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Research suggests that multiple non-parental care arrangements may have adverse effects on young children, yet little is known about their prevalence, factors associated with their use, or parents' reasons for making these care arrangements. This longitudinal study reports on 677 children and their families recruited from government-regulated child care centers and family child care services in urban and rural New South Wales, Australia. Multiple concurrent care arrangements were relatively common, with one third of children attending at least two child care arrangements per week. Multiple child care was found to be more likely for children who were older, with better health, or with employed mothers, and who were living in rural rather than urban areas. Results suggest that parents' reasons for using multiple care arrangements were based largely based on preferences that were made in the best interests of the child and on convenience. The deliberate choice by parents to use multiple child care arrangements to benefit their child challenges the assumption in previous literature that mixed care is not the parents' first choice.

Over the past decade, Australian companies have increased their use of performance stocks as a means of rewarding their executives. The prevalence of the use of performance stocks necessitates the correct valuation in order to properly reflect the cost to shareholders. We have adopted a constrained utility-based valuation approach developed by Ingersoll (2006) to value these instruments. This approach allows us to determine the executive's private value and the shareholder's objective value for these instruments. We find the private value is less than the objective value as executives face minimum shareholding constraints which means they are no longer optimally diversified. We also find this difference increases with the executive's exposure to the company stock price residual volatility. In terms of vesting arrangements upon early departure, we find altering these arrangements leads to the objective and private values changing by the same proportion. We conclude the cost-effectiveness of using performance stocks depends only on the company stock price residual volatility.

Australians' living arrangements have changed over the last several decades. Greater proportions of households contain only one person, a couple or a single-parent family. Such demographic trends have implications for poverty, which is identified at the household level. This paper explores the relationship between the depth of poverty and household type using longitudinal, unit-record data. Lone persons and single parents are the poorest. Poverty increases significantly at the beginning of a spell of living alone regardless of previous living arrangements but especially for people leaving the household of their parent(s). Except for the elderly, poverty decreases significantly at the end of a spell of living alone regardless of the subsequent household type. Notably, poverty decreases when people living alone become single parents and single parents who begin living alone experience an increase in poverty. The explanation lies with accompanying changes in government non-income support payments, imputed rent on owner-occupied, public and rent-free housing, and the number of nondependent people in single parents' households.

Over the past decade, Australian companies have increased their use of performance stocks as a means of rewarding their executives. The prevalence of the use of performance stocks necessitates the correct valuation in order to properly reflect the cost to shareholders. We have adopted a constrained utility-based valuation approach developed by Ingersoll (2006) to value these instruments. This approach allows us to determine the executive's private value and the shareholder's objective value for these instruments. We find the private value is less than the objective value as executives face minimum shareholding constraints which means they are no longer optimally diversified. We also find this difference increases with the executive's exposure to the company stock price residual volatility. In terms of vesting arrangements upon early departure, we find altering these arrangements leads to the objective and private values changing by the same proportion. We conclude the cost-effectiveness of using performance stocks depends only on the company stock price residual volatility.

Australians' living arrangements have changed over the last several decades. Greater proportions of households contain only one person, a couple or a single-parent family. Such demographic trends have implications for poverty, which is identified at the household level. This paper explores the relationship between the depth of poverty and household type using longitudinal, unit-record data. Lone persons and single parents are the poorest. Poverty increases significantly at the beginning of a spell of living alone regardless of previous living arrangements but especially for people leaving the household of their parent(s). Except for the elderly, poverty decreases significantly at the end of a spell of living alone regardless of the subsequent household type. Notably, poverty decreases when people living alone become single parents and single parents who begin living alone experience an increase in poverty. The explanation lies with accompanying changes in government non-income support payments, imputed rent on owner-occupied, public and rent-free housing, and the number of nondependent people in single parents' households.

Provisional arrangements of a practical nature, and in particular maritime joint development zones, have been heralded as an attractive means of overcoming seemingly intractable maritime boundary disputes. While there is considerable merit in these arguments, they do not tell the whole story. Whlie highlighting some of the key advantages of maritime joint development, the paper also explores some notable obstacles to the establishment of and potential problems associated with such joint management mechanisms. Pertinent examples are of such joint arrangements are drawn fromthe East and Southeast Asian experience. It is concluded that while challenges to the successful implementation of maritime joint development can be overcome and that joint development arrangements therefore retain their attractions, considerable caution is required before States with overlapping maritime claims pursue this dispute management option.

Australians' living arrangements have changed over the last several decades. Greater proportions of households contain only one person, a couple or a single-parent family. Such demographic trends have implications for poverty, which is identified at the household level. This paper explores the relationship between the depth of poverty and household type using longitudinal, unit-record data. Lone persons and single parents are the poorest. Poverty increases significantly at the beginning of a spell of living alone regardless of previous living arrangements but especially for people leaving the household of their parent(s). Except for the elderly, poverty decreases significantly at the end of a spell of living alone regardless of the subsequent household type. Notably, poverty decreases when people living alone become single parents and single parents who begin living alone experience an increase in poverty. The explanation lies with accompanying changes in government non-income support payments, imputed rent on owner-occupied, public and rent-free housing, and the number of nondependent people in single parents' households.

Japan’s New Inequality is a study of the effects of changes in welfare arrangements and employment reforms in Japan since the collapse of Japan’s Bubble Economy in the late 1980s. This volume draws heavily on theories and methods of social stratification studies to explore three general areas: regular and non-regular divisions in labour markets (i.e. between permanent full-time and non-permanent part-time employees); changes in employment structures for women and the self-employed; and changes in family structure, the ageing population and welfare provisions. This volume provides a concise and up-to-date picture of income, wealth and employment inequalities in Japan.

Over the past decade, Australian companies have increased their use of performance stocks as a means of rewarding their executives. The prevalence of the use of performance stocks necessitates the correct valuation in order to properly reflect the cost to shareholders. We have adopted a constrained utility-based valuation approach developed by Ingersoll (2006) to value these instruments. This approach allows us to determine the executive's private value and the shareholder's objective value for these instruments. We find the private value is less than the objective value as executives face minimum shareholding constraints which means they are no longer optimally diversified. We also find this difference increases with the executive's exposure to the company stock price residual volatility. In terms of vesting arrangements upon early departure, we find altering these arrangements leads to the objective and private values changing by the same proportion. We conclude the cost-effectiveness of using performance stocks depends only on the company stock price residual volatility.

Australians' living arrangements have changed over the last several decades. Greater proportions of households contain only one person, a couple or a single-parent family. Such demographic trends have implications for poverty, which is identified at the household level. This paper explores the relationship between the depth of poverty and household type using longitudinal, unit-record data. Lone persons and single parents are the poorest. Poverty increases significantly at the beginning of a spell of living alone regardless of previous living arrangements but especially for people leaving the household of their parent(s). Except for the elderly, poverty decreases significantly at the end of a spell of living alone regardless of the subsequent household type. Notably, poverty decreases when people living alone become single parents and single parents who begin living alone experience an increase in poverty. The explanation lies with accompanying changes in government non-income support payments, imputed rent on owner-occupied, public and rent-free housing, and the number of nondependent people in single parents' households.

Provisional arrangements of a practical nature, and in particular maritime joint development zones, have been heralded as an attractive means of overcoming seemingly intractable maritime boundary disputes. While there is considerable merit in these arguments, they do not tell the whole story. Whlie highlighting some of the key advantages of maritime joint development, the paper also explores some notable obstacles to the establishment of and potential problems associated with such joint management mechanisms. Pertinent examples are of such joint arrangements are drawn fromthe East and Southeast Asian experience. It is concluded that while challenges to the successful implementation of maritime joint development can be overcome and that joint development arrangements therefore retain their attractions, considerable caution is required before States with overlapping maritime claims pursue this dispute management option.

During the 1990s, international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) promoted the so-called 'Washington Consensus'. One of the premises of the consensus was that developing countries needed to embrace a market economy and build a legal system supportive of the rule of law in order to promote progress and defeat poverty. The onset of financial crises across South America and the inability of governments to deal with problems derived from this financial meltdown provided the proitious conditions for the IMF to implement its agenda of promoting a market economy and the rule of law in this region. Disbursements of IMF financial asistance were conditioned on thefulfilment of a set of requirements by the assisted country. Conditions were listed in the letter of intent addressed to the Fund by the government of the distressed country and linked to an instrument known as 'stand-by arrangement' (SBA). The IMF Guidelines on Conditionality state the SBAs were not international agreements. Based on this assumption, SBAs were often agreed by government without complying with the requirements stipulated by domestic law. The implementation of SBAs caused tension in countries where legal systems required congressional authorisation for the adoption of the type of commitments included in a standard SBA. Reviewing a SBA agreed by the IMF and the administration of President Rafael Caldera in 1996 under the so-called 'Agenda Venezuela' program, this paper explores the legal nature of SBAs as a form of international law, and the interaction between these arrangements and domestic law. The main argument develops in this paper is that SBAs are international agreements that govern rights and obligations between the IMF and its state members and therefore, governments must comply with the requirements prescribed by the domestic legal system in order to enter into this type of contracts.

Objective: To explore factors associated with the frequency of multidisciplinary Team Care Arrangements (TCAs) and the impact of TCAs on patient-assessed quality of care in Australian general practice. Design and setting: Data were collected as part of a cluster randomised controlled trial conducted in 60 general practices in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria between July 2006 and June 2008. Multilevel logistic regression analysis evaluated factors associated with the frequency of TCAs recorded in the 12 months after baseline, and multilevel multivariable analysis examined the association between TCAs and patient-assessed quality of chronic illness care, adjusted for patient and practice characteristics. Main outcome measures: Frequency of TCAs; Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scores. Results: Of 1752 patients with clinical audit data available at 12-month follow-up, 398 (22.7%) had a TCA put in place since baseline. Women, patients with two or more chronic conditions, and patients from metropolitan areas had an increased probability of having a TCA. There was an association between TCAs and practices with solo general practitioners and those with greater levels of teamwork involving non-GP staff for the control group but not the intervention group. Patients who had a TCA self-assessed their quality of care (measured by PACIC scores) to be higher than those who did not. Conclusions: Findings were consistent with the purpose of TCAs - to provide multidisciplinary care for patients with longer-term complex conditions. Significant barriers to TCA use remain, especially in rural areas and for men, and these may be more challenging to overcome in larger practices.

Objective: To explore factors associated with the frequency of multidisciplinary Team Care Arrangements (TCAs) and the impact of TCAs on patient-assessed quality of care in Australian general practice. Design and setting: Data were collected as part of a cluster randomised controlled trial conducted in 60 general practices in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria between July 2006 and June 2008. Multilevel logistic regression analysis evaluated factors associated with the frequency of TCAs recorded in the 12 months after baseline, and multilevel multivariable analysis examined the association between TCAs and patient-assessed quality of chronic illness care, adjusted for patient and practice characteristics. Main outcome measures: Frequency of TCAs; Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scores. Results: Of 1752 patients with clinical audit data available at 12-month follow-up, 398 (22.7%) had a TCA put in place since baseline. Women, patients with two or more chronic conditions, and patients from metropolitan areas had an increased probability of having a TCA. There was an association between TCAs and practices with solo general practitioners and those with greater levels of teamwork involving non-GP staff for the control group but not the intervention group. Patients who had a TCA self-assessed their quality of care (measured by PACIC scores) to be higher than those who did not. Conclusions: Findings were consistent with the purpose of TCAs - to provide multidisciplinary care for patients with longer-term complex conditions. Significant barriers to TCA use remain, especially in rural areas and for men, and these may be more challenging to overcome in larger practices.

Objective: To explore factors associated with the frequency of multidisciplinary Team Care Arrangements (TCAs) and the impact of TCAs on patient-assessed quality of care in Australian general practice. Design and setting: Data were collected as part of a cluster randomised controlled trial conducted in 60 general practices in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria between July 2006 and June 2008. Multilevel logistic regression analysis evaluated factors associated with the frequency of TCAs recorded in the 12 months after baseline, and multilevel multivariable analysis examined the association between TCAs and patient-assessed quality of chronic illness care, adjusted for patient and practice characteristics. Main outcome measures: Frequency of TCAs; Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scores. Results: Of 1752 patients with clinical audit data available at 12-month follow-up, 398 (22.7%) had a TCA put in place since baseline. Women, patients with two or more chronic conditions, and patients from metropolitan areas had an increased probability of having a TCA. There was an association between TCAs and practices with solo general practitioners and those with greater levels of teamwork involving non-GP staff for the control group but not the intervention group. Patients who had a TCA self-assessed their quality of care (measured by PACIC scores) to be higher than those who did not. Conclusions: Findings were consistent with the purpose of TCAs - to provide multidisciplinary care for patients with longer-term complex conditions. Significant barriers to TCA use remain, especially in rural areas and for men, and these may be more challenging to overcome in larger practices.

The Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) has been commissioned by the Attorney General's Department to undertake research on the implications of the changes to the 2006 Family Law Reforms on Shared Care Parenting, and the circumstances under which shared care arrangements work, and do not work, in the best interests of the child. This research has been undertaken in consortium with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and the University of Sydney Law School, and led by the SPRC.

The Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) has been commissioned by the Attorney General's Department to undertake research on the implications of the changes to the 2006 Family Law Reforms on Shared Care Parenting, and the circumstances under which shared care arrangements work, and do not work, in the best interests of the child. This research has been undertaken in consortium with the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and the University of Sydney Law School, and led by the SPRC.

This chapter will focus on the institutional aspects of fisheries and biodiverSity in the Indian Ocean. It is intended to provide a background to the more specialist discussions that follow in later chapters. It is proposed to deal, first, though only very briefly, with the international legal background to the modern fisheries regime, and its slow recognition of the importance of biodiverSity. Unfortunately, many of the provisions in the modern law of the sea that concern fisheries and marine biodiversity are still being implemented only in a piecemeal way.

This chapter will focus on the institutional aspects of fisheries and biodiverSity in the Indian Ocean. It is intended to provide a background to the more specialist discussions that follow in later chapters. It is proposed to deal, first, though only very briefly, with the international legal background to the modern fisheries regime, and its slow recognition of the importance of biodiverSity. Unfortunately, many of the provisions in the modern law of the sea that concern fisheries and marine biodiversity are still being implemented only in a piecemeal way.

The intertwined issues of the delimitation of maritime boundaries and the division of the resources, particularly petroleum resources, of the Timor Sea have served as a persistent irritant in bilateral relations between Australia and East Timor since the latter’s independence in 2002. In 2003 an International Unitization Agreement for the Greater Sunrise complex of fields was signed. This was followed by the conclusion in 2006 of the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea. The subsequent entry into force of these agreements, in February 2007, appears to resolve this contentious dispute, at least for the foreseeable future. This article explores the background to the dispute and positions of the parties, traces the progress of negotiations towards its interim resolution and then assesses the agreements themselves. It is concluded that while the agreements are, on balance, somewhat

The intertwined issues of the delimitation of maritime boundaries and the division of the resources, particularly petroleum resources, of the Timor Sea have served as a persistent irritant in bilateral relations between Australia and East Timor since the latter’s independence in 2002. In 2003 an International Unitization Agreement for the Greater Sunrise complex of fields was signed. This was followed by the conclusion in 2006 of the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea. The subsequent entry into force of these agreements, in February 2007, appears to resolve this contentious dispute, at least for the foreseeable future. This article explores the background to the dispute and positions of the parties, traces the progress of negotiations towards its interim resolution and then assesses the agreements themselves. It is concluded that while the agreements are, on balance, somewhat