Methods: A desktop evaluation was conducted to model the likely reduction in road trauma (deaths and serious injuries resulting in hospitalization) among young people aged 17–24 years residing in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. Potential interventions were identified using a rapid literature review and assigned a score based on evidence of effectiveness and implementation feasibility with the 3 highest scoring interventions included in the modeling. Likely reduction in road trauma was estimated by applying the average risk reduction effect sizes for each intervention to baseline risk (passenger or driver death or serious injury per 100,000 population) of road trauma for young Australians. Point estimates were calculated for the potential number of deaths and serious injuries averted in each state and per 100,000 population, with a one-way sensitivity analysis conducted using uncertainty ranges identified. Results: Peer passenger and night driving restrictions as well as improved vehicle safety measures had the greatest potential to reduce road trauma. Peer passenger restrictions could avert 14 (range: 5–24) and 24 (range: 8–41) hospitalizations per year in Queensland and New South Wales, respectively, and night driving restrictions could avert 17 (range: 7–26), 28 (range: 12–45), and 13 (range: 6–21) hospitalizations annually in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. These interventions reduced fatalities by less than 1 death annually in each state. Improved vehicle safety measures could avert 0–3, 0–4, and 0–3 deaths and 3–91, 4–156, and 2–75 hospitalizations in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria. Conclusions: Key elements of graduated licensing (peer passenger and night driving restrictions) along with vehicle safety interventions offer modest but practically significant reductions in road trauma for young Australians. State governments need to revise current legislation to ensure that these reductions in road trauma can be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article considers the implementation of police hate crime policy. Victoria, a state in Australia, provides a case study of a jurisdiction where police have introduced a Prejudice Motivated Crime Strategy without an animating hate crime offence. The article identifies the organisational, relational and operational challenges and opportunities that arise in the implementation of this strategy. The literature reveals that successfully policing hate crime is impeded where the approach to defining and categorising hate crime is over- or under-inclusive. Over-inclusive approaches focus on community expectations while under-inclusive approaches are oriented towards prosecution. The absence of a legally bounded definition of hate crime in Victoria provides an opportunity to develop an approach that meets public expectations and operational needs of police, thus avoiding the pitfalls of over- or under-inclusive approaches. To realise this opportunity, the article draws upon the results of a research partnership between Victoria Police and a consortium of Australian universities. Synthesising legal standards with community interests, a set of five markers are advanced for frontline officers to negotiate, rather than assume, a common understanding of hate crime and to build police/community trust. The article makes an important contribution to the field by demonstrating that it is possible to advance the implementation of hate crime policy through strategies that are responsive to both legal standards and community expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the representation of housing risk in contemporary Australian policy discourse through a critical analysis of two policy texts from the recent Victorian Coalition government (2010-2014). Drawing on governmentality theory and contemporary debates on neoliberalism, it examines how these policy texts perpetuate a discourse in which 'housing risk' is primarily understood as an issue for individuals to manage, rather than as an issue with predominantly structural roots. It then explores how this particular neoliberal representation of 'housing risk' supports policy solutions that ultimately responsibilise individuals through a narrow focus on education and employment as the pathways to independence in the private housing market. The article argues that this situation is problematic in a context of increasing rates of homelessness and diminished access to affordable housing across Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

How can people and organisations best respond to emergency events that are significantly beyond the boundaries of what they had generally anticipated, expected, prepared for - or even imagined? What forms of organisations are likely to be best able to cope with such events - and what procedures and practices will aid in their ability to do so? Obviously, extreme events - events that are in scope or scale or type beyond the range of our ordinary experience and expectations - by definition will occur only relatively rarely (and very rarely to any given emergency organisation). Nonetheless, when they do occur they tend to be of defining importance to the people and institutions that are thrust into them and that must find their way through them. September 11, 2001 in Manhattan and at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004; Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast of the United States (US) in 2005; major earthquakes like the ones in Pakistan in 2005, Wenchuan in 2008, Haiti in 2010, Chile in 2010, and Christchurch in 2010 - these and other catastrophic events catapult people and response agencies into a new, unfamiliar, and largely unexplored dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital, since Putnam's 1993 work, has captured the imagination of policy-makers the world over, and Australia is no exception. In 2005 the Department of Victorian Communities launched its Actions for Community Strengthening policy statement, which draws heavily on social capital theory. This article explores the theoretical underpinnings of the government's policy and critiques its failure to deal adequately with the causal relationship between social capital and its supposed community benefits. The article then seeks to isolate the missing factors through a look at recent research on volunteerism and argues that the institution of collaborative/interactive governance needs to be underpinned by sound socio-economic reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-1990s Australia embarked on a program of reforms including the introduction of private property rights in water, the allocation of water for the environment, and increased public participation where new initiatives are proposed. Many of the water allocation and management practices adopted in the country have originated from states in the Murray-Darling Basin. This article considers the different approaches taken in NSW, Queensland, and Victoria. In each of these states, public participation has been an evolving process, giving rise to difficulties of a slightly different nature. The article outlines the policy and theory behind public participation and sets out the legal provisions for its inclusion in water planning. It explores the main issues in the implementation of the legislation. The Australian experience suggests that policy makers and legislators did not initially draw upon the extensive research that was in existence on effective public participation. However, changes were made to make the processes more inclusive. Capacity building of participants, independent scientific support, and access to data were some of the most critical factors in effective public participation. Because the public had the opportunity to participate and influence decision making in water allocation, some potential legal conflict was avoided. Of the states examined, Queensland had the best legislative template for public participation although improvements could be made in many areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]