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This paper considers whether pricing algorithms present novel issues that existing merger control frameworks and practices are inadequate to address, particularly in relation to pre-merger disclosure of pricing algorithms and the suitability of current tests and remedies for addressing coordinated effects. Through a comparative and critical analysis of the merger control regimes and practices of the European Union, United Kingdom, and Australia, this paper finds that whilst such regimes and practices are broadly adequate for dealing with algorithmic transactions, there are nonetheless potential areas for improvement. Disclosure of a pricing algorithm may contravene prohibitions on the sharing of competitively sensitive information. As such, merger parties may need to rethink aspects of their usual due diligence procedures. Pricing algorithms may also increase the potential for coordinated effects to arise in some markets that would ordinarily have been considered too complex, asymmetric, opaque, or insufficiently concentrated for tacit coordination to occur, or be used to retaliate more effectively against deviations from a coordinated equilibrium, or to raise the height of barriers to entry. Competition authorities may therefore need to amend their standard approach to investigating and assessing coordinated effects, as well as their traditional approach to remedies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As has always been the case, the UK Parliament and the Australian parliaments have much to learn from each other. This paper discusses developments in legislative scrutiny in the UK and in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer trust in the modern food system is essential given its complexity. Contexts vary across countries with regard to food incidents, regulation and systems. It is therefore of interest to compare how key actors in different countries might approach (re)building consumer trust in the food system; and particularly relevant to understanding how food systems in different regions might learn from one another. The purpose of this paper is to explore differences between strategies for (re)building trust in food systems, as identified in two separate empirical studies, one conducted in Australia, New Zealand and the UK (Study 1) and another on the Island of Ireland (Study 2). Interviews were conducted with media, food industry and food regulatory actors across the two studies (n  = 105 Study 1; n  = 50 Study 2). Data were coded into strategy statements, strategies describing actions to (re)build consumer trust. Strategy statements were compared between Studies 1 and 2 and similarities and differences were noted. The strategy statements identified in Study 1 to (re)build consumer trust in the food system were shown to be applicable in Study 2, however, there were notable differences in the contextual factors that shaped the means by which strategies were implemented. As such, the transfer of such approaches across regions is not an appropriate means to addressing breaches in consumer trust. Notwithstanding, our data suggest that there is still capacity to learn between countries when considering strategies for (re)building trust in the food system but caution must be exercised in the transfer of approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As employment law changes and develops, in sometimes surprising ways, this paper considers the possibility that employment law may not be keeping pace with the diversity of working patterns and practices which have rapidly evolved in the past few decades. It therefore poses the question whether labour law needs to change direction to accommodate the work and workers of the twenty-first century. It firstly makes and details the point, against a statistical base, that significant change in the labour market is nothing new, but then turns to the identification of quite radical recent and continuing changes, and goes on to ask whether they demand a changing law. It presents four cases to illustrate where the law appears to fall short, expressing unease that a discriminatory wrong can be done without the law being able to address it, and highlights different ways in which the law of contract may not provide an appropriate model to deal with today's problems. The possibility is canvassed that if the expression 'arrangement' were used in place of the contractual model, the concentration might then be on industrial realities rather than legal niceties. In conclusion, it is emphasised that the answers are ones of policy which are critically dependent upon the guiding political philosophy of the time. (The paper was delivered as a lecture as a general election approached.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Quality of life is included in the economic evaluation of health services by measuring the preference for health states, i.e. health state utilities. However, most intervention studies include a disease-specific, not a utility, instrument. Consequently, there has been increasing use of statistical mapping algorithms which permit utilities to be estimated from a disease-specific instrument. The present paper provides such algorithms between the MacNew Heart Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire (MacNew) instrument and six multi-attribute utility (MAU) instruments, the Euroqol (EQ-5D), the Short Form 6D (SF-6D), the Health Utilities Index (HUI) 3, the Quality of Wellbeing (QWB), the 15D (15 Dimension) and the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL-8D). Methods: Heart disease patients and members of the healthy public were recruited from six countries. Non-parametric rank tests were used to compare subgroup utilities and MacNew scores. Mapping algorithms were estimated using three separate statistical techniques. Results: Mapping algorithms achieved a high degree of precision. Based on the mean absolute error and the intra class correlation the preferred mapping is MacNew into SF-6D or 15D. Using the R squared statistic the preferred mapping is MacNew into AQoL-8D. Implications for research: The algorithms reported in this paper enable MacNew data to be mapped into utilities predicted from any of six instruments. This permits studies which have included the MacNew to be used in cost utility analyses which, in turn, allows the comparison of services with interventions across the health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international tax system is targeted by a diverse range of networked civil society actors, from critical professionals mobilizing their expertise to anti-austerity protestors targeting the consequences of tax dodging. The years following the 2008 financial crisis saw an increase in the range of these actors and their cooperation with one another. This paper argues that a transnational field analysis complements existing expertise-oriented approaches, by identifying the overarching objective of the tax justice agenda as increasing heteronomy in the international taxation field relative to political fields. This objective requires the mobilization of diverse resources across different fields, resulting in network relationships crossing field boundaries to contest inter-field relations, rather than any single bounded field struggle. The findings are supported by an analysis of tax justice advocacy after the 2008 financial crisis in the United Kingdom and Australia, including thirty-seven in-depth interviews with different organizations involved in the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Joint geriatric/psychiatric wards are a potential solution to improving care of older patients with both psychiatric and medical illnesses in acute hospitals. A literature search using Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and CINAHL between 1980 and 2010 was carried out for information about joint wards for older people. Thirteen relevant papers were identified. These wards share common characteristics and there is evidence that they may reduce length of stay and be cost-effective, but there are no high-quality randomised controlled trials. Further research is needed, particularly regarding cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of quantitative performance measures to assess the quality of university research is being introduced in Australia and the UK. This paper presents the case for maintaining a balanced approach. It argues that 'metrics' have their place, and can make the process more efficient and cost-effective, but that peer review must be retained as a central element in any research assessment exercise. The role of metrics is as 'a trigger to the recognition of anomalies', rather than as a straight replacement for peer review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial changes to mental health law and policy have occurred throughout the Western world during the last decade. The drift towards control, particularly in the form of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), has profound implications for the role of mental health social workers, yet this issue is rarely discussed in academic literature. This paper seeks to redress this gap in knowledge by examining aspects of law, policy and practice using three case studies: Victoria, Australia; Ontario, Canada; and regions of the UK. The paper begins by critically reviewing selected literature on CTOs, revealing competing claims about efficacy and their impact upon service users and practitioners. A discussion of policy and practice contexts in the three jurisdictions is then presented and supported with a typology, to illustrate contrasts and comparisons. In their conclusions, the authors assert that mental health social workers often have a crucial part to play in the implementation of CTOs but that this is not always acknowledged in law and organizational policy. Social workers' roles and responsibilities need to be more explicitly identified in mental health law. At the same time, there should be a continuing debate about how such coercive powers fit with codes of ethics and practice standards, at national and international levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we compare gender differences in the allocation of time to market work, domestic work, child care, and leisure over the life cycle. Time-use profiles for these activity categories are constructed on survey data for three countries: Australia, the UK, and Germany. We discuss the extent to which gender differences and life-cycle variation in time use can be explained by public policy, focusing on the tax treatment of the female partner and on access to high-quality, affordable child care. Profiles of time use, earnings, and taxes are compared over the life cycle defined on age as well as on phases that represent the key transitions in the life cycle of a typical household. Our contention is that, given the decision to have children, life-cycle time use and consumption decisions of households are determined by them and by public policy. Before children arrive, the adult members of the household have high labour supplies and plenty of leisure. The presence of pre-school children, in combination with the tax treatment of the second earner's income and the cost of bought-in child care, dramatically change the pattern of time use, leading to large falls in female labour supply. We also highlight the fact that, in the three countries we study, female labour supply exhibits a very high degree of heterogeneity after the arrival of children, and we show that this has important implications for public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single parents are increasingly a target group for "activation" through new obligations to seek paid work or engage in education or training. Researchers commonly characterize new activation policies in terms of epochal shifts or unidirectional movements away from understanding single parents as "carers" or "mothers". This characterization downplays the degree to which the postwar welfare state viewed single parents as potential workers and the degree to which contemporary reforms view them as carers. Based on historical research and drawing on Foucault's concept of problematization and research on neoliberal governmentalities, pre-emptive politics and anticipatory modes of power, this article seeks to extend existing characterizations of activation policies for single parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents new evidence both of the degree and the sources of resistance to any attempts to challenge statutory intervention and government spending in the area of social policy. The data come from the 1985-86 and 1990 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) role of government surveys. The focus is on those countries from which the assumptions are normally derived. The 1985-86 ISSP survey included six countries, all of which form part of this group. However, Austria did not participate in 1990. Although the 1990 survey included a number of additional countries, only Norway is suitable for the purposes, as well as having the full range of data available. The 1990 sample of countries is thus Australia, the United States, the Great Britain, West Germany and Italy, all of which were also surveyed in 1985, plus Norway. Whereas the analysis of the 1985 data lacked a social democratic Scandinavian country with a highly decommodified structure, the 1990 sample compensates for this with the inclusion of Norway. Still, much of the analysis in this paper concentrates on assessing change between 1985 and 1990 and on how far the results of the 1990 survey confirm or lead us to question the earlier findings.

The objective of this paper is to present a legal theory of agency selection. The theory posits why certain legal forms of agency are chosen when agencies are created by the executive branch of government. At the core of the theory is the idea that the executive branch chooses agency forms that strike a politically optimal balance between maximising its control while minimising its legal and political accountability for agency activities. This optimal balance is determined on an issue by issue basis. As such, the rise of the regulatory state has provided a means by which the executive branch of government has been able to strategically choose to divest itself of and minimise its legal accountability for the administration of government while, at the same time, maintaining effective political control of the administrative arm of government. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social investment does not yet appear to have entered the social work lexicon yet reflects a shift toward early intervention and prevention and policies relating to early childhood education and care across the world. Recently, the prime minister of Australia announced new measures relating to childcare to ease the burden on working families and ensure high-standard care for pre-school children. Also announced was a mental health check to be administered by general practitioners for children as young as three years old. This change in social policy follows closely on the heels of the backlash against ameliorative welfare and move toward the preventive end of the social care spectrum. This paper examines developments leading to the social investment approach. It begins by defining social investment and providing an overview of key theorists contributing to our understanding of what ‘social investment is investing in’ and ends with a discussion of its implications for social work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Between 1952 and 1957, the UK exploded a total of 12 nuclear devices in Australia, and also conducted about 600 ‘minor trials’ that did not involve a nuclear explosion. Over 16 000 Australian servicemen and civilians were involved in the UK tests in Australia. This paper reports the estimation of doses that the Australian participants received as a result of their involvement. Both the external and internal exposure pathways were considered. Most participants received very small doses: 79 % of all participants received <1 mSv, and less than 4 % received >20 mSv, the current internationally recommended annual dose limit to workers. The largest dose recorded was 133 mSv, received by aircrew conducting sampling in the nuclear cloud soon after detonation. Most doses >20 mSv were received by groups who entered the near vicinity of the explosions or fallout contaminated areas to collect samples or instruments soon after a detonation. Internal doses were a very small component of the total dose during the first few months after detonation, but thereafter inhalation became an increasingly important pathway due to the presence of unburnt nuclear fuel in fallout. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The field of men's health has grown markedly over the past few decades. Increased activity specifically relating to men's health promotion in both Australia and the UK has been noted during this period. There has, however, been a reticence to critically examine men's health promotion work within a broader discourse relating to gender and gender relations. Indeed, the vast majority of health-related gender discussion to date has been focused on women's health experiences and their health practices. In this paper, we argue that grounding men's health within this broad gender discourse is important for building an evidence base in, and advancing, men's health promotion work at a range of levels. We specifically explore the research, practice and policy contexts relating to men's health in Australia and the UK, and describe the facilitators for, and barriers to, promoting men's health. We conclude by suggesting that a critical gender lens ought to be applied to current men's health promotion work and provide strategies for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to move towards this new frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education has undergone considerable expansion in recent decades in a number of OECD countries. Expansion has been especially dramatic in the UK where aggregate student numbers have doubled in 20 years. However, over the same period, funding per student has halved in real terms. In the UK as well as in other countries, most notably Australia, innovation to diversify the funding base has taken place. This has included a limited role for fee contributions. This paper makes the case for much greater reliance on fee contributions from students, accompanied by a greater availability of income contingent loans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia and the UK share many historic connections. These connections have influenced developments in welfare systems, and the bi-directional migration of social work practitioners between Australia and the UK has helped to support the sharing of knowledge in social work education, research and practice. However, developments in practice research in both countries has largely been influenced by local activity rather than cross-national collaboration, though there have been similar growth trajectories. This article uses a comparative case study methodology to analyse the development of practice research in Australia and the UK since the Salisbury Statement on social work practice research. Each case study explores and provides examples of the nature of the relationship between practitioners and academic researchers; how practice questions are generated; how methodologies are selected; how data are collected within social work practice and the impact of practice research on practice in both countries. The comparative analysis provides a unique insight into how local, and often small, projects provide a more significant narrative about the creation of knowledge in social work practice. These insights have the potential to inform and stimulate the development of practice research in other countries which are earlier in the journey towards practice-driven research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from the International Social Survey Program indicate considerable variation in the desire of respondents for increased spending on the environment in Australia, Austria, Great Britain, the United States, and West Germany. This paper explores this variation with the following objectives: (1) to determine the extent to which the social bases of environmental concern are consistent across nations; (2) to determine how the issue of the environmental has been politicized in the five industrialized nations, focusing on the association of Old Leftist concerns and environmental concern; and (3) to determine the extent to which the social bases of environmental concern can explain the cross-national variation. The study uses a regression analysis, testing variables representing the social bases of environmental concern from past research in the United States, a scale representing commitment to the platform of the Old Left, and dummy variables for each country. The results show that the social bases of environmental concern are the same in the five countries studied, including a consistent positive association of Old Leftism with environmental concern. However, substantial variation between countries in the overall level of concern remains. Potential sources of the remaining variation are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the problems of measurement of progressivity in taxation and public expenditure. The problem has attracted the attention of several writers. Among the important contributions to this field are those of Dalton (1955), Slitor (1948), Musgrave and Thin (1948) and Bracewell-Milnes (1971). The major weakness of the existing literature is that it does not distinguish between the effects of changes in average tax rates and in progressivity on the distribution of income. One of the aims of this paper is to show how the distributional effect of taxation is influenced by changes in the average tax rate while progressivity is held constant and vice versa. Further the method enables one to study the contribution of individual taxes and expenditure items to the overall progressivity of the fiscal system of taxation and public expenditure. Finally, the methods developed are applied to the empirical investigation of fiscal operations in four developed countries -- Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. In this paper a new measure of tax progressivity has been introduced. This measure helps to distinguish between different effects of taxation on income distribution. In particular, it has helped to show clearly that the reduction in income distribution resulting from taxation depends not only on the degree of tax progressivity, as is commonly believed, but also on average tax rate. We have also analysed the effects of various taxes and items of public expenditure at different levels of Government. This empirical analysis has been done for four developed countries, namely Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. It would be interesting for future research to extend the empirical analysis to other developed and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For several years, Australia has been regarded by some politicians and observers in Europe as a model for hard-line policies towards refugees. At the same time, Australia's implementation of refugee externalization measures has been subject to considerable scholarly attention and critique. Although the Australian approach has featured prominently in political debates in several European states, this article analyses the implications of a possible adoption of the Australian offshore detention approach for refugee policy-making in the UK, and the consequences this will have for the integrity of the international refugee protection regime. The article considers how states might influence each other's policies—both directly and indirectly—by focusing on a case study of offshore detention and processing with regard to Australia's influence on—and similarity to—the UK, to the extent that we observe policy parallels, as the article brings to light substantial policy convergence of detrimental practice of these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has created immense challenges for governments in their management of the public health response and tested the limits of public law. This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the common law jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. It discusses the imposition of 'stay at home' restrictions pursuant to public health legislative frameworks, focusing on judicial scrutiny in the context of statutory interpretation. It examines the appellate cases of R (Dolan) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2021] 1 WLR 2326, Borrowdale v Director-General of Health [2022] 2 NZLR 356, and Kassam v Hazzard (2021) 106 NSWLR 520. Using these case studies, this article seeks to reveal key themes and implications for public law. What approaches have the courts adopted to construe public health emergency powers? How have the courts treated 'rights-based' principles of statutory interpretation? Have the courts approached interpretation in the usual manner or displayed an unorthodox level of deference to other branches of government? The article concludes on what implications the judicial approaches have for the interpretation of emergency powers in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the approach used to assess the performance of a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and principal component regression (PCR) chemometric method when measuring respirable quartz, kaolinite, and coal in samples from a variety of mines from different countries; relative to target assigned values determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). For comparison, FTIR results using the partial least squares regression (PLSR) method are also available. Bulk dusts from 10 Australian mines were scanned using XRD and grouped into three sets based on the levels of quartz, kaolinite, and feldspar within their crystalline mineral composition. Prediction samples were generated from 5 of these Australian mine dusts, Durrans coal dust, 2 mine dusts from the UK, and a single South African mine dust (71 samples in total) by collecting the aerosolized respirable dust onto 25-mm diameter polyvinylchloride filters using the Safety in Mines Personal Dust Sampler (SIMPEDS) operating at 2.2 l min−1. The predicted values from the FTIR chemometric methods were compared with assigned target values determined using a direct on-aerosol filter XRD analysis method described in Method for the Determination of Hazardous Substances (MDHS) 101. Limits of detection (LOD) and uncertainty values for each analyte were calculated from a linear regression between target and predicted values. The uncertainty was determined using the calibration uncertainty equation for an unweighted regression. FTIR results from PCR and PLSR are very similar. For the PCR method, the LOD for quartz, kaolinite, and coal were 5, 25, and 71 µg, respectively. For quartz, an LOD of 5 µg corresponds to an airborne quartz concentration of 10 µg m−3, assuming a 4-h sampling time and collection flow rate of 2.2 l min−1. The FTIR measurement met the expected performance criteria outlined in ISO 20581 when sampling quartz for more than 4 h using a flow rate of 2.2 l min−1 at a concentration of 0.1 mg m−3 (100 µg m−3), the current workplace exposure limit in Great Britain. This method met the same performance criteria when measuring exposures at the Australian Workplace Exposure Standard (WES) concentration of 0.05 mg m−3, although in this case a sampling period greater than 8 h was needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unaccompanied children seeking international protection often find themselves with forms of discretionary, time-limited, or otherwise uncertain legal status in countries outside their own. This may be due to the available options for legal status or to long delays in determination of protection claims, among other factors. While the legal and policy reasons for this vary, of particular concern is the imposition of such uncertainty to discourage children from persisting with protection claims, to deter others from arriving, to delay status resolution until adulthood, or to facilitate removal. Children possessing a legal status that is insecure or uncertain may be described as being in 'legal limbo'. This article explores this issue and examines the often deleterious consequences of limbo for unaccompanied children. Through an analysis and comparison of Australia and the United Kingdom, it explains 'legal limbo' as a function of States' desire to deter, control, and punish irregular migration. This article argues that an approach based on rights, as opposed to migration control, must guide the availability of secure legal status to unaccompanied children. To this end, it articulates the basis of an obligation to provide these children such status, drawing on their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the commentary of treaty bodies. The article concludes by calling for better pathways to permanent stay for unaccompanied children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea for this special issue arose from observing contrary developments in the design of national research assessment schemes in the UK and Australia during 2006 and 2007. Alternative pathways were being forged, determined, on the one hand, by the perceived relative merits of 'metrics' (quantitative measures of research performance) and peer judgement and, on the other hand, by the value attached to scientific excellence ('quality') versus usefulness ('impact'). This special issue presents a broad range of provocative academic opinion on preferred future pathways for science policy and research assessment. It unpacks the apparent dichotomies of metrics vs peer review and quality vs impact, and considers the hazards of adopting research evaluation policies in isolation from wider developments in scientometrics (the science of research evaluation) and divorced from the practical experience of other nations (policy learning). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Against a background of declining blood donor numbers, recruiting new donors is critical for the effective operations of healthcare providers. Thus, interventions are needed to recruit new blood donors.Purpose: We provide initial evidence for Voluntary Reciprocal Altruism (VRA) to enhance nondonors' willingness to become blood donors. VRA interventions involve asking two questions: one on accepting a blood transfusion if needed and one on willingness to donate. As early trials often use self-reports of willingness to perform blood donation behavior, we derive a correction factor to better estimate actual behavior. Finally, we explore the effect of VRA interventions on two prosocial emotions: gratitude and guilt.Methods: Across three experiments (two in the UK and one in Australia: Total N = 1,208 nondonors) we manipulate VRA messages and explore how they affect both reported willingness to make a one-off or repeat blood donation and influence click through to blood donation, organ donation and volunteering registration sites (behavioral proxies). We report data from a longitudinal cohort (N = 809) that enables us to derive a correction for self-reported behavioral willingness.Results: Across the three experiments, we show that exposure to a question that asks about accepting a transfusion if needed increased willingness to donate blood with some spillover to organ donor registration. We also show that gratitude has an independent effect on donation and report a behavioral correction factor of .10.Conclusions: Asking nondonors about accepting a transfusion if needed is likely to be an effective strategy to increase new donor numbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives GCA is a large vessel vasculitis (LVV) presenting with headache, jaw claudication, musculoskeletal and visual involvement. Current treatment is glucocorticoids and anti-IL-6 tocilizumab in refractory disease. The objective of this study was to explore the impact of GCA and its treatment on people's health-related quality of life (HRQoL), to inform the development of a disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for use in clinical trials and practice. Methods Participants from the UK and Australia, with biopsy- or imaging-confirmed GCA, were interviewed to identify salient aspects of HRQoL in relation to GCA and its treatment. Purposive sampling included a range of demographic and disease features (cranial, LVV-GCA and visual involvement). Inductive analysis identified individual themes of importance, then domains. Candidate questionnaire items were developed from the individual themes, refined by piloting, cognitive interviews and a linguistic translatability assessment. Results Thirty-six interviews were conducted to saturation with participants with GCA from the UK (25) and Australia (11). Mean age was 74 years, 23 (63.9%) were female, 13 (36.1%) had visual loss and 5 (13.9%) had LVV-GCA. Thirty-nine individual themes within five domains were identified: physical symptoms; activity of daily living and function; participation; psychological impact; and impact on sense of self and perception of health. Sixty-nine candidate items were developed from individual themes; piloting and refinement resulted in a 40-item draft questionnaire. Conclusion This international qualitative study underpins the development of candidate items for a disease-specific PROM for GCA. The draft questionnaire is now ready for psychometric testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the parliamentarisation of security through four decades of committee activity in the UK and Australia. Security governance has expanded since the Cold War from defence and secret intelligence to an array of problematisations that could arise in almost any policy area. This has driven parliamentary activity, with the effect that a much wider range of committees have done substantive work on security issues. The UK and Australia display similar levels of security parliamentarisation but of a different character due to differences in executive/legislative relations, party discipline, parliamentary rules and geopolitical circumstance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact globally, with older people living in aged care homes suffering high death rates.Objectives: We aimed to compare the impact of initial government policies on this vulnerable older population between the UK and Australia during the first wave of attack.Methods: We searched websites of governments in the UK and Australia and media outlets. We examined the key policies including the national lockdown dates and the distribution of some important resources (personal protective equipment and testing) and the effects of these initial policies on the mortality rates in the aged care homes during the first wave of attack of COVID-19.Results: We found that both countries had prioritized resources to hospitals over aged care homes during the first wave of attack. Both countries had lower priority for aged care residents in hospitals (e.g. discharging without testing for COVID-19 or discouraging admissions). However, deaths in aged care homes were 270 times higher in the UK than in Australia as on 7 May 2020 (despite UK having a population only 2.5 times larger than Australia). The lower fatality rate in Australia may have been due to the earlier lockdown strategy when the total daily cases were low in Australia (118) compared to the UK (over 1000), as well as the better community viral testing regime in Australia.Conclusion: In conclusion, the public health policy in Australia aimed towards earlier intervention with earlier national lockdown and more viral testing to prevent new cases. This primary prevention could have resulted in more lives being saved. In contrast, the initial policy in the UK focussed mainly on protecting resources for hospitals, and there was a delay in national lockdown intervention and lower viral testing rate, resulting in more lives lost in the aged care sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: Background The desire for evidence-based health policy and practice is well established. Routine population-based health information systems play a fundamental role to inform policy decisions and to evaluate their effectiveness. : Methods This paper presents three case studies of using population-based data in national health policy from three countries—USA (prescription drug safety), Australia (childhood immunization) and UK (hospital waiting times)—which were chosen to represent a diversity of health policy issues. The utilization of population-based databases and the social and political context in which the data were used are examined. Our goal was to summarize general lessons learned for policy decision-makers and other users and developers of population-based databases. : Results Key lessons presented include: the importance of political will in initiating and sustaining data collection and analysis at a national level; the types of decision-making factors databases can address; and how the data were integrated into the decision-making process. : Conclusion Population-based routine data provide an important piece of the mosaic of evidence for health policy decision makers. They can be used to assess the magnitude of the health problem, including which populations are most vulnerable; to develop policy goals; and to track and evaluate the effectiveness of health policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the experience and influence of place amongst transnational social workers. The concept of 'place' may be perceived as quietly existing in the background of everyday social work practice. Yet, transnational social workers in this study tell a different story about what happens to the role of place when social workers become globally mobile. The social work profession is embedded in place; qualifications and applications of social work are located within local and national context. Professional migration inevitably entails being separated from the construction of social work as it was known in the country of origin, which leads to an intersection between the context of social work, the role of place and redefining a professional home in an unfamiliar practice environment. This qualitative study explored the role of place for thirteen transnational social workers who relocated from the UK and Ireland to practice in Australia's child protection system. Participants were interviewed twice over a three-year period to allow a deep understanding of the role of place and experience of 'self' over time. Findings highlight place-related change as a multidimensional experience that has a profound impact on transnational social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals do not become immune to the risks of violence and abuse as they age, and older adults—particularly older women—face intersectional stigma: the compounding of social prejudice and assumptions that draw on a range of factors, such as age, gender and sexuality. These biases influence perfections of risk, the relative invisibility of older women in the fields of elder abuse, intimate-partner and sexual violence, and a lack of recognition of older survivors’ needs among professionals in positions to help. Given that older women face attitudinal and practical barriers to services, social workers must comprehend the impact of both ageism and gender disparities on older survivors of intimate-partner and sexual violence. We offer recommendations to bridge the gaps between service providers’ assumptions about older women in crisis and the support survivors actually need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a best practice model that can be utilized by food system actors to assist with (re) building trust in the food system, before, during and after a food incident defined as 'any situation within the food supply chain where there is a risk or potential risk of illness or confirmed illness or injury associated with the consumption of a food or foods' (Commonwealth of Australia. National Food Incident Response Protocol. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2012). Interviews were undertaken with 105 actors working within the media, food industry and food regulatory settings across Australia, New Zealand (NZ) and the United Kingdom(UK). Interview data produced strategy statements, which indicated participant views on how to (re)build consumer trust in the food system. These included: (i) be transparent, (ii) have protocols and procedures in place, (iii) be credible, (iv) be proactive, (v) put consumers first, (vi) collaborate with stakeholders, (vii) be consistent, (viii) educate stakeholders and consumers, (ix) build your reputation and (x) keep your promises. A survey was designed to enable participants to indicate their agreement/disagreement with the ideas, rate their importance and provide further comment. The five strategies considered key to (re)building consumer trust were used to develop a model demonstrating best practice strategies for (re)building consumer trust in the food system before, during and after a food incident. In a world where the food system is increasingly complex, strategies for (re)building and fostering consumer trust are important. This study offers a model to do so which is derived from the views and experiences of actors working across the food industry, food regulation and the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer survival in the UK and Denmark are lower when compared with similar countries with late diagnosis a possible cause. We aimed to study the relationship between barriers to attending a primary care physician (GP) and anticipated time to help seeking (ATHS) with four cancer symptoms in six countries. Methods: A population-based survey measuring cancer awareness and beliefs conducted within the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and UK. Data were collected on perceived barriers to GP consultation (including embarrassment, worry about wasting the doctors' time, fear about what the doctor might find and being too busy) and ATHS for persistent cough, abdominal swelling, rectal bleeding and breast changes. Relationships between perceived barriers and ATHS were investigated using multivariable analysis. Results: Among 19079 respondents, higher perceived barrier scores were associated with longer ATHS intervals for all symptoms studied (P<0.01) responders with the highest barrier scores (>10.84) had between two and three times the odds of longer ATHS. ATHS was low in Australia for all symptoms and highest in Denmark for abdominal bloating. Conclusions: Perceived barriers to help-seeking have a role in delaying GP presentation. Early diagnosis campaigns should address emotional and practical barriers that reduce early presentation with potential cancer symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Binge drinking is associated with deleterious health, social and economic outcomes. This study explored the lay understanding of the causes of binge drinking in members of the general public in the United Kingdom and Australia. Participants in the United Kingdom (N = 133) and Australia (N = 102) completed a network diagram exercise requiring them to draw causal paths and provide path strength ratings between 12 candidate factors (24-h opening, age, alcohol advertizing, alcohol availability, boredom, drinking culture, income, low cost, parental influence, peer pressure, stress and supermarket discounts) and binge drinking. Results indicated good consistency in paths across samples, although differences in frequency and strength ratings for some paths were found. Drinking culture, peer pressure and low alcohol cost were perceived as direct causes of binge drinking in both samples. Low alcohol cost and drinking culture weremost frequently viewed as direct causes of binge drinking in UK and Australian participants, respectively. Supermarket discounts and low cost of alcohol were most frequently viewed as indirect causes of binge drinking by UK and Australian samples. Findings reflect general awareness and prominence of factors affecting binge drinking in both national groups. Findings may inform the development of campaigns to promote public support policies to curb binge drinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When investigating the association between brain tumors and use of mobile telephones, accurate data on tumor position are essential, due to the highly localized absorption of energy in the human brain from the radio-frequency fields emitted. We used a point process model to investigate this association using information that included tumor localization data from the INTERPHONE Study (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom). Our main analysis included 792 regular mobile phone users diagnosed with a glioma between 2000 and 2004. Similar to earlier results, we found a statistically significant association between the intracranial distribution of gliomas and the self-reported location of the phone. When we accounted for the preferred side of the head not being exclusively used for all mobile phone calls, the results were similar. The association was independent of the cumulative call time and cumulative number of calls. However, our model used reported side of mobile phone use, which is potentially influenced by recall bias. The point process method provides an alternative to previously used epidemiologic research designs when one is including localization in the investigation of brain tumors and mobile phone use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To conduct a systematic review of studies exploring the relationship between exposure to Internet-based alcohol-related content and alcohol use among young people. Methods: Searches of electronic databases and reference lists of relevant articles were conducted to retrieve studies of relevance up until December 2015. Full texts of the studies that met the inclusion criteria were read, appraised for quality using the Kmet forms and guidelines, and included in this review. Results: Fifteen relevant studies were identified. The included studies were a mix of cross-sectional, longitudinal, experimental and qualitative studies conducted in the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The age range of the participants involved in these studies was 12–25 years. Included studies employed a variety of study designs and a range of different exposure variables and outcome measures. Studies demonstrated significant associations between exposure to Internet-based alcohol-related content and intentions to drink and positive attitudes towards alcohol drinking among young people. Conclusion: Exposure to alcohol-related content on the Internet might predispose young people to patterns of alcohol use by promoting alcohol as a natural and vital part of life. However, the research exploring the influence of this novel form of advertising on young people’s alcohol use is emergent, and comprised primarily of cross-sectional studies. To evaluate the direction of the association between exposure to online alcohol-related content and alcohol use, we call for further research based on longitudinal designs. Short summary: From 15 relevant studies identified, this review reports significant associations between exposure to Internet-based alcohol-related content and intentions to drink and positive attitudes towards alcohol drinking among young people, with different influences found at different stages of alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Concerns have been raised about the impact of alcohol sports sponsorship on harmful consumption, with some countries banning this practice or considering a ban. We review evidence on the relationship between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and alcohol consumption. Methods: Search of electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and International Alcohol Information Database) supplemented by hand searches of references and conference proceedings to locate studies providing data on the impact of exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and outcomes relating to alcohol consumption. Results: Seven studies met inclusion criteria, presenting data on 12,760 participants from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Poland. All studies report positive associations between exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship and self-reported alcohol consumption, but the statistical significance of results varies. Two studies found indirect exposure to alcohol sports sponsorship was associated with increased levels of drinking amongst schoolchildren, and five studies found a positive association between direct alcohol sports sponsorship and hazardous drinking amongst adult sportspeople. Conclusion: These findings corroborate the results of previous systematic reviews that reported a positive association between exposure to alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption. The relationship between alcohol sports sponsorship and increased drinking amongst schoolchildren will concern policymakers. Further research into the effectiveness of restrictions on alcohol sports sponsorship in reducing harmful drinking is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article previews several conferences and workshops related to dermatological surgical skills and techniques. It includes the BSDS 2006 Annual Surgery Workshop in Queen's Medical Center, Nottingham, Great Britain, Australasian Society for Dermatology Research at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre, Western Australia, 86th Annual Meeting of the British Association of Dermatologists at the Manchester International Conference Centre and G-MEX, Manchester, Great Britain, International Dermoscopy Course and Conference at Warsaw, Poland and International Society of Teledermatology and Department of Dermatology, Medical University, Graz, Austria.

Background This research examined the influence of sit-to-stand desks on classroom sitting time in primary school children. Methods Pilot controlled trials with similar intervention strategies were conducted in primary schools in Melbourne, Australia, and Bradford, UK. Sit-to-stand desks replaced all standard desks in the Australian intervention classroom. Six sit-to-stand desks replaced a bank of standard desks in the UK intervention classroom. Children were exposed to the sit-to-stand desks for 9-10 weeks. Control classrooms retained their normal seated desks. Classroom sitting time was measured at baseline and follow-up using the activPAL3 inclinometer. Results Thirty UK and 44 Australian children provided valid activPAL data at baseline and follow-up. The proportion of time spent sitting in class decreased significantly at follow-up in both intervention groups (UK: -9.8 ± 16.5% [-52.4 ± 66.6 min/day]; Australian: -9.4 ± 10% [-43.7 ± 29.9 min/day]). No significant changes in classroom sitting time were observed in the UK control group, while a significant reduction was observed in the Australian control group (-5.9 ± 11.7% [-28.2 ± 28.3 min/day]). Conclusions Irrespective of implementation, incorporating sit-to-stand desks into classrooms appears to be an effective way of reducing classroom sitting in this diverse sample of children. Longer term efficacy trials are needed to determine effects on children's health and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: It is well established in the literature that healthier diets cost more than unhealthy diets. Objective: The aim of this review was to examine the contribution of food prices and diet cost to socioeconomic inequalities in diet quality. Data Sources: A systematic literature search of the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases was performed. Study Selection: Publications linking food prices, dietary quality, and socioeconomic status were selected. Data Extraction: Where possible, review conclusions were illustrated using a French national database of commonly consumed foods and their mean retail prices. Data Synthesis: Foods of lower nutritional value and lower-quality diets generally cost less per calorie and tended to be selected by groups of lower socioeconomic status. A number of nutrient-dense foods were available at low cost but were not always palatable or culturally acceptable to the low-income consumer. Acceptable healthier diets were uniformly associated with higher costs. Food budgets in poverty were insufficient to ensure optimum diets. Conclusions: Socioeconomic disparities in diet quality may be explained by the higher cost of healthy diets. Identifying food patterns that are nutrient rich, affordable, and appealing should be a priority to fight social inequalities in nutrition and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: E-cigarettes (ECs) have gained significant attention in recent years. They have been introduced in jurisdictions with divergent existing laws that affect their legality. This provides the opportunity for natural experiments to assess effects of such laws in some cases independent of any formulated government policy. We compare patterns of EC awareness and use over a 3 year period in Australia where laws severely restrict EC availability, with awareness and use in the United Kingdom where ECs are readily available.Methods: Data analyzed come from Waves 8 and 9 (collected in 2010 and 2013, respectively) of the International Tobacco Control surveys in Australia and the United Kingdom (approximately 1,500 respondents per wave per country).Results: Across both waves, EC awareness, trial, and use among current and former smokers were significantly greater in the United Kingdom than in Australia, but all 3 of these measures increased significantly between 2010 and 2013 in both countries, and the rate of increase was equivalent between countries. Seventy-three percent of U.K. respondents reported that their current brands contained nicotine as did 43% in Australia even though sale, possession and/or use of nicotine-containing ECs without a permit are illegal in Australia. EC use was greater among smokers in both countries, at least in part due to less uptake by ex-smokers.Conclusions: EC awareness and use have risen rapidly between 2010 and 2013 among current and former smokers in both Australia and the United Kingdom despite different EC regulatory environments. Substantial numbers in both countries are using ECs that contain nicotine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Seven Countries Study in the 1960s showed very low mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) in Japan, which was attributed to very low levels of total cholesterol. Studies of migrant Japanese to the USA in the 1970s documented increase in CHD rates, thus CHD mortality in Japan was expected to increase as their lifestyle became Westernized, yet CHD mortality has continued to decline since 1970. This study describes trends in CHD mortality and its risk factors since 1980 in Japan, contrasting those in other selected developed countries.Methods: We selected Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA. CHD mortality between 1980 and 2007 was obtained from WHO Statistical Information System. National data on traditional risk factors during the same period were obtained from literature and national surveys.Results: Age-adjusted CHD mortality continuously declined between 1980 and 2007 in all these countries. The decline was accompanied by a constant fall in total cholesterol except Japan where total cholesterol continuously rose. In the birth cohort of individuals currently aged 50-69 years, levels of total cholesterol have been higher in Japan than in the USA, yet CHD mortality in Japan remained the lowest: >67% lower in men and > 75% lower in women compared with the USA. The direction and magnitude of changes in other risk factors were generally similar between Japan and the other countries.Conclusions: Decline in CHD mortality despite a continuous rise in total cholesterol is unique. The observation may suggest some protective factors unique to Japanese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a five-nations project in comparative child protection to provide recommendations on policy and practice to inform the redevelopment of the Swiss child protection system. The Swiss Federal Government and the Optimus and Oak Foundations commissioned the project--collective title: Association Programme National pour la Protection de l'Enfant. We identify the historical developmental trajectories of child protection systems together with common drivers: the evidential basis for the prevalence and effects of child abuse, the co-joining of social and economic policies and practices to promote early investment in children, the influence of children's rights and comparative international league tables on child well-being. We describe the cross-national project methodology and analysis of results. Three key indicators for the performance of national child protection systems are indicated: creating a culturally sensitive child protection governance framework, building a relational heart and using evidence to inform policy and practice. These encapsulate the recommendations made with respect to the Swiss child protection system. The results provide a prototype model with potential utility in similar cross-national studies, and add weight to the argument that cross-cultural learning in the context of a globalised society is not only possible, but desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK and Australian literature on free vote patterns highlights that, even under 'unwhipped' free vote circumstances, party membership remains the key predictor of MPs' voting patterns. However, analyses of free votes have focused on single parliaments and as such, it is not clear whether the insights of this literature can be generalised. This article analyses MPs'voting behaviour, during free voting on landmark legislation, which sought to allow equal marriage rights to same-sex couples in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The article will address the following questions: Which MPs supported proposals to legalise same-sex marriage? What were the main factors that predicted their voting? Why were the majority of MPs in the UK and New Zealand, but not Australia, willing to support law reform? Whilst voting in the UK and New Zealand followed a strikingly similar pattern, there are key differences in the voting in Australia. This is attributed to two main factors: first, the 'whipping' of small T liberal Coalition MPs in the Australian House of Representatives who might have otherwise voted in favour of reform; and, secondly, the different pathways along which the 'centre-left' political parties have evolved in New Zealand and Australia, which led to a larger presence of Catholics in the Australian Labor Party than in either the UK or NZ Labour Parties. It is possible to conclude from the analysis more broadly, that although party remains the best predictor of voting patterns across the three Westminster democracies recently, gender has also emerged as an important predictor of voting patterns. This finding is discussed in the final part of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Scientific advances have led to the discovery of novel treatments with high prices. The cost to publicly fund high-cost drugs may threaten the sustainability of drug budgets in different health care systems. In oncology, there are concerns that health-benefit gains are diminishing over time and that the economic evidence to support funding decisions is too limited. Methods. To assess the additional costs and benefits gained from oncology drugs over time, we used treatment protocols and efficacy results from U.S. Food and Drug Administration records to calculate cost-effectiveness ratios for drugs approved to treat first- and second-line metastatic or advanced breast, colorectal, and non-small cell lung cancer during the years 1994-2013. We assessed reimbursement recommendations reached by health technology assessment agencies in the U.K., Australia, and Canada. Results. Cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated for 50 drugs approved by the U.S. regulator. The more recent approvals were often based on surrogate efficacy outcomes and had extremely high costs, often triple the costs of drugs approved in previous years. Over time, the effectiveness gains have increased for some cancer indications; however, for other indications (non-small cell lung and second-line colorectal cancer), the magnitude of gains in effectiveness decreased. Reimbursement recommendations for drugs with the highest cost-effectiveness ratios were the most inconsistent. Conclusion. Evaluation of the clinical benefits that oncology drugs offer as a function of their cost has become highly complex, and for some clinical indications, health benefits are diminishing over time. There is an urgent need for better economic evidence from oncology drug trials and systematic processes to inform funding decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effects of different cigarette package warnings in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom up to 5 years post-implementation. The data came from the International Tobacco Control Surveys. Measures included salience of warnings, cognitive responses, forgoing cigarettes and avoiding warnings. Although salience of the UK warnings was higher than the Australian and Canadian pictorial warnings, this did not lead to greater levels of cognitive reactions, forgoing or avoiding. There was no difference in ratings between the Australian and UK warnings for cognitive responses and forgoing, but the Canadian warnings were responded to more strongly. Avoidance of the Australian warnings was greater than to UK ones, but less than to the Canadian warnings. The impact of warnings declined over time in all three countries. Declines were comparable between Australia and the United Kingdom on all measures except avoiding, where Australia had a greater rate of decline; and for salience where the decline was slower in Canada. Having two rotating sets of warnings does not appear to reduce wear-out over a single set of warnings. Warning size may be more important than warning type in preventing wear-out, although both probably contribute interactively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article explores the scope and effectiveness of formal donor identity registers cur-rently in operation in assisted conception regimes in Australia and the UK. In particu-lar, it examines the function of voluntary registers which are intended to fill the gaps left by 'central' identity registers which mandate timed release of donor identity on re-quest of donor-conceived adults. There are three 'gaps' left by central registers identi-fied here: conceptions which took place prior to the operation of the relevant registers; parents and offspring who desire access to identifying information or a means of mak-ing contact prior to the age set for information release; and parents and offspring who desire information not available under current registers, specifically, identifying infor-mation or a means of making contact with other offspring from the same donor. The article reflects on interviews with a set of 21 parents who had undertaken donor con-ception in Australia through licensed IVF treatment concerning their understandings of disclosure regimes and wishes for, and experience of, seeking information and con-tact. Voluntary registers established by government bodies in Australia and the UK have largely failed to deliver benefits, and indeed may offer a misleading promise to users, because they have given rise to such a small proportion of matches. These regis-ters are 'passive' in that there is no outreach to parties not on the register to invite them to join when there is a match waiting there. However, voluntary registers could be reframed and resourced on a more facilitative basis to assist users. I propose that formal voluntary registers could be more usefully remade as 'active' registers, making contact with possible participants and offering intermediary services and counselling to establish and communicate expectations and to offer mediated contact, including contact without identity disclosure. Active voluntary registers could adapt current structures into a more flexible and responsive system capable of operating both pro-spectively and retrospectively. I contend that this is a better outcome than the current polarization between an inability to access information for many, on the one hand, and proposals such as retrospective identity disclosure without consent, on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws from research carried out in Australia, but makes connections with policy and practice in the four countries that comprise the UK into the relationship between the use of day clubs, sometimes referred to as day centres, and enhanced social connectedness, resilience, and mental and physical health. As part of this process, interpretations of commonly used terminology such as ‘care’, ‘protection’ and ‘vulnerability’ are subject to critical review. In addition, the tensions that exist between self-defined forms of well-being and support service assessment criteria, which prioritise ‘risk’ and particular aspects of physical safety, are subject to interrogation. The purpose of this article is to explore how a form of service often associated with maintenance can be reconfigured to promote shared ownership and counter social isolation and limitation and research carried out by Fawcett (2011) is used as a case study to illustrate the currency of well-being in policy and practice. The article can also be seen to have a wider brief which is to examine the policy to practice interface and the ways in which the delivery of care services can so easily disable rather than enable and lead to the erosion of autonomy and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines what motivated the dominions to make such a sustained and costly contribution to the war effort of the British empire during the First World War. With particular reference to Australia, it argues that imperial loyalty, now discounted as anachronistic, was the dominant ideology. Not only did it inspire the initial generous support for the British war effort but, for many Australians, the empire's cause invested with meaning the battle losses which were proportionately the highest of any dominion army. The Gallipoli campaign of 1915 is now celebrated as having given birth to the foundational narrative of the young Australian nation, but at the time this embryonic nationalism too was positioned within the framework of imperial loyalty. Moreover, with the conservative forces dominating federal politics after the divisive debates about conscription in 1916 and 1917, 'loyalty' became entrenched as the litmus test of political reliability. Hence, while Australia's Prime Minister W. M. (Billy) Hughes aggressively asserted the rights of the dominions to a new and more independent role within the imperial relationship in 1918 and 1919, this agenda for change found little support at home. It is therefore ahistorical to see the First World War as the birth of Australian nationalism in the sense that the term is understood today. Rather, imperial loyalty was affirmed by the British victory as the dominant ideology and proved able to accommodate the growing sense of national singularity that the war fuelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]