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In 1915, the Hon Sir Owen Dixon was sworn in as Chief Justice of Australia. On that occasion he said: "It may be that the court is thought to be excessively legalistic. I should be sorry to think that it is anything else. There is no safer guide to judicial decisions in great conflicts than a strict and complete legalism." In response, this paper argues that judges do not adhere to the Hon Sir Dixon's view that strict legalism is the safest guide for judges. The paper avers that judicial activism is currently the norm and there is no room for complete legalism in the modern state's judiciary. The paper explains the reasons behind the current drift from Hon Sir Dixon's view. Then, it demonstrates the current situation of judicial activism as the norm in the judicial practice, and lastly justifies the absence of a place for complete legalism in the modern state's judiciary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aravind Adiga is one of the contemporary authors who has engraved his name in Indian Writing in English by winning the celebrated Booker Prize for his debut novel, The White Tiger. He has studied in universities abroad and later emigrated to Australia. This journey of Adiga in the alien land enabled him to accumulate experience, which is reflected in his writing. His novel Amnesty is set in Australia. It registers the happenings of a day in the life of the protagonist. This paper examines how in the novel Adiga explores immigration and cultural and identical crises, which are the outcomes of the process of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deploys the Johansen cointegration approach to investigate the presence of a long-run broad money demand relationship in Australia, using annual data for the period 1970-2008. The empirical results suggest the presence of a long-run relationship between real broad money balances, real output, the yield on Australian Government long-term bonds, yield on the US Government Treasury bills and the nominal effective exchange rate of the Australian dollar. Although the coefficients on these variables bear their expected signs, only the coefficients on real output and the yield on Australian Government long-term bonds are found statistically significant over multiple subsample periods. The stability test results suggest that the broad money demand relationship was unstable during the early 1990s but has gained stability since then. The paper also draws implications of the findings on the design and conduct of monetary policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the expansion of the British empire in the 18th century and the establishment of new colonies overseas, the indigenous individuals and their rights constituted a hot topic for the judges and the Common law legal system specialists. The core of this topic was the dilemma of what status indigenous laws and their pre-existing rights should have. Indeed, the indigenous rights became very critical when the indigenous people went to the courts of the Common law itself to seek the help they wanted. In 1992, Mabo case in the Australian High Court was a tremendous event regarding the indigenous rights issue, and there were two main judicial approaches to rule in that case. Brennan J was the father of the first approach, and Dawson J was the father of the other. The author, in this paper, argues that Brennan J's approach is flexible and consistent with the global context, and pays the required attention to the humanitarian aspect of the law. Additionally, Dawson J's approach is rigid and dehumanizing, and restrictively vests the legitimacy only in the Common law principles themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian local government has been undergoing extensive change over the past two decades and one aspect of this change is heightened concern by state government policymakers over the efficiency of local councils. A consequence of this concern has been the implementation of performance measurement systems in the different local government jurisdictions. Accordingly, this paper considers the efficacy of performance appraisal in Australian local government. After a discussion of measurement in Australian local government it assesses national performance indicators, state-based performance indicators, and process benchmarking. The paper concludes by evaluating the efficacy of local government performance measurement in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of natural fat in sheep's skin varies significantly, and this depends upon the animal origin, sex, age, etc. In wool acquired from sheep's skin from Australia and New Zealand, this content can account for up to 50% of dry skin weight. Fats are triglycerides of saturated fatty acids. These fats can cause complications in the presence of excessive natural fat, rancidification and oxidation; due to tanning, dyeing and finishing operations become tedious. The defects reveal themselves in the form of spume and objectionable odor in leather. If the natural fat content in the raw material is high, as is usually the case with sheep's skin, it must be removed. The process of fat or grease removal is called degreasing which is best carried out after pickling process. Fat dissolving solvents such as kerosene, methylene chloride, and trichloroethylene are employed for degreasing. Since these solvents are water insoluble, they cannot be effectively used for degreasing wet pelts. These solvents are therefore used along with emulsifiers (preferably non-ionic), which disperse the solvent in water, thus facilitating its entry inside the pelt. This paper attempts to study the degreasing action of secondary butyl ether and formulation (solvent and emulsifier) in comparison with a commercial product which is the global market leader in leather degreasing segment. This experimental study shows that an improved degreasing action was achieved with the formulation comparable to the commercial degreasing agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic destruction of the traditional culture of aborigines in Australia and the acute suffering they were subjected to have been scarcely portrayed in Australian literature until the 1960s. Kelvin Gilbert attempts to present their plight in his play, The Cherry Pickers, which poignantly presents the suffering of the natives, but it also suggests that the natives adopt a posture of reconciliation. There occurs in due course a process of assimilation, as both the native and the invader eventually come to understand one another. The natives, this paper shows, become white in everything except the color of their skin. The play impresses the reader with its irony and ribald humor and the rich slew of creation, myths, tribal rituals and political oratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian local government has been subjected to vigorous reform by State Governments for more than a decade, with the most recent reform episode presently under way in Queensland under the Size, Shape and Sustainability programme. Reform has typically focused on enhancing the operational efficiency of local government, with scant consideration accorded to local democracy. Accordingly, this paper examines the role of community engagement in local government reform in Queensland, both as a means of retaining the vibrancy of local democracy and as a method of improving the efficacy of reform itself by drawing upon local knowledge through engagement with local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian local government has been subjected to comprehensive programs of reform aimed at enhancing efficiency. Partial performance indicators of municipal efficiency have been determined for specific local government services in various states. This paper seeks to add to this literature by employing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to provide holistic measures of allocative and productive efficiency in New South Wales (NSW) wastewater services using 2001 data. It is the first Australian attempt to incorporate service quality measures into efficiency indices. The results allow for the identification of 'best-practice' councils and an examination of the various factors underlying wastewater service efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual Property (IP) rights is a summative term covering inter alia copyright, patents, trademark, trade secrets, etc. It subsists so that its maker can be guaranteed uniqueness of the work and avoid piracy or replication. Some of such IP rights exist prima facie, while others need to be registered. To assure that any work is not duplicated or exploited without consent is the essential thought behind IP laws which would warrant delivering its makers and creators the monetary worth of their work (termed as 'royalties'). Today, the copyright law not only secures the copyright proprietor's privileges and other neighboring rights but also manages public interest of the work and aims at striking a balance between both, in this technological environment. In this way, the copyright law secures a long adventure today, in contrast to those days when only scholarly and artistic works were included. Doing so, it has entered a world which is laden with mechanical advancements. Hence, talking about the present scenario of copyright laws, the only concern is tracing the infringers and enforcing laws on such infringement on the author's rights. The author tries to put forth the information entailing copyright laws, particularly of Australia, UK and the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to demonstrate the evolution of performance auditing in Australia. The previous studies relating to the development of performance auditing (e.g., Porter, 1981; McCrae and Vada, 1997; Funnel and Cooper, 1998; Guthrie and Parker, 1999; and Wanna, et al., 2001) have used time frame to describe the development of performance auditing in Australia. However, the present study argues that the development of performance auditing in Australia has not been influenced by time, rather it has been influenced by the demand for performance auditing by the government, policy makers, managements, and the users of the information of the government entities. The development of performance auditing in the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) was mainly forced by the changes in government functions, policies, and accountability to the people, such as New Public Management, evaluation of economy, efficient use of government resources, and effectiveness of government programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]